creative audigy 2 ZS cables to cdrom and cd-rw

[beccabob]

is it true that nothing is gained by connectin the cdrom or cd rw to the audigy 2 ZS internally if you are using windows xp? are there ANY internal connections on this card that are a benefit for playing tunes on my pc?

 

[xboxizdope]

I bought my DVD burner as an OEM package, (just a drive in bubble wrap), not even realizing I was missing that internal audio cable. I was going to buy one at CompUSA till I saw the $30 price tag. I figured I just wouldn't be able to listen to music CD's, but that isn't true at all.

So far I have absolutely no clue what that cable even does....but I do have Windows XP so maybe it's a matter of what OS u have.

Enter Sig "Here"

 

[r2k]

It hasn't got anything to do with WinXP. Almost all optical drives (circa ~1996 and afterwards) have the option to digitally extract audio data from the AudioCD and send it as data over the IDE cable/IDE controller/whatever to the PC which then uses your sound card to decode and play it (i.e. the sound card uses its Digital-to-Analog Convertor to turn it into audible analog sound). This is done by enabling DAE (Digital Audio Extraction) in your drive's settings in Device Manager (and it's doable even in Win95). It's just that WinXP enables it by default.

Actually the above procedure is the best way to listen to AudioCDs because it bypasses the lower quality DAC of the optical drive itself. That cable is an analog connection between the drive and your sound card that sends audio that's come out of the drive's normally crappy DAC chip to the sound card's output ports. It can actually add noise to and lower the quality of your audio because it passes inside your computer's case which is full of EMI.