Laptop ( 3.5mm ) to Optical In ( Cambridge Audio DacMagic 1 ) advice please?

[mrbthebarber]

Hi, currently running Sonic Link Silver Pink tween my Dac & Amp but also want to connect my laptop up to the Dac. Please can anyone advise & send links when possible as to where I can get the right cable? Many thanks in advance.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

You can either purchase an adapter to allow you to use anyÿregularÿTOSLINK cable or you can get a 3.5mm mini-TOSLINK to TOSLINK cable.

For an example google: IXOS 290 Mini Toslink Adaptor and Lindy TosLink to Mini Optical Cable.

Not recommending either of the above, just showing you an example of the two products. However, I'dÿpersonallyÿgo for a Mini-Toslink > Toslink cable to avoid using an adapter - although these may be few and far between.

Hope that helps.ÿ

ÿ

 

[Messiah]

Martyp:
Hi,

You can either purchase an adapter to allow you to use any regular TOSLINK cable or you can get a 3.5mm mini-TOSLINK to TOSLINK cable.

Do all laptops support this connection though??

If not you could get something like the M-Audio Transit to convert from USB to Toslink. (Adapter as mentioned above)

 

[Anonymous]

The majority of modern laptops do yes - even budget ones. If you have a look at the sound card utility/driver you should see an option to enable Optical out.ÿ

On some laptops, you will also see a beam of red light coming from the headphone port during boot up.

ÿIf his laptop doesn't support it, then yes a USB > Toslink adapter will need to be used.ÿ

 

[Messiah]

Can't see any option for this on my soundcard utility

Maybe I'll see if there is a beam of red light.....

(To be fair though it is not that important a factor at the moment...)

 

[Anonymous]

What type of laptop do you have (make / model), I'll try and talk you through it...

 

[Messiah]

Dell Latitude X300....

 

[Anonymous]

Ah, you will need to purchase a USB > Toslink or a external sound card.ÿ

Unfortunately Intel never used optical out on those chipsets. Even the optional 'Media Base' docking station won't output to optical. Sorry...ÿ

 

[Messiah]

Cheers Martyp,

Just confirmed what I suspected. Oh well

 

[professorhat]

What's the point in divine powers if you can't create your own digital output?

 

[mrbthebarber]

Hi, internet connection been down :-( Thank you all, with hindsight I am not concerned about using the optical in in the DAC but to utilise the 3.5mm jack out of HP COMPAQ6720S into the cd INPUT of rear of DACMAGIC1 if you can advise & or send links for correct cable I'd be most grateful. Connector on rear of DAC is the twist type with two small pins that I have no idea what its called!

Thanks,

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Steve,ÿ

I never noticed you had a DacMagic 1 which doesn't have optical in.

Either way, I did a search on google for specs for your laptop and came across a review saying "The soundcard is a Soundmax Digital HD Audio but it does not feature any digital outputs, only headphones and microphone."

However, for the DacMagic 1 you require a BCN connector and I believe - don't quote me on this - you would need a Co-ax to BNC cable.ÿ

To set that up, you will need to purchase an USB > Coax adapter, then you can connect the Co-ax > BNC cable from the adapter to the DacMagic.

ÿHopefully someone who has a DacMagic 1 connected to their PC/Laptop will chime in, I have the DacMagic 2 so can't really help you any further...ÿ

 

[mrbthebarber]

Hi Marty I have a dacmagic 1 & a 2 in fact but I realised the optical route was a no on the dac1 as no, it doesn't have optical. I currently have the dac2 linked to my cd player via it's cd input with a sonic link silver pink cable. I am happy enough to use the cd input on my dac1 ( which has the two pin twist fitting?? ) but is it possible I wonder to simply get a cable with 3.5mm headphone jack one end ( laptop ) into this twist on fitting ( via an adaptor connector if necessary ) on my cd input on the Dac1?

Thanks again.

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Steve,

As I say I don't have a DacMagic 1, however, I can tell you that at the moment your laptop will not connect to the DAC via its headphone port. This is because your laptop is outputting analogue audio and the DAC requires a digital input.ÿ

Therefore, even if you managed to get a 3.5mm (headphone jack) > BNC (DAC1ÿinput) cable it still wouldn't work - simply because the DAC will not receive a digital signal.ÿÿ

As far as I'm aware you will need to use an external soundcard with a co-ax output and run a co-ax > BNC cable.

Hopefully someone who has done this will give you advice on the best way to go about this...

 

[mrbthebarber]

ok, thanks Marty, appreciate it.