Subject: Re: digital cables
Date: 19 Aug 1999 23:16:13 GMT
From: Geir <arholler@online.no>
Organization: Telenor Online Public Access
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end

Nicolas Hodges wrote:

> Can anyone outline the technical, demonstrable differences between > spdif, toslink, aes/ebu and at&t in their transmission of the data.

SPDIF and AES/EBU are communication "protocols" used in transfer of digital data; ie. they define a set of rules for what the different bits in the data-stream mean. For example, some bits contain the music-information, som bits contain error-correction codes, som bits contain other information about the music like the track-number on the CD.

SPDIF and AES/EBU are compatible when it comes to what information is carried in the bit-stream. However, the AES/ABU-protocol defines a balanced transmission-line whereas the SPDIF uses a single ended line (or optical). The AES/EBU and SPDIF-protocoll also have a little different "sub-code"-information, i.e. the "extra-bits" in the data-stream have a little different meaning, although the music-information is identical. But again, "music-quality-wise" there is no difference between the two protocols.

Toslink is a connector from Toshiba used in optical data-transmission. It is not a communication protocol like SPDIF and AES/EBU therefore it would be wrong to talk about "the differences between SPDIF and Toslink".

regards, Geir