can somebody explain aes/ebu to me?

[treymonfauntre]

what are its advantages and disadvantages? i see it on some higher end gear, and it seems like its not very popular anymore? how does it compare to something like adat lightpipe?

i'm also very confused about d sub connections. any light you can shed on this would be very helpful.

i tried searching a few message boards but couldn't turn up much

[BigRay]

The type of digital transmission has no effect on the quality of the sound as long as no bits are dropped.. S/PDIF, AES/EBU, ADAT LightPipe are all equivalent.All protocols for transmitting digital audio.. The bits carried differs for each of the formats. S/PDIF is basically a domestic version of AES/EBU. LightPipe has the capability of carrying 4 stereo pairs concurrently (8 mono tracks) at up to 48KHz. Its capacity can also be utilised to carry 2 stereo pairs at 96KHz or 1 stereo pair at 192 KHz.

Barring short ADAT LightPipe runs, AES/EBU is normally prefered for professional use because of greater digital signal integrity over the sort of cable lengths encountered in studio and field situations. The Peak to Peak voltage of AES is higher than SPDIF.

[TimOBrien]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AES/EBU

[lpdeluxe]

http://www.rane.com/par-a.html#AES3

[dgatwood]

Short answer:

ADAT Lightpipe: 8 channel optical

S/PDIF: 2 channel optical (IEC 60958 Type III) or coaxial (IEC 60958 Type II)

AES/EBU (IEC 60958 Type I): 2 channel balanced copper

Beyond that, AES/EBU, with only a few subtle variations, is basically S/PDIF over a balanced twisted pair. It has longer range than coaxial S/PDIF. Most newer devices that speak one can speak the other, but you can run into subtle failures when you try to mix and match the two protocols, particularly with older devices, or so I'm told.

In theory, the range for optical S/PDIF should be nearly unlimited with proper repeaters. I think some devices can also speak AES/EBU over fiber, but I'm not certain. If not, you could always buy adapters to do the conversion and convert it back.

[dementedchord]

aes/ebu audio engeneering soc/european broadcast union ...definate advantage in cable run... as its a differential drive system... spdif if i remember right is sony's /pro dig interface format ... ya may want to check me on that one though.... if you want the good stuff it will have aes/ebu the packets of info are basically the same (data stream/markers etc...)

[Rstiltskin]

Originally Posted by dementedchord

aes/ebu audio engeneering soc/european broadcast union ...definate advantage in cable run... as its a differential drive system... spdif if i remember right is sony's /pro dig interface format ... ya may want to check me on that one though.... if you want the good stuff it will have aes/ebu the packets of info are basically the same (data stream/markers etc...)

of course this is like the difference between trivia and minutia.......

[j-boy]

Originally Posted by Rstiltskin

of course this is like the difference between trivia and minutia.......

... I thought S/PDIF was shorthand for 'Sony/Philips digital interface'?

[treymonfauntre]

Originally Posted by BigRay

The type of digital transmission has no effect on the quality of the sound as long as no bits are dropped.. S/PDIF, AES/EBU, ADAT LightPipe are all equivalent.All protocols for transmitting digital audio.. The bits carried differs for each of the formats. S/PDIF is basically a domestic version of AES/EBU. LightPipe has the capability of carrying 4 stereo pairs concurrently (8 mono tracks) at up to 48KHz. Its capacity can also be utilised to carry 2 stereo pairs at 96KHz or 1 stereo pair at 192 KHz.

Barring short ADAT LightPipe runs, AES/EBU is normally prefered for professional use because of greater digital signal integrity over the sort of cable lengths encountered in studio and field situations. The Peak to Peak voltage of AES is higher than SPDIF.

thank you very much. quick question though.. 8 lightpipe channels can only be 48khz, but can it be 24 bit? if not then i guess this would be the advantage of firewire interfaces?

[ez_willis]

Originally Posted by j-boy

... I thought S/PDIF was shorthand for 'Sony/Philips digital interface'?

It is.

..........

[ez_willis]

Originally Posted by treymonfauntre

8 lightpipe channels can only be 48khz, but can it be 24 bit?

Yes.

...............

[treymonfauntre]

alright, thats good. thanks a ton everybody!