Newbie question: SPDIF to TOSlink

[admin_exported]

Hi there, I am new on this forum, my name is Tom and I just started rebuilding my home cinema system, slowly upgrading speakers, cables etc. I am on budget and I guess many of members spend loads of money on their audio systems, I simply cannot afford it now, but maybe one day...

Heart of my home cinema is Philips HTS3357, I have it for about 2 years now, I know it's not best one around but it works well and even if I would be able to afford to buy better now probably I couldn't really appreciate it's sound, we live in block with 3 kids, so it's quite noisy here most of the day and I can't really listen to music/watching movies loudly at night, anyway, I am usually knackered after everybody goes sleep so I finish playing some game or watching some short things, which don't require best sound possible... I bought set of Acoustic Solutions speakers (I am on budget, remember) and replaced all original Philips ones with those (except subwoofer, but I am going to look for one soon). I got some nice cable as well (nicer than before, anyway).

Philips HTS3357 is amplifier with integrated DVD player, but being honest I don't remember watching any movies on discs for a while now, all my music and films are on my computer, which is connected through HDMI straight to TV, as my amplifier doesn't have HDMI input. Sound goes through normal stereo cable, connected to AUX input. My computer is in corner opposite to TV corner, so those two cables are 10m long.

So I was browsing internet another day and I thought I will search people's opinions about HTS3357 and I found one forum, where somebody said that if you connect audio that way (analog, AUX) the surround sound effect is simulated, it's not really surround sound. I was surprised reading this, as I was happy with effects, I mean everything did work as it should be, every speaker was working as it should be, I could hear different sounds from rear ones, you know what I mean. The same person wrote that you need to use optical input to get real effect. I was thinking of upgrading my amplifier to one with HDMI or SPDIF input for a while now, as sound card in my PC (Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer) has optical output and I did want to use it. And then I discovered after having this system for 2 years that there's digital audio input in it!

It's TOS, tosling, coaxial or whatever you call it, so I did quick web research, and there are adapters available. So it costs only about £10. All I need is: toslink to 3.5mm converter, which I already purchased (to convert output on my soundcard to SPDIF as it's minijack socket with light in it), I need mentioned before adapter and then I need cable to connect PC to adapter and another one to connect adapter to amplifier.

I know it did take ages to explain what I mean but here comes the question(s): should I buy short SPDIF cable and long TOSlink one, or opposite? Does it really matter? Coaxial cable is much cheaper, so I would prefer it to be longer. Also, won't 10m lenght have any influence on quality?

Anyway, is that true that analog audio will only give you "fake" surround sound? If it's not true, should I really bother? Would I hear big difference in sound quality? I am ripping my CD collection to FLAC now, and I would like to hear the difference.

Congratulations if you made it to this point, I appreciate any help. Thank you

 

[professorhat]

I think to answer this post, just need to be a bit clearer what you're listening to and from where. From what I can gather (was a bit of a long post

), you watch both films and music from your computer, which is currently connected into the Philips unit with standard analogue phono cables?

It's true you won't get true surround sound through these standard analogue cables - what your Philips unit will be doing is simulating surround. However, if everything you're playing from your computer is in stereo, this doesn't really matter. Clearly the music files are going to be, but what format are your films stored in on the computer?

The other issue is your Philips unit only has a coaxial input but your computer has an optical output. From the sound of it, you have just purchased a TOSlink to mini-TOSlink converter (so it looks like a 3.5mm connection like this), which may well be what you need to connect an optical cable into your computer, but this is no good for connecting into your Philips unit. Optical signals are based on light whereas coaxial cables use electrical signals, so you need something to do the conversion from optical to coaxial (like this). You'd then need a standard digital optical cable (like this) going from your computer into the converter and a standard digital coaxial cable (like this) going from the converter into the Philips. As to which would be better in terms of the length, in theory, optical would be less prone to interference over this sort of length, so it would probably be best to go with this for the long cable - there's one here from Amazon for £8.99.

However, as stated, if you don't have any movies with true 5.1 soundtracks on your computer, then you're not really going to get much benefit from this (if any) so it probably wouldn't be worth it.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, thanks for answering, I know it's long story... and I knew (after few hours of waiting for response yesterday) that not many members would do through it 🙂.

I usually watch movies from DVD drive on my PC, as well as those ones which are ripped into files, don't they have surround sound? Plus I am playing games on my TV when I can't be bothered to sit at my desk anymore, some of them have great surround effects and digital output on xtreme gamer is apparently great.

So you say it would be better to have long SPDIF cable and short coaxial one, I will do it that way then, going to buy some bits and bobs now.

Thanks for looking deeply into my problem.

Cheers!

