S/PDIF Splitting

[Sean B]

Hello,

So if I want to fan-out a s/pdif signal, how do the boxes that do this accomplish it? Is is just a wide-band analog amplifier, or do they use digital logic?

Such as:
http://www.henryeng.com/AESdigi.html

The application is a little strange: I want to trick a Korg MR2000s into driving more than 3 slave units. I'm wondering if a s/pdif distribution amp will pass everything the slave Korgs need to sync and behave normally.



Thanks,

Sean B

[Scott Dorsey]

Sean B > wrote:
>Hello,
>So if I want to fan-out a s/pdif signal, how do the boxes that do this accomplish it? Is is just a wide-band analog amplifier, or do they use digital logic?

Depends which one you buy.
The smart ones are digital amps that operate into saturation and square the
waveform up a little bit. But there's no reason you can't just use audio
distribution amplifiers (which are just wideband analogue amps).

>Such as:
>http://www.henryeng.com/AESdigi.html
>
>The application is a little strange: I want to trick a Korg MR2000s into driving more than 3 slave units. I'm wondering if a s/pdif distribution amp will pass everything the slave Korgs need to sync and behave normally.

Try it with a generic video DA and see.

I use Dynair video sync DAs for S-PDIF distribution since TV stations were
throwing lots of them out in the mid-nineties when they were going to matrix
switching stuff. The sync DAs are a little cleaner carrying S-PDIF than the
regular video DAs, but less common.

The worst issues with S-PDIF are ground loops. But it was originally designed
to be able to use existing video plant.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[[email protected]]

>
> Depends which one you buy.
> The smart ones are digital amps that operate into saturation and square the
> waveform up a little bit. But there's no reason you can't just use audio
> distribution amplifiers (which are just wideband analogue amps).
>

did you mean to say VIDEO?
m

[Mike Rivers[_2_]]

Sean B > wrote:
> So if I want to fan-out a s/pdif signal, how do the boxes that do this accomplish it? Is is just > a wide-band analog amplifier, or do they use digital logic?

I assume you're talking about the coax S/PDIF (IEC 60958 Type II or one
form of AES3) and not the optical version. I'd be inclined to use a
video splitter or, better, a video distribution amplifier rather than an
audio amplifier. They're designed with a 75 ohm input and output
impedance which matches the coax digital interface. It's not all that
important if you're only using a few feet of cable to connect things in
the studio, but becomes more significant when you're running longer
cables (how much longer depends on the sample rate and kind of cable
you're using).

Although I've never tried it, and Ethernet hub might work, though you'd
need to make up special cables with an RJ-45 connector on one end.


Drop by http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com now and then

[Scott Dorsey]

In article >,
> wrote:
>
>> Depends which one you buy.
>> The smart ones are digital amps that operate into saturation and square the
>> waveform up a little bit. But there's no reason you can't just use audio
>> distribution amplifiers (which are just wideband analogue amps).
>
>did you mean to say VIDEO?

I did, indeed.
Ooops.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."