s/pdif?

  • Thread starter Thread starter supermodeltwins
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For some reason, when I see s/pdif written down, it reminds me of the acronym WTF.
... let's put it to some good use. :D

Would one of those cheap GTMax TOSLINK-to-coaxial converter boxes for home theater be acceptable to connect an MR-8 to an M-Audio Audiophile card?

Y' know, I've been wondering that forever. Glad someone had the sheer, unmitigated gall to ask.

Will no one answer this poor soul's question?

They're only $5, so I went ahead and ordered one. No big loss if it doesn't work.

Oh, sorry dude. I thought you were kidding. :D
I don't think it'll work, if it's the same thing I think it is. I tried this a couple of years ago, thinking that with the 'converter', I could get 8 tracks recording simultaneously on my DAW instead of 6. All the converters I came across were in the £200 region but this particular one was £24.99. It seemed, by all the blurb on the box, that it was what I was looking for.
It wasn't.
Still, it was cheap. The price of an education, as I like to put it. I later put it on ebay but I cannot for the life of me, remember if it sold or not. The conclusion has been erased from the hard drive of my mind.
 
though i'm not too tight with the science of it all, i'm gonna agree with the Grim and say it probably won't work. S/pdif with an RCA connector is incapable of carrying an optical signal, which is what i think makes it possible to transfer multiple tracks of digital audio so fast.
 
Now that I think of it, the dongle for my card has separate RCA jacks for left and right S/PDIF. So you're right, it wouldn't carry both.
 
You sure about that?

Usually you get s/pdif in and out, each of which are stereo but i've never seen s/pdif left and s/pdif right.
 
You sure about that?

Usually you get s/pdif in and out, each of which are stereo but i've never seen s/pdif left and s/pdif right.

I thought about that after I posted. :laughings:

So why wouldn't the adapter allow me to transfer stereo data to my sound card? I'm not talking about adding more tracks when tracking, just moving WAV files.
 
The disclaimer is, i don't know for sure.

but i think it's a format thing.
the mr8 output format is IEC 60958 (S/PDIF) apparently, but i can't find what the maudio is looking for.

I always found this confusing, cos my creative extigy accepts a dolby digital 5.1 signal over what it calls 's/pdif' (rca)

I guess the 6 channels are encoded, sent, and decoded, but i just don't know.
 
It's a digital connection protocol used to transfer digital audio from one device to another. It stands for Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format. Usually you'll see an RCA plug looking thingy for the sockets, but s/pdif also can use optical cables, where the sockets are little square dealies with a red light coming out of them (so they usually have a plug stuck in them).

The thing to remember about s/pdif is that both sending and receiving devices need to be digital-capable, and the data needs to already be digital. In other words, you can't connect an analog signal to send audio to a digital device with just a s/pdif connection. It does not convert analog to digital or vice versa.

Clear as mud?

Ken
 
The disclaimer is, i don't know for sure.

but i think it's a format thing.
the mr8 output format is IEC 60958 (S/PDIF) apparently, but i can't find what the maudio is looking for.

I always found this confusing, cos my creative extigy accepts a dolby digital 5.1 signal over what it calls 's/pdif' (rca)

I guess the 6 channels are encoded, sent, and decoded, but i just don't know.

Who should be blamed for this confusion? Bill Gates? Steve Jobs? :spank:
 
Jake! You douche-bag! You ruined the thread. Go climb a wall of dicks.
 
What does one expect to find at the top of said wall?

It's the journey, not the destination... err no wait.

I would imagine whatever you found at the top would be preferable to the climb. Hopefully it would be a place without so many dicks?


Just once I want an OP to come back here and say something like: "you people are all completely insane"
 

This is your brain on S/PDIF. Any questions? :D

She_Blinded_Me_with_Science.webp
 
Sounds like the noise a condenser makes when it hits the floor. SPDIF!! = "Oh S-PDIF-Fu**!!
 
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