 

[professorhat]

Fair enough on the movies played direct from the DVD drive (though it does beg the question why not just play them direct on the Philips?). On the files that have been ripped, it will depend on the codec used to encode the audio during the ripping process. If it has maintained a lossless copy of all six channels of audio for 5.1 in the ripped file, then you'll get the benefit, but if it has downmixed the original 5.1 to a stereo soundtrack or some such, then the best you'll get is the ProLogic guesstimate of surround, the same as before.

Any games with true 5.1 sound should also benefit though, so it sounds like it might be a worthwhile task to get the digital connection up and running.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks again, I bought that cable you recommended and I am going to get all the rest next week. It's still not clear for me how is it going to work with my Philips amplifier, as when I toggle through source of sound it's AUX/mp3 in/USB/DVD/FM/MW/TV, but I guess as soon as I plug TOSlink cable in another option should appear...

I always make sure when I am ripping DVDs or Blueray movies the sound is kept as it suppose to be. My next purchase will be blue-ray drive for my computer, you can get one for about £30 now, I am not using discs too often, I have well over 6TB storage in my house and I keep everything as files. And now I am really looking forward to play games that way, I love scary ones and I am usually not able to play till midnight or later, so it's always dark and quiet here this time... I am never scared of horror movies (all of them just make me laugh), but some games can freak you out (Dead Space to begin with) have some cool sound effects on my existing PC set, so I guess it can only get better with home cinema system, so I will wait to play second release when I have everything sorted out. Xtreme Gamer has EAX system, which is must-have in gaming world, as well as Crystaliser and CMS-3D, and I want to know what it can really do. Please don't slag me you guys who have thousands of pounds to spend on their systems, I used to be subscriber to one of the best hi-fi magazines back there in Poland (yes, I am from Poland, did I mention it?) and I know you can buy house for some of them! I was happy with it's stereo jack output so far (after long fight with 64-bit drivers for my system) and now I want to discover it's real potential. I know it's all on budget but as long as I progress, it's cool. For me. And those who helped me I hope.

Professorhat, I do highly appreciate your input, I will come back if I have any questions or problems. Thanks a lot, you are one of those people who give and don't expect...

Not being nasty, but I am not going to hang on here, it's one of those forums where you can see one of those nasty phenomenons... I was studying psychology and I know what I am talking about. It's simple people's behaviour, where everybody want's to be the best, and whoever posts about their setup, somebody else will reply saying their one is better... very biased opinions. You have something but mine is better. I don't care you can't afford it, and if you can't, why are you here? I did browse quite a few posts and answers here, and now I know why I don't want to be member of this society. This is exactly why I am not member of any photography forums (I am photographer) as those guys who can afford better gear treat everybody else like rubbish.

Well, no bad feelings, nothing like that happened here; I did just had bad experience before and I do want to avoid it... sorry if I did say anything wrong, and I will be browsing your forum, I know I can't help anybody who wants to buy 2k amplifier and 1k CD player... But guys, would you stop recommending only the stuff you have and slag everything else? How annoying is that?! Fine if you are happy with your system, but don't be nasty with another people's ones!

Now I know I will be thrown out I guess, so that is goodbye. Thanks a lot Professorhat, you guys should learn from this guy, he knew what I was about and he helped me even if he knew how cheap stuff I was on about. If I am out of here (being honest I didn't read rules of this forum) you can send me pm's on manawell@hotmail.com.... and I promise I will reply. I am grateful I got an answer I needed, but by 1 of over 86000 members?! Shame on you!

 

[the record spot]

With respect, you've posted a lenghty question, on a Friday where people are either at work, or then going out for the evening and complained that you've only had one reply. Then you've posted a bunch of presumptive stuff about the membership on here, which is pretty untrue by and large.

What I think you WILL find is that people will post about the products they generally know - one member will rate the NAD C352 or 356, or Rotel 1062 ahead of virtually anything else under £1000. I'll quite often rate the amp I have (Sansui AU717) if I know the person asking the question wants something great on a budget and would buy used kit. And so on.

Most people on here generally don't have £1000 amps, more likely, they'll be in the £250-£1k bracket but rarely over and many at the lower point in that range. The ones that do, don't come on and boast or show-off about their gear.

Re-reading your original post, you come across as quite defensive, you frequently point out your budget and refer to the Acoustic Solutions gear in line with another reference to its low cost. Fair enough. But are you perhaps a little over-sensitive to what you seem to see more of as an issue than anyone else has or is? Your budget is your budget and from memory, Acoustic Solutions do some good stuff at the price they sell it at. See also Tangent who make some very nice low cost gear.

Being disappointed that only one person replied to your post is one thing, but having a rant of the kind you've done is another thing entirely and pretty unfair. Glad you got your question answered and welcome to the forum; hope you hang around. Oh, you might also have found that your answer had more responses on the TV part of the forum.

 

[datay]

manawell:
Not being nasty, but I am not going to hang on here, it's one of those forums where you can see one of those nasty phenomenons... I was studying psychology and I know what I am talking about.

Paranoid delusions?