Have no HDMI in my house. I can convert HDMI to DVI and run it into monitors, but that leaves me with no digital audio. The RPI is weak enough that I would rather offload the audio rendering to a receiver. What inexpensive and cpu efficient ways have you found to get optical or coax spdif / toslink passthrough?
[Q] SPDIF audio passthrough possibilities for RPi?
- Thread starter fields_g
- Start date
More than I was expecting to pay, but it's an option that I did not know was available. I've used DACs for audio recordings. Does anyone know if there is considerably less cpu overhead for those vs the onboard analog out and some that have been tested with XBMC Rpi distros?
The HiFiBerry Digi is an S/PDIF output (can be found on the same web site). The HiFiBerry DAC has been tested with Raspbmc. The support in the current version still does not work, but the january release of Raspbmc should fix this. I would expect that the HiFiBerry Digi will also be supported in Raspbmc soon (but not in the january release).
I don't have did any tests with the onboard sound, but with the HiFiBerry DAC there is only a minimal CPU load, as data transfer to the sound card is mostly done via DMA.
Best regards
Daniel
I'd probably go with the hifiberry AS it just fits and isn't too expensive. There are pretty cheap bay China USB China sound cards, they work ootb with raspbian. Or you go full high end with the Buffalo DAC 
which is what i did. I know, it's just Voodoo...
D802 @ AOSPA 4.4
which is what i did. I know, it's just Voodoo...D802 @ AOSPA 4.4
Hi, I just stumbled upon this old post. Anyway, here's how I resolved the same problem:
Buy HDMI to HDMI + SPDIF + Analog converter from eBay, plug it in and you're good to go.
I'm not allowed to post links so: search for "hdmi spdif", select order by price+P&P: lowest first. It' the one like on the image.
It's true passthrough (Dolby, DTS), and you don't need any kernel modules, and you get to keep it or use it elsewhere, unlike with HiFiBerry.
...and you get a free set of knives :laugh:
here are the flags from config.txt:
config_hdmi_boost=4
hdmi_drive=2 (I think this one is important)
Buy HDMI to HDMI + SPDIF + Analog converter from eBay, plug it in and you're good to go.
I'm not allowed to post links so: search for "hdmi spdif", select order by price+P&P: lowest first. It' the one like on the image.
It's true passthrough (Dolby, DTS), and you don't need any kernel modules, and you get to keep it or use it elsewhere, unlike with HiFiBerry.
...and you get a free set of knives :laugh:
here are the flags from config.txt:
config_hdmi_boost=4
hdmi_drive=2 (I think this one is important)
