X-Fi Case Front panel Audio Adapter Mod.

I have come to a point where I require the headphone jack on my case. The X-Fi I/O panel works fine but in order to keep my Buttkicker plugged in I have to leave my case door open. I found an article that shows how-to build your own adapter. The way I understand it, the FP audio header on the motherboard only functions with the on-board audio and as of ZS2 there is no case front panel audio connection on the cards. However there is a proprietary connection you make an adapter for. It would allow you to connect the cable for FP audio directly to your X-Fi. I'm ordering parts from Digikey this week and will start the mod next week. The same thing is possible on the ZS2 but a little different, there's a blog about it somewhere.
Has anyone attempted this before? I'll let you know how it goes.

http://img482.imageshack.us/img482/3...pmodbq5.th.jpg

MaximumPC ftw. I'm sure it'll work out fine for you, but good luck anyways.

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Originally Posted by Shpoon

MaximumPC ftw. I'm sure it'll work out fine for you, but good luck anyways.

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Yeah, as long as I don't muck anything up, it should be fine. I trust MaximumPC tested this out a bit before print. I thought it would be a good one to post, a freind of mine was also looking for it.

This is the same Mod for the Audigy ZS2. http://audigy2zshowto.blogspot.com/

Bump, Well I can tell you all the mod when just fine. I finished it up last night and it works like a charm. Now I can keep my door closed and connect the buttkicker to the headphone jack on the side of the case. The parts I used cost less than 3 bucks, why creative doesn’t include some kind of connection is beyond me. I did have to spend near 28 bucks due to minimum quantity requirements and shipping. Had to buy 100 each of the two types of end connectors, 10 white connectors and I just bought 5 black cuz you never know. Maximum PC's directions are 100% correct. Those little tiny end pieces for the white connecter were hard to crimp with my crappie needle nose pliers but we're good to go.

I just created this cable for my audigy 2zs. I even created a little circuit using 2 resistors and a npn switching transistor to mute the back panel speakers when headphones are plugged in.

The blog you were refering to is here: http://audigy2zshowto.blogspot.com/

I posted some comments on it, along with my circuit if anyone wants to use it/improve on it, ect.

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Today I got my parts to make the cable from digikey, and while trying to figure out how i can utilize the mute pins of the SB A2ZS I relized my mistake (when grounded, they mute the backpanel speakers). With the headphone unplugged the R/L_Return is ~46 ohms, close enough to ground the mute. So if we were to connect it to the mute pins (3/5) it would cause the backpanel speakers to mute, w/ no head phones plugged in = no sound. If we plug in the headphones, the R/L_Retern floats (not grounded anymore), so the mute pins (3/5) are no longer grounded - now we have sound on both the headphones and back panel speakers. This is the opposite of what we need... but we have something that toggles when headphones are plugged_in/removed. So i came up with a little circuit from some parts I had laying around in order to invert the signal of the R/L_Return. It uses only 3 components: 2 resistors and a NPN Switching transistor (PN2222A). here's a link to a schematic of my circuit:
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2...circuitbx8.jpg
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2...circuitbx8.jpg

I just created this in the past hour or so, and so far it is working great. hopefully things stay working great :)

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Edit: woops, that should be pins 3/5 for the mute pins in the schematic :P

since you had to buy a bunch of the connectors, put some together an sell 'em

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Originally Posted by smopoim86

since you had to buy a bunch of the connectors, put some together an sell 'em

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I was thinking the same, make some loot back :P :stick:

Just saw a cable on ebay last week that did this, sombody is making them and selling them custom made.

I may have to do somthing similar since I have the cheap version of the card without the I/O box and my case does not have headphone jacks on it I actually may make a all in one that goes from the card into a headphone jack.

Hows the amping power from the card directly? I want to hook up some HD595's or also looking into the japanese brand phones that we have some threads about here on the forums.

This connector is used in Creative Slix PC. Anyway, I used it in a lot easier manner than the author of the hack posted above.

Because I needed just the output and no muting, I just cut off that small white 4-pin connector from a spare CD-ROM audio cable (the one you usually do not use anyway) leaving enough wire on it for soldering, shuffled its pins to match L, R and GND at J1 and it worked.

It fits perfectly because it has the same spacing and above all it is free. I guess some folks like to do things the hard way instead of trying to notice the obvious. I mean digital calipers, give me a break.

I was wondering if any of those whom did this mod were able to get the mic to work. My headphones work but not the mic. I tried to put a cut off connector in the back of the xfi input but that did not work either.

If anyone knows where yo buy the cable on ebay i would really appreciate.

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Originally Posted by dlcmdr

If anyone knows where yo buy the cable on ebay i would really appreciate.

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Same here. Don't need a bunch of connectors that I will never use sitting around (and not to mention I don't want to spend excess)