I2S vs spdif

[Konig]

Is i2s that much better than spdif? If it is how come so few dacs have i2s?

 

[Garbz]

I2S is not a standard for transmitting data, it is a standard for serial transmission much like 24bit Least Significant Bit First, or the opposite 24bit MSB first.

The S/PDIF standard provides information about how and what. It specifies +/-0.5V, a 75ohm line, stupidly an RCA connector, and how the data is sorted.

I2S has no specs for data and connections since it has no exclusive purpose in audio; I2S is also used by microcontrollers to program filters, or managed HDCD decoders. It does however spec things like MSB first, and that the MSB should arrive 1 clock beat after the L/R clock changes, and finish one clock beat before it changes again.

What would be idea is to have a new standard (did I just say another one?) on top of I2S which has specifications for interconnects between audio connectors like DIN etc.

Yes I2S is a lot better then S/PDIF since it has several discrete data lines and clock lines. All the problems of S/PDIF could be solved if it is terminated correctly and if it did not multiplex the data and clock lines for transmission.

 

[Akathriel]

Grabz pretty much hit the nail on the head. It's the native interface of DACs which isnt modulated like spdif and keeps the clock and data signals discrete for significantly less jitter.

 

[ursdiego]

I know its an old thread, but I found it, looking for advantages of disadvantages of I2S. For the reason, that Kingwa of audio-gd suggested to me, to replace the spdif input of my Reference 9 DAC with a I2S - input. This would allow me to connect it to the Digital Interface DI-DSP and to transfer 192K (whereas the spdif-input of the RE9 is limited to 96K).
 
So I was looking around in order to know, whether this is a good idea. So it sounds like I2S promises to be the better solution...
 
Cheers!