[gerG]

I was refering to a different termination, sort of. Most of the fiberoptic systems that I have run across use a coupling device of some sort, usually a small spherical lens, to maximize coupling efficiency. Toslink just seems to use a large aperture to catch sufficient light to get the job done. I was guessing that a more efficient connection would make a low cross section fiber feasible.


gerG

 

[Orpheus]

just ordered an apogee 3m spdif and 3m aes/ebu. ............getting my grace monday, cables will be in by end of week. ..............finally, no more headphone stuff. heh he.

 

[ginetto61]

Hi ! very interesting subject indeed.
In this review https://www.computeraudiophile.com/ca/reviews/Berkeley-Audio-Design-Alpha-USB-Review/ i found the following opinion
"Berkeley Audio Design strongly recommends using the balanced AES output of the Alpha USB when possible. In theory a true coaxial 75 ohm S/PDIF connection is better, all things being equal. However, all things are not equal in practice. Given that balanced AES does not use true 110 ohm connectors I inquired into this recommendation a bit further. The answer I received from Michael Ritter was mainly voltage, and some noise rejection. Even though S/PDIF when implemented with 75 ohm BNC connectors is a true 75 ohm coaxial connection its limitation is that it delivers .5 volts peak to peak. Balanced AES on the other hand benefits from a 2 to 7 volt signal amplitude. In fact the Alpha USB's AES output delivers 4 volts or eight times the signal level of the S/PDIF output. This higher voltage is key to maximizing data receiver performance and reducing effective jitter. The balanced AES connection also offers common mode noise rejection"

From what i understand the Berkeley Audio Design Alpha USB converter is a very fine unit still for today standards.