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S/PDIF w/ Diamond MX300 (MX25 option)

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  • #1

    S/PDIF w/ Diamond MX300 (MX25 option)

    I'm finally upgrading my HT analog preamp and surround processor to a digital pre/pro. I've been playing DVDs through my PC using a Diamond MX300 sound card for analog stereo output to my HT (and using my G400 Max for video ). I bought the MX25 option (S/PDIF digital audio output) years ago and its finally time to blow off the dust on the box and install this puppy. The card comes with v1.02 SW which includes "updated" MX300 drivers and Zoran SoftDVD to run on Win98. I haven't done any installing yet and I thought I'd check if anyone knew if there were any updates to this SW and where I'd get it. A W2K version of the driver would be great but I doubt there ever was such a thing. Am I stuck with the Zoran player or will other players support the MX25 output? I doubt there are many people who've played with this option card but it doesn't hurt to ask.
    <TABLE BGCOLOR=Red><TR><TD><Font-weight="+1"><font COLOR=Black>The world just changed, Sep. 11, 2001</font></Font-weight></TR></TD></TABLE>
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  • #2
    Yeesh.

    Unless the MX25 is a reference implementation of the Aureal S/PDIF output, you're screwed. The extension bracket on the Montego II Quadzilla is an expensive slot-cover at this point.

    - Gurm
    The Internet - where men are men, women are men, and teenage girls are FBI agents!

    I'm the least you could do
    If only life were as easy as you
    I'm the least you could do, oh yeah
    If only life were as easy as you
    I would still get screwed

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    • #3
      How would an Aureal S/PDIF reference implementation help me? Does someone provide drivers and/or players for that implementation? What O/S'es? I wouldn't be surprised that Diamond used it if Aureal did indeed spec out an S/PDIF implementation. I shouldn't be totally screwed anyway in that I can boot up my Win98 disk when I want to view DVDs and use the packaged SW. I'll be picking up a DVDR w/ HDD in the coming months when the new models come out so I'll quit using my PC for DVD viewing then anyway but I need the PC for now.
      <TABLE BGCOLOR=Red><TR><TD><Font-weight="+1"><font COLOR=Black>The world just changed, Sep. 11, 2001</font></Font-weight></TR></TD></TABLE>

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      • #4
        I might be wrong on this, but, I also have a Diamond MX300 audio card (no S/PDIF). The drivers in XP (comes built in to the OS) have settings for S/PDIF. You have to dig a little to get to it, but its there. I have no clue how or even if it does work. But assuming it does work, it should be as easy as hooking up the S/PDIF in hardware and enabling the S/PDIF settings in the speaker/volume settings.

        I hope this helps! Good luck!

        PS I think windows 2000 also had built in drivers for the MX300, but don't quote me on that.
        Go Bunny GO!


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        • #5
          The reference drivers would mean that you DO NOT need "add-on" drivers from Diamond.

          Diamond's last set of drivers for the MX300 were a while before Aureal's last set of drivers.

          If you can use Aureal reference drivers, you can get pretty current stuff running fairly well, and still have the SPDIF. But if it's proprietary, you're limited to Diamond's drivers, etc. etc.

          The Montego II Quadzilla had a proprietary output on the spdif, because its daughtercard also had the rear channel plug on it and whatnot. Bleh.

          - Gurm
          The Internet - where men are men, women are men, and teenage girls are FBI agents!

