stupid question on ADAT and SPDIF

[blarg]

I was hoping somebody could help me, but what's the difference between ADAT and SPDIF, and are the two compatible. Can an optical ADAT plug into an Optical SPDIF.

 

[bennychico11]

well, SPDIF and ADAT aren't cables/connectors. SPDIF is a digital format while ADAT is actually a digital tape format created by Alesis which later became known as it's own digital format. ADAT stands for Alesis Digital Audio Tape and S/PDIF is Sony/Phillips Digital Interconnect Format.

what you're asking about I'm assuming are what cables the two formats are sent down. The ADAT format uses a TOSLINK connector, connected to optical fibers originally created by Toshiba which is able to send 8 separate audio tracks down the cable. S/PDIF is a coax cable with RCA connectors that was adapted from AES/EBUs 2 channel, twisted pair, XLR connectors....but S/PDIF is still only able to send 2 channels.

The two formats can be used together as long as there is a converter inbetween them. M-Audio sells one I think.

Hope that helps.

 

[Track Rat]

The optical TOSLINK cable that carries S/PDIF and the ADAT optical cable are the same but that's where the similarity ends. You'd need a converter of some kind to get them to talk.