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What is this Digitial Audio Out port?

73498 Views 8 Replies 5 Participants Last post by liquidsense, Jan 28, 2008

liquidsense

Discussion Starter · Jan 24, 2008

I'm very sorry if this is in the wrong area. I couldn't find a better place, and I thought the people here would be the most knowledgeable regarding this issue. On several of my devices, including my Comcast receiver, I have a digital audio out port (not optical). What is this? What is it good for? Is it better or worse than the regular old red/white audio cables?

It's surrounded by the dotted lines:

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Ratman

· #2 · Jan 24, 2008

It's for Dolby Digital and/or DTS surround (or just PCM stereo). Yes, it better than red/white analog audio connections. Also... it accomplishes the same task as "optical".

Obviously, you also need an audio receiver that has digital audio inputs to take advantage of the better sound/audio.

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sivadselim

· #3 · Jan 24, 2008

Just to add to what Ratman said, it is called a "digital coaxial" (digi coax) connection and as Ratman pointed out, it can transfer the same digital information as the optical (toslink) connection can carry.

Toslink and digi coax are both a type of S/PDIF connection.

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liquidsense

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 24, 2008

Thank you both very much for your help.

One more question -- possibly very dumb...

Does this type of connection require a special cable? Or can I just use either the white or red analogue audio cables?

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Greg_R

· #5 · Jan 25, 2008

Any 75ohm video cable will be optimal. The red, white, or yellow cables that came with your box are almost always 'good enough' for this purpose.

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Greg_R

· #6 · Jan 25, 2008

Oh yeah... most receivers require that you assign the digital input to a specific video input. In other words, you may need to tell your receiver that "coax digital input #2" is the audio input for the "TV / SAT" video input.

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sivadselim

· #7 · Jan 25, 2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by liquidsense /forum/post/12922612

Thank you both very much for your help.

One more question -- possibly very dumb...

Does this type of connection require a special wire? Or can I just use either the white or red cord from the analogue audio cords?

Although a plain red/white audio cable MAY work OK, it is best to use a coaxial cable that you know is 75ohm coax cable. This is the same as a yellow-ended video cable, so if you have one of those laying around, you can use it. If you need to buy a 75ohm coax cable, you can get one for a few bucks. Do not spend a bunch of money on one.

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ralfwolf

· #8 · Jan 25, 2008

One thing to note here that nobody has mentioned is never connect this to a standard analog audio input of a receiver. The result can damage your receiver and/or speakers and/or ears. What I mean is do *not* plug this port into the same jack the "red/white" cables are plugged into now using any cable. You need to find the "Digital audio input" jack on the back of the receiver and plug it in to that.

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liquidsense

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jan 28, 2008

Thanks everyone for the great deal of help.

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