I've got an optical output on my USB sound card. I want to connect it to
two Behringer DCX-2496 crossovers, that have "AES/EBU" inputs which have an
XLR connection. So the problem is threefold:

1) I have to "convert" the optical output to a coaxial
2) I have to adapt the coaxial to an XLR connection
3) I have to split it to two pieces

Are there any devices that do this for me? I need to keep the USB sound
card because my application calls for the sound card being powered off the
USB port.

"MZ" wrote ...
I've got an optical output on my USB sound card. I want
to connect it to two Behringer DCX-2496 crossovers, that
have "AES/EBU" inputs which have an XLR connection.
So the problem is threefold:

1) I have to "convert" the optical output to a coaxial
2) I have to adapt the coaxial to an XLR connection
3) I have to split it to two pieces

Are there any devices that do this for me? I need to keep
the USB sound card because my application calls for the
sound card being powered off the USB port.

If you want to make something yourself, you can go directly from
Toslink optical to AES/EBU. The info needed to do this is here...
http://www.epanorama.net/documents/audio/spdif.html
I'd guess that it would cost much less than $20

Dunno if you can buy something off the shelf to do this, but if you
can, I'd expect it to cost significantly more than your sound card.

Richard Crowley wrote:

Dunno if you can buy something off the shelf

Behringer SRC2000 or SRC2496

Sander

On Sat, 21 May 2005 18:46:48 -0400, "MZ"
wrote:

I've got an optical output on my USB sound card. I want to connect it to
two Behringer DCX-2496 crossovers, that have "AES/EBU" inputs which have an
XLR connection. So the problem is threefold:

1) I have to "convert" the optical output to a coaxial
2) I have to adapt the coaxial to an XLR connection
3) I have to split it to two pieces

Are there any devices that do this for me? I need to keep the USB sound
card because my application calls for the sound card being powered off the
USB port.

Behringer make format-conversion boxes. They need power though,
which maybe makes your requirement for a USB-powered audio interface
irrelevant?

Have you tried an analogue audio connection? Can you REALLY hear the
difference?

"MZ" wrote in message
...
I've got an optical output on my USB sound card. I want
to connect it to
two Behringer DCX-2496 crossovers, that have "AES/EBU"
inputs which have an
XLR connection. So the problem is threefold:

1) I have to "convert" the optical output to a coaxial

http://www.impactacoustics.com/produ...1007&sku=40019

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cg...P-OPTICAL-COAX

etc.

2) I have to adapt the coaxial to an XLR connection

http://www.murraypro.com/spdif.htm

http://www.fullcompass.com/Products/pages/SKU--17818/

http://vantageaudio.com/info/spdif.htm

http://www.globalvideoconf.com/Digit...o%20Cables.htm

Do it all in one step:

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/a...pters.html#c03

3) I have to split it to two pieces

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/a...s.html#pof-810

Are there any devices that do this for me? I need to keep
the USB sound
card because my application calls for the sound card being
powered off the
USB port.

Behringer make format-conversion boxes. They need power though,
which maybe makes your requirement for a USB-powered audio interface
irrelevant?

Have you tried an analogue audio connection? Can you REALLY hear the
difference?

I don't know. I'm guessing the difference would probably be negligible.
But I wanted to stick with the digital output because I'll basically have 4
pieces in the chain, and remaining digital through three of them will make
it more immune to noise and ground loops and whatever else in a noisy car.
It'll also allow me to skip an extra stage of D/A - A/D conversion.

"MZ" wrote in message
...
Behringer make format-conversion boxes. They need power though,
which maybe makes your requirement for a USB-powered audio interface
irrelevant?

Have you tried an analogue audio connection? Can you REALLY hear the
difference?

I don't know. I'm guessing the difference would probably be negligible.
But I wanted to stick with the digital output because I'll basically have
4
pieces in the chain, and remaining digital through three of them will make
it more immune to noise and ground loops and whatever else in a noisy car.
It'll also allow me to skip an extra stage of D/A - A/D conversion.

Seems to me that the "noisy car" (your words) will mask any effect
of using analog vs. digital in a vechicle installation.

I don't know. I'm guessing the difference would probably be negligible.
But I wanted to stick with the digital output because I'll basically
have
4
pieces in the chain, and remaining digital through three of them will
make
it more immune to noise and ground loops and whatever else in a noisy
car.
It'll also allow me to skip an extra stage of D/A - A/D conversion.

Seems to me that the "noisy car" (your words) will mask any effect
of using analog vs. digital in a vechicle installation.

Yeah. As I said, the difference is probably negligible. That is, until you
have to start competing with ground loops and the like between the different
devices, which by necessity are all powered and grounded at different spots.
I have, in fact, tested this notion by running the unbalanced analog output
directly from the sound blaster device (powered by the USB port) to the
amplifiers, and voila, alternator whine. With this setup, eliminating the
noise isn't trivial. So, sticking with the digital output, routing it to a
pair of crossovers (run off a power inverter) while staying digital until
the last moment - running balanced analog outputs to the amplifiers - gives
me no noise at all. Basically, all the pieces involved are capable of
digital in/out, so I figured the car would be the ideal place to make use of
the capability.

"MZ" writes:

I don't know. I'm guessing the difference would probably be negligible.
But I wanted to stick with the digital output because I'll basically
have
4
pieces in the chain, and remaining digital through three of them will
make
it more immune to noise and ground loops and whatever else in a noisy
car.
It'll also allow me to skip an extra stage of D/A - A/D conversion.

Seems to me that the "noisy car" (your words) will mask any effect
of using analog vs. digital in a vechicle installation.

Yeah. As I said, the difference is probably negligible. That is, until you
have to start competing with ground loops and the like between the different
devices, which by necessity are all powered and grounded at different spots.
I have, in fact, tested this notion by running the unbalanced analog output
directly from the sound blaster device (powered by the USB port) to the
amplifiers, and voila, alternator whine. With this setup, eliminating the
noise isn't trivial.

How about putting some good quality audio signal isolation
transformers on the line... Those break the ground loop nicely.

Or using balanced interface.

So, sticking with the digital output, routing it to a
pair of crossovers (run off a power inverter) while staying digital until
the last moment - running balanced analog outputs to the amplifiers - gives
me no noise at all.

This is a good approach.

Basically, all the pieces involved are capable of
digital in/out, so I figured the car would be the ideal place to make use of
the capability.



--
Tomi Engdahl (http://www.iki.fi/then/)
Take a look at my electronics web links and documents at
http://www.epanorama.net/