S / PDIF connection on the mainboard - optical audio output on the PC
Many PCs have an S / PDIF output on their mainboard. You can use this connection to transmit audio signals in stereo and multi-channel sound to other devices.
S / PDIF connection - connect devices
The abbreviation stands for the developer of the interface: Sony / Philips Digital Interface. The data is either transmitted electrically via a coaxial cable or optically via a Toslink cable.
- For example, you can use the connection to connect your PC and an AV receiver. The music signal is then amplified by the receiver and passed on to passive boxes, through which you can then listen to the music from your PC.
- Of course, you can also bypass the receiver by using active boxes. In this context, “active” means that the boxes have integrated the amplifier unit. The connections are located directly on the box and you can plug in your Toslink cable, for example.
Advantages and disadvantages of S / PDIF
- Optical transmission is particularly advantageous with regard to interference. Electromagnetic radiation from other devices has no influence on data transmission.
- It is also practical that you can carry multichannel signals over one cable, not over several.
- However, the data rates of audio signals have increased rapidly in recent years. So the bandwidth of the standard is not sufficient so that you can transmit multichannel sound in DTS-HD or Dolby-HD format without data loss.
- HDMI has strong advantages over S / PDIF: 5.1 sound in HD format and picture can be transmitted here using just one cable. That is why S / PDIF will probably be largely displaced in the home cinema sector.
If you want to get more out of your PC in terms of audio technology, you can connect audio devices via XLR.