SpDIF and Cables?

ive just started using the spdif in/outs on my mpc as i aquaired a new s/c. just wondering what cables are recommended, im just using standard hifi rca's

i have used those but i it is recommended that u use digital cables cause they have different properties to them that give better performance quality etc. those properties i dont know but i suppose its like using regular and unleaded.

I just started playing with mine too. RCAs can and may work, but you risk losing data as they do not meet the specs. If its a long cable, I'd just grab a cheap Hosa SPDIF and be done with it (at least thats what I did).

Technically I think they use BNC cable like used in word clock, old 10baseT network cables, and cable TV wire (but different connectors). Too bad they can't just pick a standard cable and protocol for everything (like MLAN firewire tried to do) and make our lives easier.

"Too bad they can't just pick a standard cable "

It's called a 75 Ohm cable.

I was going toward the all audio/midi/clock on one cable (like mlan). But good info.

does it just output straight from the spdif out or do i need to enable some sort of option on the mpc to output it there. i had a peep in the manual but its pretty vague,.

A plain ol' $6 digital video cable will do just fine for spdif.

"A plain ol' $6 digital video cable"

Yes, again, it is called a 75 Ohm cable.

I'm pretty sure its sending the master signal through the digital at all times... if not, it would be in the main mixer settings. I've heard that sometimes you need to go in there and turn the master output level down since if you have too much going on at once, you might get digital clipping (and we don't want that).

For sampling, you do have to switch the input to digital. Simple. Be sure your at 16/44 either way your going.

Seeing as tho its Digital... 0's and 1's I dont' think there is an issue with noise on the signal of the cable. Any Old RCA should do !!!

"0's and 1's I dont' think there is an issue with noise on the signal of the cable. Any Old RCA should do !!!"

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Please read:

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/ ... analog.htm
"a digital signal, because of its sharp transitions, is highly subject to degradation in its waveform; those sharp transitions are equivalent to a long--indeed, an infinite--series of harmonics of the base frequency, and the higher the frequency of the signal, the more transmission line effects, such as the characteristic impedance of the cable, and resulting signal reflections ("return loss") come into play."

and:

http://broadcastengineering.com/aps/mea ... surements/
"Digital signals are affected by crosstalk, noise, cable length, poor circuit design and other factors that can ultimately translate into audible problems."

thanks, ok the stream is 44.1, im starting to think its the digi out on the mpc thats twisted.

hmm...set the clock source to 44.1 on my mixer and everything, but still no digital-out love from my 2000xl. did you ever figure out what was wrong, nanoloop?

still not yet, its either hardware or cables. im going str8 outta mpc into my 2496 soundcard spdif input. ive set the options on the computer as required and the recording app is sitting on standby with the spdif input.