Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2008-01-05 Thread mattbrown521
jeffmeh;238373 Wrote: Newtonian physics is also inferior to Einsteinian physics. While that is an important distinction when trying to precisely calculate the paths of celestial bodies, it is not a consideration when playing billiards. Finally, something that an engineer of the

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-29 Thread AndyC_772
Despite coming from an engineering background and being firmly of the opinion that it couldn't possibly matter, my opinion on the audible impact of clock jitter was changed forever when I sold my early, expensive DVD player and replaced it with a cheap recorder. I figured that 'bits is bits',

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-29 Thread Listener
AndyC_772;238637 Wrote: On the technical side: typical accuracy for a quartz crystal is around +/- 50 parts per million, with higher precision available at exponentially increasing cost. So, if the source and DAC were mismatched by that amount, the DAC would have to interpolate or drop

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-29 Thread ar-t
AndyC_772;238566 Wrote: I think you're over-analysing the behaviour of the TOSLINK connection, and making comparisons that don't really apply. Of course if you're considering long-distance high speed communications, then pulse spreading due to optical line width and multiple propagation

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-29 Thread ar-t
Phil Leigh;238540 Wrote: Welcome to the forum - and thanks for the gratuituous comment. I was under the impression that being informed was the converse of being uninformed and thus represents a binary state. Therefore, being grossly uninformed makes no sense, since one cannot be less

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-29 Thread Phil Leigh
Many (all?) studios would now use a house clock to lock everything. However, this wasn't always the case. The myth I was referring to was the assertion that optical always sounds worse than coax. IMHO that is simply not true. I have found either no discernible difference or a very slight

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-29 Thread AndyC_772
I'd be interested to know if you can quantify the random and data-dependent jitter that's inherent in a TOSLINK connection. The receiver I'm using, for example, specifies a pulse width distortion of up to +/- 20ns, and a random jitter that's typically 1ns but with a max of another 20ns. At

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-29 Thread pablolie
AndyC_772;238637 Wrote: On the technical side: typical accuracy for a quartz crystal is around +/- 50 parts per million, with higher precision available at exponentially increasing cost. So, if the source and DAC were mismatched by that amount, the DAC would have to interpolate or drop

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-28 Thread Patrick Dixon
opaqueice;238369 Wrote: Going into a Benchmark DAC1 I can't hear any change; same with a NOS DAC I experimented with. Yeah, but you can't hear the difference between a SB3 and a Transporter! -- Patrick Dixon www.at-tunes.co.uk

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-28 Thread Robin Bowes
Patrick Dixon wrote: opaqueice;238369 Wrote: Going into a Benchmark DAC1 I can't hear any change; same with a NOS DAC I experimented with. Yeah, but you can't hear the difference between a SB3 and a Transporter! Heh, I had exactly the same thought! R.

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-28 Thread opaqueice
Patrick Dixon;238470 Wrote: Yeah, but you can't hear the difference between a SB3 and a Transporter! Robin Bowes;238489 Wrote: Heh, I had exactly the same thought! Can you, blind? -- opaqueice opaqueice's

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-28 Thread Phil Leigh
ar-t;238344 Wrote: It is inferior, and it is not a myth. You are grossly uninformed. Galvanic isolation can be achieved by using transformers, althoough doing so requires some skill on the part of the designer. Of all the optical methods, TOSLINK is the worst. Single-mode fibre could be

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-28 Thread AndyC_772
ar-t;238344 Wrote: It is inferior, and it is not a myth. You are grossly uninformed. Galvanic isolation can be achieved by using transformers, althoough doing so requires some skill on the part of the designer. Of all the optical methods, TOSLINK is the worst. Single-mode fibre could be

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-28 Thread opaqueice
AndyC_772;238566 Wrote: What I do find surprising is that anybody designs a DAC that uses the SPDIF input as a timing reference rather that merely a source of bits. I've spent some of my spare time this year designing a DAC - based around the AK4396 as it happens - which makes no attempt

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-28 Thread AndyC_772
Actually you'd be amazed just how hard it is to hear when a sample is dropped or duplicated - not that the final design ever actually does that, of course. I hope you'll forgive me for not disclosing all the inner workings of the design right now - it does seem to be a peculiar characteristic of

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-28 Thread Phil Leigh
Andy I always imagined that by dumping the bits frame by frame into a buffer and then reading them out aysnchronously but with a very high-rez/low jitter clock, the end result would be good. Provided that the buffer never underruns then I see no reason why this wouldn't work. Since the sampling

