Sony DRU510A - Newebie question here...

[terue5b0]

Hi. What is the analog audio output connector (4 pin) for on the DRU510A? Aren't those usually for the front headphone jacks on optical drives like these? Thanks for any help!!!

[dodecahedron]

this is for a cable that connects the optical drive to the sound card.

here's a few relevant topics:
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=8769
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=8421
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=9179
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=10186
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=9606

[terue5b0]

I use my onboard sound and it only has one set of headers (inputs) to connect to a CD-ROM drive. I have a Sony DRU510A and a Samsung SM-352BRNS. Do both of these drives support sending their audio signals through the IDE cable? The Sony does not have a front headphone output, but the Samsung does, do I have to connect the Samsung's analog port to the sound card's headers (inputs) to get the headphone jack on the front of it to work? I know there will be some CPU and memory load (hopefully not too much). Thanks for any help!

[CDRecorder]

No, you don't need to connect the analog audio cable to make the headphone jack work; it'll work fine on its own. Any relatively recent drive should support sending audio through the IDE cable (known as digital audio extraction, or DAE), so you should be able to play CDs fine without that cable. If you're using Windows XP, your drives probably use DAE by default to play audio CDs anyway.

BTW, the headphone jack on the Samsung won't work when you are playing discs with DAE.

[terue5b0]

No, you don't need to connect the analog audio cable to make the headphone jack work; it'll work fine on its own. Any relatively recent drive should support sending audio through the IDE cable (known as digital audio extraction, or DAE), so you should be able to play CDs fine without that cable. If you're using Windows XP, your drives probably use DAE by default to play audio CDs anyway.

BTW, the headphone jack on the Samsung won't work when you are playing discs with DAE.

So I don't have to have the analog audio cable hooked up for the headphone jack to work. The Samsung can be connected with just an IDE cable and the headphone jack will work. What are DAE discs and why doesn't the headphone jack work when playing those?

So there is no use for the analog audio port on the back of the DRU510A except for if you have a slow system or your system doesn't support sending the audio through the IDE cable?

Thanks again!!!

[CDRecorder]

Yes, the headphone jack will indeed work if you connect the audio cable. However, it still won't work if you're playing audio by DAE.

[terue5b0]

Yes, the headphone jack will indeed work if you connect the audio cable. However, it still won't work if you're playing audio by DAE.

So if I connect the Samsung with just the IDE cable, the headphone jack will work, but not when playing DAE audio. What are DAE discs and DAE audio? Thanks again!

[CDRecorder]

Basically, the headphone jack will always work when the drive is playing audio using analog audio, but the headphone jack will never work when the drive is playing audio using DAE.

DAE stands for Digital Audio Extraction. This is the name for the process of transferring the audio signals to the computer through the IDE cable instead of the 4-pin audio cable.

Analog audio is when the drive is transferring the audio signals to the computer through the 4-pin audio cable.

Personally, I just plug my headphones into my speakers or my computer and play audio CDs using DAE. I don't use the 4-pin audio cable at all except in my 10-year-old 66-MHz PC which is probably too slow for DAE, but I don't use that computer much.

[terue5b0]

Since the Sony DRU510A does not have a headphone jack, but does have a 4 pin analog port on the back, will I gain or lose anything from connecting its 4 pin analog port to the sound card? Thanks.

[CDRecorder]

I don't think you should connect its 4 pin analog port to the sound card. Just use the Samsung drive for playing audio CDs, and you'll be fine.