ADC & HD Audio Connector on MiSTer Mini-ITX Ironclad Plus

[aegisk]

I'm currently finalizing my MiSTer Mini-ITX Ironclad Plus build, using a RGEEK TX02 mini ITX case that has 2x USB and 2x mini-jack connectors (Line Out and Mic/Line-in?) on its front panel. I was wondering if and how I could re-route the ADC input on the back of the motherboard to the Mic/Line-on port on the front of the case. The case includes a cable with a standard 9-pin HD Audio connector. My specific questions are:

1. Does somebody know if the Ironclad's is already taking care of this by rerouting the ADC input through its HD Audio connector?
2. If not, would it be possible to use Dupont cables (male on both sides) and connect it to a cable that has a mini-jack on one side and pin-screw terminals on the other (e.g. like this one on Amazon)?

Thanks in advance, and I'm of course open to a better solution for this!

[mister_fan]

I don't have Ironclad but, is this impossible? Probably not. I'd just email the manufacturer about something specific like this.

My concern is jumper wires and screw terms don't really reject interference well. Someone more experienced with tape can comment, but I'd be worried about data integrity and definitely use solder and probably shielded wires.

This is a utility core for testing the ADC

Good luck to you

[aegisk]

Thanks for your answer. I imagined 2. wouldn't be ideal, so I'm hoping somebody can share a better way. I did contact the manufacturer and hope to hear back soon. If I do I will share the information here.

[mister_fan]

NP.
It helps to know your motivation here. So you are doing this because you don't want to run a cable out of the back of your case to the front for cosmetic reasons?

Am I correct in assuming you don't know how to solder? (I always used those crappy screw terminals before I knew how) If so, it is not hard to learn. You need to buy some stuff and be careful working with lead, but I truly believe all human beings can solder large scale parts stuff with a little practice. This is a skill that keeps on giving if you like retro electronics too.

From what I understand, and assuming you get the green light from d3fMod, you basically need to make a custom internal cable to 3.5mm TRS?

[aegisk]

My motivation is to indeed have a clean setup, without having to run cables externally when possible, and since one of the mini-jack ports on the front of my case isn't used for anything, it makes sense to me to use it for the ADC function. In regards to soldering, I'm actually quite proficient at it and fix/mod most of my electronics myself. I understand my 2nd point might suggest that this isn't the case, but I guess I was hoping that somebody would suggest a better, pre-built, store bought solution that didn't require me to create some kind of bespoke cabling.

[german_user]

The Board has also an HD Audio Connector, so you can conntect it there. The Manual of the Board has no pinout for it, so you had to ask for it.

[mister_fan]

In regards to soldering, I'm actually quite proficient at it

OK my bad maybe there's a way to probe the header somehow and see for yourself?

I mean it says HD audio, which should mean it should have the same pinout as this this pinout but....you can kill hardware in a PC if you somehow hooked this header up wrong so yeah.

I have a hunch this might require config on the Linux side too.

The other pitfall I can think of is some older PC case front audio jacks are wired for AC 97 sound which is NOT the same electrically as Intel HD Audio even though they share connectors.

That's all I got, good luck to you.

[aegisk]

In regards to soldering, I'm actually quite proficient at it

OK my bad maybe there's a way to probe the header somehow and see for yourself?

I mean it says HD audio, which should mean it should have the same pinout as this this pinout but....you can kill hardware in a PC if you somehow hooked this header up wrong so yeah.

I have a hunch this might require config on the Linux side too.

The other pitfall I can think of is some older PC case front audio jacks are wired for AC 97 sound which is NOT the same electrically as Intel HD Audio even though they share connectors.

That's all I got, good luck to you.

Thanks!! I reached out to the seller (who is notorious for taking a long time to answer) to make sure I'm not trying to fix something that doesn't neet do be fixed. As I mentioned before, I'll share my findings here just in case others have a similar question.

[german_user]

The Layout of the connector is the same for HDAUDIO and AC97. But the Pinout is not. Hope you get an answer and the Manual will be updated.

[aegisk]

For anybody interested, here's the answer I got back from the seller:

The ADC input is routed to the front audio connector of the case through the header on the motherboard. Audio output is not, as that jack is supposed to carry headphone audio levels, but right now the Ironclad only produces line-level audio output, which sounds too low for headphones.

He mentioned he will be announcing something very soon to address just that and give the Ironclad better audio quality with amplified sound for headphones. I suspect he's referring to the "IronClad Blaster FX add-on", as mentioned here https://www.d3fmod.com/mini-itx-ironcla ... _exp_conn..

There is also a way to connect the line level audio it currently has to the front jack. To achieve this, the points shown in the image below need to be bridged. There is no header on the points to the left, so you will have to solder a header or the cable directly:

WS5N9hab.jpg

Hope this is useful to somebody.

[mister_fan]

Nice work thank you