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After installing the sound card, the next
step is connecting any internal components and cables to the sound
card. A common connection is cabling the CD-ROM or DVDROM drive to the
sound card to produce digital audio. All CD-ROM drives have an analog
audio out connector for connecting to a sound card. This four-wire
connection uses the CD-ROM's D/A (digital to analog) converter to pass
two-channel analog audio to the sound card for output through
connected speakers. These connectors are labeled as analog audio out
and keyed on both the CD-ROM and sound card to ensure the correct type
of connection.
Most DVDROM drives (as well as some newer CD-ROM drives) offer a digital audio out connection. DVDs are capable of audio streams containing multiple channels. A multispeaker sound card can separate these channels and output them using the correct speakers to create a surround-sound environment. The two-wire digital audio connectors are labeled and keyed on both the drive and sound card to ensure proper connection. After making one or more connections between the sound card and a drive, it is usually required to configure the connection using the sound card setup application. |