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-28 Thread AndyC_772
Thanks Phil :) I have a prototype and it works very well indeed. -- AndyC_772 AndyC_772's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10472 View this thread:

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-28 Thread opaqueice
Andy, that's fine - of course you don't have to discuss it. Phil Leigh;238596 Wrote: I always imagined that by dumping the bits frame by frame into a buffer and then reading them out aysnchronously but with a very high-rez/low jitter clock, the end result would be good. Provided that the

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-28 Thread Phil Leigh
I must be missing something...the ORIGINAL sampling frequency is a given...let's say it's 44.1 kHz. So all you need to do is read those frames out at that frequency. Why exactly is that so hard? Assuming you never run out of frames to read. As far as I can understand things, the whole clocking

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-28 Thread Listener
opaqueice;238603 Wrote: The problem is that the frequency of the input is -not- given, because each oscillator has a slightly different average frequency. So your local clock will never match the one that generated the input exactly, which means the buffer will eventually overflow or

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-28 Thread opaqueice
Phil Leigh;238608 Wrote: I must be missing something...the ORIGINAL sampling frequency is a given...let's say it's 44.1 kHz. So all you need to do is read those frames out at that frequency. Why exactly is that so hard? Assuming you never run out of frames to read. As far as I can

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-27 Thread ar-t
Phil Leigh;184095 Wrote: No optical is NOT inferior and is used extensively in certain professional circumstances. At the frequencies and distances involved in domestic digital applications this is a non-issue. In fact I would go as far as to say that optical is preferable in many

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-27 Thread opaqueice
ar-t;238344 Wrote: It is inferior, and it is not a myth. You are grossly uninformed. Pat, do you think it makes an audible difference? Going into a Benchmark DAC1 I can't hear any change; same with a NOS DAC I experimented with. -- opaqueice

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-27 Thread ar-t
opaqueice;238369 Wrote: Pat, do you think it makes an audible difference? Going into a Benchmark DAC1 I can't hear any change; same with a NOS DAC I experimented with. That is actually a darn good question. A DAC that has all sorts of fancy reclocking and stuff may not sound much

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-26 Thread USAudio
325xi;238057 Wrote: Getting back to the original question, last Stereophile, review of Bel Canto DAC3, measurements section: JA names Toslink inherently jittery. So, there's nothing wrong with Toslink, huh? True, but in the same article he also said using a 20 FOOT length of generic plastic

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-10-25 Thread 325xi
Getting back to the original question, last Stereophile, review of Bel Canto DAC3, measurements section: JA names Toslink inherently jittery. So, there's nothing wrong with Toslink, huh? -- 325xi sb3 || simaudio nova cdp simaudio moon i-5 revel performa m20 on *skylan* stands via acoustic

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-06-21 Thread AndyC_772
325xi;186718 Wrote: Andy, I would be thrilled to know your findings. It's especially interesting because nearly all posters on the previous 10 pages declined the very possibility of Toslink connection to be more jittery then coax. Right, as promised! I've just finally got round to spending

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-06-21 Thread kphinney
Eric Carroll;184206 Wrote: Wire them both up to the destination device. Cover your eyes and do something like the following (coopt the SO as an assistant): - have the assistabnt .. Did the same and was going to suggest that al do the same. I can't hear _any_ difference

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-06-21 Thread kphinney
pablolie;184223 Wrote: Unless there's a good bottle of red wine involved, really. Try it out. You have to be chilled out to qualify for subjectively valid listening tests. Heaven knows what they hand out in audiophile mags. :-) Okay... I second that one to! -- kphinney SB3 CIAudio DVA-2

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-10 Thread Robin Bowes
pablolie wrote: jeffmeh;186851 Wrote: Of course they can, but I will stand by my point. It is negligible without a highly revealing combination of system, room, speakers, and ears. It is probably negligible in most cases even where such a combination exists. Not sure it has to be a very

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread AndyC_772
325xi;186512 Wrote: To summarise the overwhelming response - Toslink works according to specification, which no inherent production flaws, so there's no reason to avoid it, or even better, use coax only when Toslink isn't available. I didn't miss anything, right? Toslink works by shining an

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread Skunk
AndyC_772;186654 Wrote: The connector in an optical cable doesn't really make any difference - it's just a mechanical thing designed to hold the fibre in place so that the light coming out of the end shines onto the phototransistor. With all due respect.. The cheap one that came with my

