Technically, for an output to be "line level", it should be -10dBV as referenced against a 1 volt RMS sine wave, ie. it should be 0.1V RMS or 0.141V peak.
For professional gear, "line level" is nominally +4dBU as referenced against a 0.775 volt RMS sine wave, or 1.228 V RMS.
In practice, very few items of consumer equipment follow this standard, and it's hardly uncommon for professional gear to to ignore it too.
As a result, it's common practice to design input stages to be able to handle up to 5V RMS, just to be sure.
For professional gear, "line level" is nominally +4dBU as referenced against a 0.775 volt RMS sine wave, or 1.228 V RMS.
In practice, very few items of consumer equipment follow this standard, and it's hardly uncommon for professional gear to to ignore it too.
As a result, it's common practice to design input stages to be able to handle up to 5V RMS, just to be sure.
Philips/Sony Redbook (supposedly?) stipulates a level of 2Vrms for 0dBFS, and this has become the defacto standard for consumer digital electronics (non portable electronics) in most markets.
Some information (not complete) here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Book_(audio_CD_standard)
The output voltage is stipulated somewhere in this document, (IIRC) unfortunately I have not been able to find an excerpt on line that actually shows this.
Some information (not complete) here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Book_(audio_CD_standard)
The output voltage is stipulated somewhere in this document, (IIRC) unfortunately I have not been able to find an excerpt on line that actually shows this.
kevinkr said:Philips/Sony Redbook (supposedly?) stipulates a level of 2Vrms for 0dBFS, and this has become the defacto standard for consumer digital electronics (non portable electronics) in most markets.
Some information (not complete) here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Book_(audio_CD_standard)
The output voltage is stipulated somewhere in this document, (IIRC) unfortunately I have not been able to find an excerpt on line that actually shows this.
This is how I understand the specification as well.
2Vrms is at absolute clipping. Allowing for 13dB to 15dB headroom, that would put the "normal" output voltage somewhere near .4Vrms.
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