          I'm the least you could do
          If only life were as easy as you
          I'm the least you could do, oh yeah
          If only life were as easy as you
          I would still get screwed

          Comment

          • #6
            I'm using the Microsoft Aureal drivers currently in W2K but I haven't pushed the functionality of the card much so I don't know the extent of the compatibity with my HW. The W2K Aureal Vortex 8830 Audio driver is v5.00.2184.1 (the adm8830.sys file shows v5.00.2169.1). Can you recommend any newer reference drivers for W2K? The MX25 CD contains v1.03 Win98 drivers which are based on Aureal build 4.06.2017. It also includes NT 4.0 drivers. The last diamond drivers that I had downloaded were v1.02 which also are based on Aureal build 4.06.2017 but with some extras that were stripped out in v1.03. The last Win98 drivers that I was using were the latest Aureal reference drivers which are 4.06.2048. The Zoran SoftDVD version is 1.125_9. I don't know if this is an MX25 specific version of SoftDVD or if any S/PDIF capable player will work. I'll go ahead and break the seal on the antistatic bag and go for it today or tomorrow. Maybe I'll get lucky with the Microsoft drivers on W2K .
            <TABLE BGCOLOR=Red><TR><TD><Font-weight="+1"><font COLOR=Black>The world just changed, Sep. 11, 2001</font></Font-weight></TR></TD></TABLE>

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            • #7
              I notice that Vortex of Sound has newer W2K drivers (5.12.1.2559 (BETA)). Does anybody have experience with this set?
              <TABLE BGCOLOR=Red><TR><TD><Font-weight="+1"><font COLOR=Black>The world just changed, Sep. 11, 2001</font></Font-weight></TR></TD></TABLE>

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              • #8
                Originally posted by cking4
                xortam: are there any drivers that you are aware of offer support for A3D in 2K, or did that go away forever
                when we left 9x?
                The A3D apps I tried didn't work with the W2K shipped driver but its possible its the apps' problem themselves: Half-Life Day One, which shipped with the MX300, complained about needing SP3. I haven't tried the beta driver from Vortex Of Sound yet nor have I had a chance to plug in the MX25.
                <TABLE BGCOLOR=Red><TR><TD><Font-weight="+1"><font COLOR=Black>The world just changed, Sep. 11, 2001</font></Font-weight></TR></TD></TABLE>

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                • #9
                  The Aureal Reference W2K 5.12.2559 driver is capable of SPDIF output, even the AC-3 pass-through function. I have been using it for more than 2 years. But I don't have a MX25. Instead, I connected the SPDIF TTL out to SB Live! value on another machine before, and now use a motherboard-bundled SPDIF in/out bracket given by my friend.

                  The connector pin-out on MX300 can be found via Google search engine. The only thing to do is to find out the SPDIF out, GND, +5v pins and make the connection to the corresponding pins on the Optical or Coaxial SPDIF out bracket.

                  Don't use the latest Windows XP driver available via Windows Update. The SPDIF output function is disabled in this version.
                  P4-2.8C, IC7-G, G550

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by WayneHu
                    The Aureal Reference W2K 5.12.2559 driver is capable of SPDIF output, even the AC-3 pass-through function. ...
                    Thanks Wayne. Have you tested AC-3 with the shipped v5.00.2184.1 drivers? How about A3D? My pre/pro doesn't show up until mid next week so I won't be able to test AC-3 output until then.
                    <TABLE BGCOLOR=Red><TR><TD><Font-weight="+1"><font COLOR=Black>The world just changed, Sep. 11, 2001</font></Font-weight></TR></TD></TABLE>

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by xortam
                      Thanks Wayne. Have you tested AC-3 with the shipped v5.00.2184.1 drivers? How about A3D? My pre/pro doesn't show up until mid next week so I won't be able to test AC-3 output until then.
                      I haven't played games for a long time. Thus I do not remember if the built-in driver's A3D function work or not. The version 2159 reference driver has A3D functions. But I heard there were some issues in some games. The old Aureal Vortex 2 Win2K driver had a lot of issues with non-Intel or non-AMD chipset before. I met this problem with Abit KT-7A. For the recent two years, I always use the MB with Intel chipsets. Thus I do not know if the new drivers done by Microsoft have already solved them without additional PCI register patches.

                      The MX300's sound quality is really good compared to SB Live! series. The bad thing is the driver support. Thus most of my friends have given it up and use SB Audigy series.
                      P4-2.8C, IC7-G, G550

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