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread AndyC_772
The free one that came with my PlayStation 2 clicks very positively into place - I assumed that would represent about the cheapest component available. The ability of consumer electronics manufacturers to shave a penny or two off a product never ceases to amaze me. Let me revise my assertion:

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread Skunk
AndyC_772;186694 Wrote: The ability of consumer electronics manufacturers to shave a penny or two off a product never ceases to amaze me. Yeah it kind of makes one wonder what's been shaved inside the box. Thanks for the info, looks like I should try a different cheap one. -- Skunk

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread 325xi
pablolie;186611 Wrote: So don't even drive the car, just stick to brand dogma?? :-) Dude, may I say you drive me crazy? Do you really see only blacks and whites? I just say your so beloved empirical methods ARE necessary as a part of the whole, but not when used alone. A mere audition what

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread 325xi
AndyC_772;186654 Wrote: Therefore, it is not unlikely that jitter at the input to the clock recovery circuit will be worse, and that in turn may mean that jitter at the DAC chip (where it matters) is also worse. Oops, here we go again! So, Andy, what's your conclusion here - Toslink is more

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread AndyC_772
325xi;186710 Wrote: Oops, here we go again! So, Andy, what's your conclusion here - Toslink is more prone to jitter related problems then coax? Forgive me for side-stepping the question, but I think it would be pointless to guess without making some quantitative measurements on the electrical

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread 325xi
AndyC_772;186717 Wrote: ... an opto-isolator designed to pass data at a couple of Mbits typically has rather slow rising edges on its output, because of the passive pull-up used to bring the output to a logic '1' in the absence of light from the LED. This would inherently tend to increase

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread konut
Having followed this thread, I am definitely more jittery than when I started. A purely subjective observation, YMMV. -- konut konut's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=1596 View this thread:

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread jeffmeh
Whichever is subject to more jitter, unless you have an extremely revealing system, very good speakers, a room with good acoustics, and some very keen ears, it is likely to be negligible. If you possess all of the above, I'm envious, lol. -- jeffmeh

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread 325xi
jeffmeh;186751 Wrote: Whichever is subject to more jitter, unless you have an extremely revealing system, very good speakers, a room with good acoustics, and some very keen ears, it is likely to be negligible. If you possess all of the above, I'm envious, lol. The original question was

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread pablolie
325xi;186709 Wrote: Dude, may I say you drive me crazy? Do you really see only blacks and whites? I just say your so beloved empirical methods ARE necessary as a part of the whole, but not when used alone. A mere audition when taken out of context proves nothing. But add it to other ways to

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread AndyC_772
jeffmeh;186751 Wrote: Whichever is subject to more jitter, unless you have an extremely revealing system, very good speakers, a room with good acoustics, and some very keen ears, it is likely to be negligible. If you possess all of the above, I'm envious, lol. Funnily enough, that's

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread 325xi
pablolie;186759 Wrote: First of all, I was clearly kidding. Please accept my sincere apologies then. :) pablolie;186759 Wrote: Second of all, you must confuse me with someone else when it comes to the so beloved empirical methods. I actually have a very pragmatic approach when it comes to

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread jeffmeh
AndyC_772;186765 Wrote: Funnily enough, that's exactly what I thought about a year ago, when I confidently ditched my (early, and rather expensive) DVD player in favour of a cheap DVD recorder. I figured that all digitally connected sources should sound the same, and therefore, that I could

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread P Floding
jeffmeh;186773 Wrote: Actually, I was not referring to the differences between different sources, but between the same source connected via coax vs. toslink. Two different connection methods are comparable to two different sources. If one of the cases can sound different, so can the other.

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread jeffmeh
P Floding;186832 Wrote: Two different connection methods are comparable to two different sources. If one of the cases can sound different, so can the other. Of course they can, but I will stand by my point. It is negligible without a highly revealing combination of system, room, speakers,

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-09 Thread pablolie
jeffmeh;186851 Wrote: Of course they can, but I will stand by my point. It is negligible without a highly revealing combination of system, room, speakers, and ears. It is probably negligible in most cases even where such a combination exists. Not sure it has to be a very accurate system -

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-08 Thread 325xi
OK, people - now, after everybody finally believed in jitter existence, can we return to the original subject? :) To summarise the overwhelming response - Toslink works according to specification, which no inherent production flaws, so there's no reason to avoid it, or even better, use coax only

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-08 Thread Phil Leigh
325xi;186512 Wrote: OK, people - now, after everybody finally believed in jitter existence, can we return to the original subject? :) To summarise the overwhelming response - Toslink works according to specification, which no inherent production flaws, so there's no reason to avoid it, or

