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-- Digital ==> Analog ?

Digital ==> Analog ?

Is it possible to convert the signal out of a digital line (from my audiophile soundcard) into an analog RCA line so that I can plug it into my mixer?

Yes, with a DAC (digital to analog converter)

ur audio card has a Ditital to analog converter when u plug the rca cables that means its already analog


the only cables that carrie ditital are usb and fiberwire.

what software are you using?you could solve this problem by internal routing....if your card does not suport that try with ableton or cubase.i dont know to much about m-audio but usually if you have an spdif cable you can rout your signal from O to I.

cheers

quote:

Originally posted by madmike101 ur audio card has a Ditital to analog converter when u plug the rca cables that means its already analog

Right... You know there are soundcards with only digital I/O do you? Judging from your answer you don't.

For all we know Cheggy has such a soundcard, or he's already using all his analog outputs and just wants to see if there's a possibility to use the digital one for extra possibilities.

quote:

the only cables that carrie ditital are usb and fiberwire.

What about S/PDIF, ADAT, AES-EBU, MADI, TDIF, SDIF, ...

It's nice that you try to be helpful, but if you don't know what you're talking about, just don't say anything.

quote:

Originally posted by madmike101 ur audio card has a Ditital to analog converter when u plug the rca cables that means its already analog

Even with RCA cable, the signal stills digital. Just the connector is different.

quote:

the only cables that carrie ditital are usb and fiberwire.

Even an eletrical extension cord can carrie a digital signal, but there�s some apropriated cable for every signal voltage, avoiding information losing problems...

(sorry about my English, and Dj Thy is right, before answer, try to confirm your information, avoiding giving wrong advices)

um iam sorry i was little high

and i have a degree in audio recording (yes 4 years )

inorder to get a analog signal from ditital signal u need a converter and those can cost more then the sound card it self

some home radios have ditital in (S/PDIF) and tape put or rca out put

those cost like 30 bucks but can be big

quote:

Originally posted by luizmenezesjr Even with RCA cable, the signal stills digital. Just the connector is different.

this is just plain wrong, unless you are of course talking about a spdif rca type connection not a conventional rca cable

Sorry, I should have been more specific.

I want to know if it is possible to get an S/PDIF cable to plug into an RCA socket. I am using all the RCA outputs on my card and only have the two s/pdif cables left. My mixer does not accept these, only rca, and I want to know if there is a cheap way to convert it, like some kind of adaptor. It's not a major issue, I was just interested to see if it was possible.

Thy, thanks. I understand that I will need a DA converter. Just was not aware of what exact type I need.

S/PDIF can come in two flavors, coaxial and optical.

The first one uses RCA connectors, just like the analog connection. Normally, to comply to the standard you should use 75 Ohm cables for S/PDIF, but most of the time you can get away with using normal "analog" RCA connections.

The second type of connection uses the so called TOSlink connector (also found in the ADAT interface).

Either way, even if you have the coaxial method, you just can't simply connect it to an analog input (you'll hear a full scale square wave). You'll have to pass through a DAC, and like already said, external DAC's are expensive, usually more than the soundcard itself (state of the art DAC's can go up to $15000). M-audio made some in the past (Flying cow and SuperDac), but I don't know if they're still making them.

If you want a cheap solution, I can only suggest three things :
- buy another audio interface with more analog outputs
- get something that has DAC's with cheap integrated circuits (like some hifi amps or similar)
- find some schematics on the net and build your own cheap DAC

Getting an external DAC is just too expensive to do what you ask.

Oh, and a final thought. When recording or transporting a signal, there is no such thing as a digital signal. Sure, it represents 0 and 1's, but the signal itself is still electrical/magnetic/optical in nature, so analog. Meaning they can degrade like any other analog signal. It's one of the paradoxes of the digital systems. Digital is supposed to replace analog, but it still relies on analog to exist.
Think about it...

quote:

[i][b]Oh, and a final thought. When recording or transporting a signal, there is no such thing as a digital signal. Sure, it represents 0 and 1's, but the signal itself is still electrical/magnetic/optical in nature, so analog. Meaning they can degrade like any other analog signal. It's one of the paradoxes of the digital systems. Digital is supposed to replace analog, but it still relies on analog to exist. Think about it...

sure it can degrade but digital information can be easily regenerated unlike analog information where any interferance direcly causes loss.

Thanks Thy. That's the answer I needed.

quote:

Originally posted by Nic sure it can degrade but digital information can be easily regenerated unlike analog information where any interferance direcly causes loss.

Yes of course, but the paradox still stands.

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