Cable Box Digital 5.1 converted to Digital Stereo

First, the signals are stereo as Dolby 2.0, so the conversion needed is to PCM 2.0.

Second, it is questionable whether these signals will benefit much (if at all) from the use of a good external DAC.

Third, if your cable box has HDMI output, you can get one of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDMI-Dolby-DTS-PCM-5-1-7-1-To-Optical-Digital-Audio-Converter-Decoder-/230840436904

I wouldn't bother.

Kr4, Thanks for your comments.
The HDMI signal is going to my TV.

More info:
I own a Tascam DA-300 recorder. With this recorder, I could record hours of uninterrupted music then edit what I would like to keep to an external hardrive.

So, I guess my question now becomes is there any way to convert the Dolby digital to stereo PCM?

if your tv has an optical output it will most likely deliver a 24/48k stereo PCM signal to the DAC.....

Cable boxes have 2 menus for adjustment, a user menu and a service menu. Sometimes the adjustment mentioned by Labtec is in the service menu, and you will need a code to access it. Here is an example accessing a service menu. Your cable company will not likely give you the code to access the service menu, however, a search using your cable box name and model may find it.

My Comcast box will only output dolby bitstream, even if I set it to stereo in the main audio menu and in the setup menu that is invoked by pressing menu with the unit off....Comcast had no idea how to help me so fortunately my TV's dac downmixes to stereo pcm. Good luck, maybe you'll talk to a rep that's knowledgeable.

Give the tv optical output a try if so equipped. I am using optical to my NAD M51 dac and tv and netflix have never sounded better.