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-08 Thread 325xi
Phil Leigh;186516 Wrote: You could try listening to it... Phil, cable with flimsy connectors is to-be-defected cable, and not every defect can be revealed from the very first test. It may work OK first day, a week, a month... and then show me an intermittent problem, for which I won't know

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-05 Thread ebrandon
Thank you Andy! I've been reading about jitter for years and your post was the best explanation ever. -- ebrandon ebrandon's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10414 View this thread:

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-05 Thread AndyC_772
You should read what I write when I'm sober :) -- AndyC_772 AndyC_772's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10472 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33146

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-02 Thread opaqueice
seanadams;184848 Wrote: Not to go too far off the deep end here, but even if the transitions were infinitely steep and perfectly timed, it would be difficult to extract a clean clock. Due to zeroes having one fewer transition than ones, the receiving PLL will generate data-correlated

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-02 Thread pablolie
opaqueice;184856 Wrote: ... it seems (for reasons discussed in this thread and many times before on this forum) that a SB or Transporter using its own DAC has a huge advantage over nearly any external DAC. Why do so few people here use it that way? I think most have tested things out,

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-02 Thread konut
opaqueice;184856 Wrote: Interesting. S/PDIF really is flawed... A question for those interested in getting as close as possible to audio perfection: it seems (for reasons discussed in this thread and many times before on this forum) that a SB or Transporter using its own DAC has a huge

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-02 Thread TiredLegs
opaqueice;184856 Wrote: Interesting. S/PDIF really is flawed... A question for those interested in getting as close as possible to audio perfection: it seems (for reasons discussed in this thread and many times before on this forum) that a SB or Transporter using its own DAC has a huge

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread pablolie
Robin Bowes;184379 Wrote: pablolie wrote:[color=blue] It's digital data, but it's sent over an analogue transmission path. The 1s and 0s are converted to different voltages and the resulting signal sent down the cable. At the other end, the receiver reads the signal and converts the

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread opaqueice
pablolie;184524 Wrote: It's *data*. Data integrity is the key. It does not matter of the signal gets somewhat distorted. That's actually one of the key advantages of digital interfaces: you don't have to worry as much over signal integrity. It's no misconception at all. An ugly bit is still

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread Robin Bowes
pablolie wrote: It's *data*. Data integrity is the key. It does not matter of the signal gets somewhat distorted. That's actually one of the key advantages of digital interfaces: you don't have to worry as much over signal integrity. It's no misconception at all. An ugly bit is still a bit.

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread pablolie
Robin Bowes;184562 Wrote: pablolie wrote: It's *data*. Data integrity is the key. It does not matter of the signal gets somewhat distorted. That's actually one of the key advantages of digital interfaces: you don't have to worry as much over signal integrity. It's no misconception at

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread seanadams
SPDIF is BMC encoded, and therefore *digital*. Absolutely 100% wrong. The _TIMING_ information which is carried by s/pdif is an analog signal in the truest sense, not just on the wire but from end to end. Are you really questioning that? -- seanadams

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread AndyC_772
What a lovely thread - it has passion, enthusiasm and complete BS all rolled into one :) Let me try to clear some of it up; apologies to those of you for whom this is all basic stuff, but I've yet to see a good explanation of signal integrity in an audiophile forum, and there's an awful lot of

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread pablolie
AndyC_772;184693 Wrote: ... Hope that helps a bit :) Andy This thread is over. You put it perfectly. -- pablolie pablolie's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3816 View this thread:

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread AndyC_772
ps. I can tell the difference between a poor digital transport connected via an optical lead, and a good one connected by coax. Last year I replaced my high quality (but early and buggy) DVD player with a cheap recorder. I was convinced that they'd sound identical played through the same external

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread seanadams
This is so well understood and so easily observed that I just don't know what to say. It's as if you're pointing at the sky screaming it's red and expecting a meaningful argument. I wonder if you're just trolling, and the joke is on me. Also, my comments in the other thread about the audibility

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread opaqueice
pablolie;184694 Wrote: have you truly claimed analog transmission elements that do *not* affect SPDIF bit integrity still have an effect? i could imagine reasons why that´s that case in a real world implementation, but that has little to do with the SPDIF protocols... Yes of course they

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread AndyC_772
seanadams;184699 Wrote: It's as if you're pointing at the sky screaming it's red and expecting a meaningful argument. I wonder if you're just trolling, and the joke is on me. I'm sorry - if everyone understands all this already and I'm the ignorant one for not realising it, then I humbly

