Become a part of the TranceAddict community!Frequently Asked Questions - Please read this if you haven'tSearch the forums
TranceAddict Forums > DJing / Production / Promotion > DJ Booth > Question regarding Digital signals
  Last Thread   Next Thread
Share
Author
Thread    Post A Reply
DeleriuM2K
Supreme tranceaddict



Registered: Dec 2002
Location: Toronto
Question regarding Digital signals

hi, Im just wondering about coaxial digital signals...
is the signal cleaner than balanced XLR analog? does it not pick up any interference even though its unbalanced?

aswell, whats the story with optical. Im guessing its a cleaner signal since is uses fine glass as opposed to metal which is acts as an antenna

Bottom line: Whats better sounding? Using the Coaxial Digital out or the Balanced XLR out?

Old Post Dec-10-2003 19:09  Canada
Click Here to See the Profile for DeleriuM2K Click here to Send DeleriuM2K a Private Message Add DeleriuM2K to your buddy list Report this Post Reply w/Quote Edit/Delete Message
auujay
The Supreme tranceaddict



Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Cleveland

I am no expert but I believe the main advantage of optical is that it should have WAY less interference then a normal wire, as you stated. I don't know enough to say for sure that it will be better then balanced XLR but I would assume this is the case.

A slighlty different discussion might be that XLR is better because it is analog (warmer and all that jazz) and not digital (forcing the signal to be discrete). So before people start praising the holyness that is analog let me just remind you all that in this modern era nearly all music is recorded and mixed digitally in the first place.


___________________
"You can only drink 30 or 40 glasses of beer a day, no matter how rich you are." - Colonel Adolphus Busch

Major Johnson - February Progressive Mix

Download Other Mixes

Old Post Dec-10-2003 19:43  United States
Click Here to See the Profile for auujay Click here to Send auujay a Private Message Visit auujay's homepage! Add auujay to your buddy list Report this Post Reply w/Quote Edit/Delete Message
DJTJ
linuXaddict



Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Bournemouth, UK when I'm at home, Cardiff, UK when I'm at uni

This is a more complex problem than perhaps you first thought.

Digital signals experience no interference as such; you won't get static or any sort of a hum. This is because the signal is coded into binary 1's and 0's, which either get through or don't. If they don't, then they will be retransmitted. In short, you will get out of one end exactly what you put in the other end with no loss.

Analogue signals, even balanced ones, are prone to interference. Electromagnetic radiation (radio, TV, microwave, whatever) and magnetic fields, such as those produced by mains electrical cabling, can induce a (small) current into the wire which will affect the signal coming through it. This equates to interference (static and hum). However, balanced signals (balanced XLR and jacks) are designed in such a way that the interference acts on the signal twice, but in opposite directions simultaneously, thus cancelling each other out, and only very very small amounts of interference gets through.

Now we come on to the subject of digital encoding. Some digital signals are better than others. This depends on both the bitrate and sampling frequency used, and the quality of both the analogue to digital converter (ADC) at one end and the digital to analogue converter (DAC) at the other end. The quality of ADC's in DJ mixers is *invariably* shite, and will only encode at 44.1 kHz with 16 bit samples. This is the same as a standard CD. This is arguably worse than an analogue signal from a mixer (there are many many threads on this subject), and for proper professional digital recording you should be looking at 96 kHz and 24/48 bit samples.

Bearing in mind that to use a digital signal you must first convert the analogue signal into a digital signal (which loses some of the quality of the original) and then convert it back to analogue to send to the speakers (which creates more loss), keeping in mind that balanced analogue is very resistant to interference and noise, I would personally go with balanced XLR's rather than optical coax.

Old Post Dec-10-2003 22:32  England
Click Here to See the Profile for DJTJ Click here to Send DJTJ a Private Message Add DJTJ to your buddy list Report this Post Reply w/Quote Edit/Delete Message

TranceAddict Forums > DJing / Production / Promotion > DJ Booth > Question regarding Digital signals
Post New Thread    Post A Reply

 
Last Thread   Next Thread
Click here to listen to the sample!Pause playbackfrom hernan cattaneo set [2007] [2]

Click here to listen to the sample!Pause playbackArmani & Ghost - "Airport" [2005]

Show Printable Version | Subscribe to this Thread
Forum Jump:

All times are GMT. The time now is 19:45.

Forum Rules:
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is ON
vB code is ON
[IMG] code is ON
 
Search this Thread:

 
Contact Us - return to tranceaddict

Powered by: Trance Music & vBulletin Forums
Copyright ©2000-2026, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Privacy Statement / DMCA
Support TA!