Digital I/O

  • Thread starter Thread starter drstawl
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drstawl

drstawl

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A friend just got the TASCAM CD-RW5000 external burner and he wants to use it to burn a few digital copies of his CDRs. He mixes directly from a nice analog system. The
website claims this unit has AES/EBU digital I/O. What the heck is that? I found a picture of one on a Zefiro sound card http://www.sbfilmaudio.com/zefiro.html
and it looks like an XLR version of the S/PDIF. But will these be compatible with S/PDIF output from another CD player? DAT deck? MD? Gina?

Just back from the toy store- where I was told there are 3 obstacles to conversion between AES/EBU and S/PDIF. One is the physical connector style- XLR vs. RCA. A second is the impedance expected, and the 3rd is the actual format of the data stream, modified to accomodate extra "check-bits" to increase data integrity beyond the S/PDIF standard. Is this guy correct?
Can someone verify this info?

[This message has been edited by drstawl (edited 07-17-1999).]
 
Just found this post. I know this question was answered under "Soundcards..." BBS, but I thought I'd echo it here in case anyone else is wondering.

>

Both coaxial (RCA) and optical ins and outs which are for SPDIF
as well as XLR for AES/EBU in (no out ... which is frustrating)
As far as analog ... it's got both balanced and unbalanced.
I had the same thought as far as making dups ... A CD player with s/pdif digital outs should work just fine.
He shouldn't need a separate duplicator.
I can see how those sales guys don't know what format these inputs are because the CDRW5000 doesn't display spdif anywhere on it display. It visually switches from "Coaxial" "Optical" and "AES/EBU" ... no mention of the s/pdif format at all.
In the manual, however it tells you that both Optical and Coaxial inputs are for s/pdif format.

>
 
So an XLR jack pair accomodates both the S/PDIF and AES/EBU signals in and out? With the current selection displayed on the front panel. How about the optical? And are these three selections mutually exclusive, like a radio button?
 
AES/EBU is only supported by the single XLR jack. This jack does NOT support spdif. And there is no output from the Tascam in AES/EBU format, only input. The only use for the digital XLR jack is for AES/EBU format (there are other XLR jacks ... but those are for balanced analog only).
Spdif is supported by the coaxial (RCA) and optical jacks only. You can use either of these jacks to get the signal in, and then select which one you want to use on the front panel display (by pressing the "Digital Input" button). This button cycles between the three connectors: XLR (AES/EBU), Coaxial (SPDIF) and Optical (SPDIF). So, you are correct, the choice of digital input is exclusive ... You can't use more than one digital input at a time.
If you wind up getting a CD Player to make dups, let me know what kind you get.

Here's a couple links that may help you out: http://www.tascam.com/tascam_updates/Spec_charts/CDRW5000_SPEC.HTM
http://www.tascam.com/PDFfiles/PRODUCT_SPECS/CDPLAYER/CD-RW5000.pdf

PS: You'll need Acrobat Reader to view the .pdf file



[This message has been edited by BigKahuna (edited 07-25-1999).]
 
That pretty much nails it down. The whole owner's manual in .pdf! Thanks for that link.
 
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