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread opaqueice
AndyC_772;184705 Wrote: I'm sorry - if everyone understands all this already and I'm the ignorant one for not realising it, then I humbly apologise. But, as an outsider looking in, I sometimes read stuff on hi-fi forums that (to me!) seems to illustrate a lack of understanding of the

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread seanadams
AndyC_772;184705 Wrote: I'm sorry - if everyone understands all this already and I'm the ignorant one for not realising it, then I humbly apologise. But, as an outsider looking in, I sometimes read stuff on hi-fi forums that (to me!) seems to illustrate a lack of understanding of the

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread Eric Carroll
Guys, I think your postings all crossed in mid-write and we are having a clock slip here ;-) I think sean was responding to pablolie not Andy. I think Andy's response to sean was because he thought it was to him not pablolie (sean's posts overlapped a couple). And opaqueice did you mistake

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread pablolie
AndyC_772;184698 Wrote: :) (disclaimer: I'm a professional electronic engineer specialising in communications systems... so I -ought- to know what I'm talking about!) I am an electrical engineer myself, but went off into the marketing side of things. So I am paid to make overzealous

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread AndyC_772
D'uh! I'm easily confused, especially after a hard day at work and a beer or two... thanks guys :) -- AndyC_772 AndyC_772's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10472 View this thread:

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread pablolie
seanadams;184699 Wrote: ... do not make the phenomenon cease to exist. ... what phenomenon? i can't recall anyone talking about a phenomenon. other than possible you carrying a grudge over being caught making too generic a claim about memories. which would be disappointing. -- pablolie

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread pablolie
opaqueice;184700 Wrote: Yes of course they do, and it has everything to do with the S/PDIF protocol. That´s a basic fact about synchronous digital transmission; it´s called jitter. Yeah, and SPDIF carries the data to overcome it. It is not a matter of the protocol, it's a matter of

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread Pat Farrell
P Floding wrote: Isn't the Benchmark DAC1 supposed to reject all jitter due to propritary (correct!?) use of its ASRC? The Benchmarks folks do claim that it is immune to jitter. I don't know if it is real, or just marketing. I do know it sounds great to me. As does my Transporter -- Pat

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread P Floding
Eric Carroll;184313 Wrote: And, by the way, its not an assumption, I said there are papers on this issue. For example, 'here is a paper on this issue.' (http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ast/26/1/50/_pdf). There are others I don't have handy right now. Unfortunately studies of the

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread P Floding
Phil Leigh;184345 Wrote: Sorry Eric - I didn't mean to steal your thunder! I use to believe that toslink was bad too - until I realised what I had in my studio was piles of the stuff! (ADAT lightpipe anyone?)...that started me thinking...and testing...and now I don't care - both work fine

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread P Floding
pablolie;184348 Wrote: He stated what *really* matters: The identical framing protocol (S/PDIF) runs on top of both optical and coax, meaning you'll get identically timed data out of the two - whatever jitter there is at a physical layer is immaterial. The clock is embedded into the signal

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread P Floding
pablolie;184686 Wrote: Biphase Mark Coding is encoding for *digital* data, plus the frequency of the clock is twice the frequency of the original signal. The result is that at the physical level it's not about 0 and 1, but about even simpler polarity changes, which makes data *and* clock

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread Phil Leigh
P Floding;184737 Wrote: Your last point is not quite true nowdays, with ASRC and other asynchrounous digital domain processing going on. Yes - true - which is exactly why I found that there was a big improvement when I stuck the Altmann JISCO+UPCI after my TACT, just before the input of the

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread AndyC_772
Thanks :) TCP/IP is a higher level protocol anyway - it really couldn't have less to do with S/PDIF and its limitations. You could run TCP/IP over a pair of S/PDIF links (one Tx, one Rx) if you really wanted. -- AndyC_772

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread Phil Leigh
P Floding;184744 Wrote: Did you read AndyC_772's postings? He explains that the way SPDIF works makes it impossible to have the master clock at the DAC, and hence the amount of interface jitter rejection is implementation dependent. Which is how it is. I'd ask all engineering types who

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread AndyC_772
Phil Leigh;184748 Wrote: Yes but...it is entirely possible to remodel the clock at the DAC input (ie right on the SPDIF socket) - see here http://www.altmann.haan.de/jitter/english/engc_navfr.html That's not entirely correct, though. That little gadget may attenuate jitter at the S/PDIF

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread P Floding
Phil Leigh;184748 Wrote: Yes but...it is entirely possible to remodel the clock at the DAC input (ie right on the SPDIF socket) - see here http://www.altmann.haan.de/jitter/english/engc_navfr.html A lot of things are possible. But those claiming that SPDIF is a non-issue are not talking

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread Phil Leigh
AndyC_772;184754 Wrote: That's not entirely correct, though. That little gadget may attenuate jitter at the S/PDIF socket, but that's not the same as reducing jitter at the DAC where it matters. It's reducing jitter at the entry to the box that contains the DAC, which is not the same thing.

