Sound Blaster Digital I /o Module
Add optical and coaxial digital I/O to your Sound Blaster equipped PC. The Sound Blaster Digital I/O Module gives you digital inputs and outputs for easy connections to digital speakers or home theater systems.This Digital I/O Module works with Sound Blaster Live! 24 bit; Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value, SE, 4; Sound Blaster X-Fi Range.
Sound Blaster Digital I /o Module Accessories
 Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro Series Sound Card ( 70SB046A00000 )
Creative Labs 70SB057000000 Sound Blaster Audigy SE Card
Fiber Optical Toslink Digital Audio Optic Interface 6 Foot Cable
Logitech Z-5500 THX-Certified 505-Watt 5.1 Digital Surround Sound Speaker System
Tripp Lite A102-02M Digital Optical Audio Cable, 2x Toslink - 2M (6ft)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Sound Card ( 70SB079000000 )
Creative Sound Blaster X-fi Elite Pro
Cables Unlimited PCM-2296-06 HDMI to DVI D Single Link Cable (6 Feet, Black)
HDMI Cable 2M (6 Feet)
Sony PlayStation 3 Blu-ray Disc Remote
Sound Blaster Digital I /o Module Reviews
It just converts the analog stereo to digital stereo. Looks like we can not. But, the output is just PCM. I tried all the settings in my onkyo reciever including direct channel. But, when i tried the test sounds (from the sound blaster control software), only the front left and right speakers play. The rest remains mute. I am breaking my head on how to get Dolby/DTS/5.1 output from this module. You get the output when you enable the "Digital output only" from the sound control panel.
This product may be great. but it does not connect to optical S/PDIF connections. So for instance it will do absolutely nothing for the Creative X-Fi extreme ausio notebook.
Documentation. Why did I get this again. We don't need none of *that* apparently.
Who would buy a X-FI to do stereo. Creative labs X-FI series does NOT support dolby 5.1 on the digital out and their cards will NOT decode 5.1 on the digital IN. I am quickly losing faith in Creative Labs.
See my review of the Fatal1ty sound card for more detail. This product is going back If all you need is a stereo in/out then this works fine.
However, I can't write it off completely since I was not using it for its original purpose. It. I had hooked my Xbox 360 to a LCD computer monitor via a VGA adapter cable, and ran my audio through the 1/8" jack to the Line In jack on the back of the external USB device. According to them, even though it wouldn't produce true surround sound, I should be able to use the TOSLink to get sound from the Xbox. Nothing at all. I updated my drivers.
This product did NOT do what I had hoped it would. That's not the case. It is not capable of carrying a Dolby Digital sound through it. No sound. Not the case.
Still nothing. Make. I ran the TOSLink from the AV cable of the Xbox to the I/O Module and that was run to Line In 1/8" jack in the back of the external USB device. The external device worked just fine, and didn't have any major problems (with an older driver I couldn't get the device to use any profile other than 'headphones' instead of 4 speakers). Follow me, if you will. Setup: Laptop, Creative Sound Blaster external 24-bit USB break out box, Labtec 4.1 speaker system, Creative Digital I/O device, Xbox 360. No interference noise. I've tried every possible combination that I can think of, and I can't get any sound at all from the Xbox via the I/O device.
Turned on the Xbox hoping to have some surround sound love from the I/O module. Creative's solution was to set the Xbox to Digital Stereo output, and plug the 1/8" jack into the Line In port of the external Sound Blaster device. I double checked before making the purchase that it would work with the external device that had. After some research and a letter to Creative, I was dismayed to find out that the Sound Blaster Digital I/O module does NOT support digital sound. So, if by chance, you're trying to use the I/O device to get digital sound output, don't buy this product. Sorry. Before I purchased this device, I had been running the audio of my laptop through the Creative Labs USB Sound Blaster MP3+ External Sound Card Sound System Sound Blaster external USB device (please note, the link is to a product that is similar, but not precisely the same model), and out through the Labtec 4.1 speaker system. Nothing.
I just can't._._. Work.
I had audio from the Xbox coming through the speakers I used for my laptop (granted, no EAX abilities were available, but at least there was sound). It's not an issue of the I/O device not being compatible with the other Creative device that I have. I tried setting the Xbox to Digital Stereo, Digital Surround, and even the Digital WMA setting for the audio.
I ordered the Sound Blaster Digital I/O Module hoping that I would be able to use a TOSLink cable to get digital sound from the Xbox. What. Everything was fine.
I honestly don't know why they even make this doohickey, other than to lure in gadget geeks like me. So I'm back to using a cheapo Radio Shack 1/8" jack running into the external USB sound card to get audio from the Xbox.
I picked up this item since I use my PC as a lossless music server and use a outboard DAC for processing. Unless you need to use a optical connection, this item is not needed. Just go out and purchase a gold plated RCA to 1/8" adapter and throw it on the end of your coax cable. You'll also be cleaning up the signal path.
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