Connection of dac to behringer

My pt dac has a bnc connector while the behringer just has optical or aes - the aes looks a bit like a balanced xlr. Can the aes and bnc be connected directly without any sort of converter? If so where can i get a bnc to aes cable... can't find one anywhere. I am looking for a maplins level of cable so no expensive solutions please

Thanks!

Nick.

 

Jeez, I'd have thought a man of your calibre could use google

http://www.vdctrading.com/products.asp?SubSectionID=20

 

I did but I didnt find anything

Also I was unsure about impedances and other standards.

So are aes and xlr identical?

 

AES/ABU is simply balanced digital. Its over XLR and fully compatible with the standard XLR wiring. Cable impedance should be treat the same as digital over coax ie. 60ohm.

 

I thought it was 110ohm for AES and 75ohm for coax..?

 

Antony is correct.

Not only are the impedances different, but AES uses 5V differential signalling while S/PDIF uses 0.75V single-ended.

Data formats are the same. Here's a document on converting from one to the other (but appears to be specific to a transformer-coupled product (Strictly AES/EBU should be transformer coupled, but it is not always)).

 

OK so I need a converter... thanks.

 

Sorry I didn't get back to you before Nick. The DEQ has transformer balanced digital outputs and inputs so that is not a problem. You can also switch formats in the user settings for S/PDIF or AES/EBU. They both seem to work the same for me so I don't really know if it switches the voltage and the impedance or what really.

I would presume that as with other XLR outputs you can pull pin 3 to ground (pin 1) and use pin 2 as the hot line for a single ended output.

 

Its ok I am connecting via an optical to spdif phono convertor.

The de capo leaves the berhringer for dead. Also the cardinal transport improves matters - the de capo plus cardinal is way ahead of the de capo + deq + dvd player combination even though the former lacks the EQ!! It might be the clock locking though - how do I setup the deq to use an external word clock cming from the de capo clock out?

 

You can't it will only use a word clock for the analogue inputs. The digital clock slaves to the input.

I would also try using an XLR to BNC lead from the AES output with pin 3 to pin 1 using the S/PDIF setting on the DEQ as I doubt the converter is helping matters.

I rather thought the DVD must be a bit of a compromise in your system so its nice to hear you have gone for a dedicated transport. Not familiar with the Cardinal though, any links?

 

aha

I tried that but got interference. I guess due to the impedance mismatch and signal level difference?
The cardinal is the PT transport and came with the new dac.

 

they both work the same for me to ...with a basic rca to xlr adaptor ..so a bnc to xlr should do the same.

the adapters don't seem to effect the sound to any great extent on the digital inputs ...I've tried about five different sorts now

 

Same as I use, but admittedly I am using that on the input not the output so maybe that is different for some reason.

I take it you can’t use optical all the way Nick?

 

Nope its bncs on the de capo.

The cardinal goes into one card and the dvd / berhinger into the other. The dvd feed seems very hissy though - not sure wether its the converter or the input card or some setting on the behringer.

 

So whatever happened to the one you had away for repair? Did you contact Arthur?

 

The schematics were destroyed and it would be at least another year before they could try to fix it. Possibly.