Electronic – Split 3.5mm audio signal

audio

I want to make a VU Meter and in order to do this I need an audio input for the VU Meter but also I want to be able to listen to the music on my PC of course. I wanted to know if I can use one of those cheap 3.5mm splitters (attached image) and get no quality loss (for the VU Meter is not mandatory but for the speakers is necessary), or how can I achieve this task.
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At first I tried using 2 outputs of my motherboard audio card but I configured to use one of them as lateral speakers (for the VUM. signal) and the main as frontal speakers but Windows doesn't reproduce the audio in both just in one, so I need another alternative.

Best Answer

Using a splitter in this way will put the VU meter and the input to your speakers in parallel. As long as the input impedance of your VU meter is high, this won't pose a problem. A traditional (analog) VU meter, is not a low impedance load, so you would want to buffer and drive the meter with appropriate circuitry. A modern commercial VU module, on the other hand, is likely to buffer the input appropriately, in which case you should be able to plug and play.