AES

[MadBostard]

Hi thier I have a Musical Fidelity dac it has 3 inputs one is AES like an xlr socket does any one know the pinouts for AES could I make up a phono/rca plug on the other end as Id like to be able to use the 3 inputs .
Thanks in advance
Alan

 

[MarcelvdG]

The voltage and impedance levels are different for S/PDIF and AES3, so there is no guarantee that it will work. If you are lucky it might work, though.

Using a 75 ohm coax cable, connect the pin of the phono plug to the centre conductor of the cable and to pin 2 of the XLR connector. Connect the ground of the phono plug to the shield of the cable and to pins 1 and 3 of the XLR connector. If you get problems with hum, try disconnecting pin 1.

By the way, this thread is in the wrong forum, "digital line level" would be more suitable.

 

[Markw4]

You can get transformers to convert AES to SPDIF and vice versa. Some info here: Interfacing AES3 and S/PDIF
aes to spdif transformer - Google Search

 

[zgtc]

Also, have a look at The big question of TRANSPORT

In summary:

The digital output and input transformer is unnecessary and can be disposed of without penalty or consequences

in S/PDIF we can remove both transformers, but on AES/EBU we can not. So a modified S/PDIF beats AES/EBU. Plus - we dont need aes/ebu IN THE FIRST PLACE because it is just a normal SPDIF with doubled up mirror signal by transformer