[iamsmrt]

Hey all, I'm in the process of buying a Benchmark DAC-1 from Audiogon. The seller is offering a balanced 1M XLR Wasatch cable (exact model not listed though i believe this cable is aes/ebu http://www.wasatchcableworks.com/AES-EBU.htm ) for $55. Up until recently, I believed that s/pdif and toslink were the only two digital cable standards. Not understanding why the seller would be offering XLR cables with the DAC-1, I've discovered aes/ebu.

From my research today, I believe that aes/ebu is the professional version of s/pdif. Looking at the benchmark dac-1 website http://www.benchmarkmedia.com/digital/dac1/ I've realized that the DAC-1 can use an xlr input, which i'm assuming when an xlr connection is being as a digital cable, this is called aes/ebu?

As well, from the product page of the emu 0404 I've learned that the optical/coaxial inputs and outputs are switchable to aes-ebu. Basically, will this balanced XLR cable (if it is in fact the wasatch aes/ebu cable) be useable and result in better sound quality in my setup than something similar in this price range, ie. around $50. Thanks for reading my long-winded and confusing write-up!

 

[dwc]

Doesn't it also depend on your source? I mean does your source offer xlr-out? Is your source outputting AES or SPDIF?

I have a similar issue, in that my sound card digital out is spdif RCA, and my DAC is XLR-in. I need female XLR-RCA converter cable[1]. I'm not sure of the pinout mapping between the two ends and wonder if the default "pin 2 hot" mapping is the correct one for this digital use. The DEQ2496 which Im going to use as a dac claims to translate/accept either AES or SPDIF into the same XLR socket, but also provides a disclaimer that the SPDIF won't always work. It's enough that I'm probably going to get an AV-710 and just use optical.

-Dan

[1]plenty of these out there.

 

[iamsmrt]

I'm using a computer sound card the e-mu 0404... and i know it has optical and coaxial out and i believe from the documentation that it's switchable to aes/ebu. I just thought this cable which retails for $200 and I'm able to get for $55 would be useful and actually have improved sound quality and reassuring myself that it's actually connectable and all that

 

[dip16amp]

The DAC1 has three digital interfaces (110 ohm XLR, 75 ohm coax, and optical toslink). I have used all three with a RME Digi96/8 card. The DAC1 manual shows jitter measurements on the XLR interface with a thousand feet of CAT 5 UTP cable. Probably can't go that long with toslink or coax.

The AES/EBU and S/PDIF digital audio formats can be decoded by the DAC1 on any of the three interfaces. The EMU 0404 card allows either format to be used on coax or toslink, but it does not have a XLR interface.

The RME software also allows professional or consumer versions of the formats to be selected. The professional version of the AES/EBU digital audio format on the 110 ohm XLR interface usually are used together.

The information in the AES/EBU format is useful for record equipment and not really important for playback. Should not hear any difference when running AES/EBU on coax or optical compared to S/PDIF.

 

[dwc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iamsmrt I'm using a computer sound card the e-mu 0404... and i know it has optical and coaxial out and i believe from the documentation that it's switchable to aes/ebu. I just thought this cable which retails for $200 and I'm able to get for $55 would be useful and actually have improved sound quality and reassuring myself that it's actually connectable and all that

So if the cable is xlr on both ends, you really don't have a use for it. You need XLR --> RCA

 

[dip16amp]

It would be better to stay with 75 ohm coax connectors on both ends of the cable or 110 ohm balanced XLR connectors on both ends of the cable than mix them.