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread opaqueice
pablolie;184727 Wrote: It can. With a well implemented design it shouldn't. Someone else out there can tell us whether the good DAC chipes have an input buffer or not to avoid starvation. Basic voice communication codecs from 10 years ago did, so I am pretty sure DAC designers would take

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread Phil Leigh
opaqueice;184798 Wrote: I agree with your first statement, but an input buffer (which all DACs - including those in CD players - must have in order to function) does nothing in itself to resolve this problem. You still need to generate a clock from somewhere, and if you use the transitions

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread P Floding
pablolie;184727 Wrote: Basic voice communication codecs from 10 years ago did, so I am pretty sure DAC designers would take starvation issues into account. How old do you think the CD system is? Getting close to 30 years now, I believe. I know the problem at hand is EASILY solved, but you

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread Robin Bowes
pablolie wrote: opaqueice;184700 Wrote: # I suggest you do some research before posting again Thanks. I suggest you provide useful information instead of just going ad hominem, because I haven't seen you make a point. Let me make a point: you don't know what you're talking about.

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread pablolie
Robin Bowes;184814 Wrote: However, because SPDIF is transmitted over an analogue path, the signal received does *not* have square edges so it is possible that the clock signal extracted from the stream is not 100% accurate. R. i have not claimed the extracted signal is always accurate,

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-03-01 Thread seanadams
Robin Bowes;184814 Wrote: Now, in an ideal world, this wouldn't be a problem - the signal received would have nice square edges and it would be easy to determine precisely when each sample occurs and, hence, construct the clock signal. Not to go too far off the deep end here, but even if

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-02-28 Thread 325xi
pablolie;184215 Wrote: I hear your pain given recent events around a question I asked! :-) But if you read between the lines, I think the answer is Toslink is not flawed. The same interface works in applications demanding high resiliency, is all I can say. I don't think anything's flwaed

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-02-28 Thread Pat Farrell
325xi wrote: Eric mentioned that consumer Toslink does have higher jitter, [snip] I've already said what I think about inaudibility assumptions. I'm somewhat concerned with that massive feedbacks that people don't like Toslink, we may define it BS, but I'm not sure those complains are

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-02-28 Thread 325xi
Good! Can you guys tell me why didn't you replaced all your coax connections with Toslink - theoretically Toslink blows coax out of the water? -- 325xi simaudio nova cdp simaudio moon i-5 revel performa m20 via acoustic zen matrix reference ii and acoustic zen satori -planned additions:...

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-02-28 Thread Eric Carroll
325xi;184284 Wrote: Eric mentioned that consumer Toslink does have higher jitter, but because of his assumption we can't perceive jitter less then ridiculously high :) +-0.5ns (that were nanoseconds, right?) he expressed his little concern about that. I've already said what I think about

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-02-28 Thread Phil Leigh
As I think I mentioned before, I have a friend (who is an engineer by profession) who owns a company that makes fibre for many of the big telcos and ISPs...he also likes his hi-fi... He did fall off his chair laughing...I had to buy him another drink! Toslink over 5 metres is absolutely fine

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-02-28 Thread 325xi
Eric Carroll;184313 Wrote: Please don't misquote me. I didn't say that at all. I didn't cite you, I said that was my understanding, which well might be erroneous. Eric Carroll;184125 Wrote: c) yes, it is possible some manufacturer fubared their design. If so its not TOSLINKs fault as a

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-02-28 Thread Eric Carroll
325xi;184327 Wrote: ...I'm interested to find out the limit of jitter control of LED-plastic toslink vs. coax - please note - regardless of its audibility And of course I accept scientific basis. I don't believe in listening tests unless arranged in a proper way. The test you

Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Optical connection - inferior by default?

2007-02-28 Thread Phil Leigh
Eric Carroll;184333 Wrote: AHA!!! I think we got hung up on language here then. Thank you for the clarification. If I misunderstood your position I think it was due to the language getting used in this discussion and its relationship to Audiophile beliefs - you did the post on the Wiki page

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