What is S/PDIF

[Steenamaroo]

Fixed it for you.

LOL.

He did acknowledge wikipedia originally.
Must have edited that out or something.

 

[Bobbsy]

I guess school didn't pay off I didn't know that spdif could be use in a to slink manner as well, I guess I always just assumed that ADAT 8ch was the only thing that lightpipe was used for, thanks for the enlightenment. But am I correct in assuming that in real world applications that spdif is mostly RCA and ADAT is mostly only toslink?

Curse you Pahtcub! I've never thought of splitting up TOSLINK as "to slink" instead of "tos link" before but your typo has imprinted itself in my limited brain.

I was connecting up some lightpipe gear this morning, remembered "to slink" and started slinking behind my mixer like a spy. Then I started mentally calling the lighpipe cables "slinkies" and started giggling.

Small things amuse small minds.

Anyhow, one other thought on S/PDIF. The format is based on the professional AES3 format which is pretty common in pro grade gear. With the right adaptors (and some "if" and "but" caveats) you can often connect AES gear into an S/PDIF port, opening lots of doors if you find some good pro gear on fleabay.

 

[ecc83]

S/PDIF can also use 75 ohm BNC.

Indeed it can and if you have several S/PDIF devices and the need to patch/route them fairly regularly BNC is a far more robust and better matched connector (assuming you are using good quality 75R co-ax)

FYI, I did some tests about 2 years ago where I ran S/PDIF thru' 30mtrs of "digital" quality TV downlead, on a drum, with about 2mtr "tops and tails". The signals transferred perfectly.
You can also buy "baluns" to match 75R co-ax to 100R CAT5 data cable and this is said to enable distances of 100mtrs+, not tried that although I have sent MIDI quite reliably down 40mtrs of CAT 5e!

Dave.

 

[WaveMachines]

As far as I know it's a green headphone jack on the back of the computer that I never use. Pretty sure it's antiquated tech.