Digital to analog convertor?

[Stupid]

Howdy, I have a connection that goes from digital coaxial to RCA, so does this mean I need a digital to analog convertor? If so, how much are they, and where could I find one? If not, what would I need to make that connection successful? Thank you.

 

[Mudcat]

First thing, I cannot answer your question yet. But change your moniker. You've asked (based on you 're recent postings) five very good questions. This is a sign of intelligence.

Now the answer, probably not. Is the digital COAX and RAC connection? What unit is it on (DVD, CATV, etc.). Digital COAX can be anything from RCA connectors to the dreaded F connectors (the old threaded coax connections) and there is a bayonnet connection but I forget what it is called. Most DVD/CD players have the DAC built in (remember the day when you bought a CD player based on the bits (12, 16, 18, or 20 bit converters).

Now I can only hope I did not appear too foolish in answering this.

 

[Stupid]

Thanks for your reply. Sorry, what's a moniker?

The digital coaxial hasn't got red and white jacks like RCA, but an RCA cable will plug into the digital coaxial output. The digital coaxial output is a single black jack. The digital coaxial output is on my stereo system.

I have heard that you can just use an RCA cable for digital coaxial outputs, but I tried that and it didn't work. No, you didn't appear foolish. Thank you, I didn't realise there were so many digital coaxial connections. Sorry, what does DAC stand for? If you could help me more that would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[JohnA]

Digital Coax

Digital Coax as it is called, uses a RCA connection (Digital Coax does not use an "F" type connector) just like the analog RCA, you can use any regular RCA cable for it. But...you must send the digital to the digital coax input on the receiver (not an analog input), you must also tell the receiver to use the digital coax rather than analog inputs.

There are five main types of Digital Inputs on consumer electronics:

1) Digital Coax: Looks like a standard RCA cable...because it is This is better than analog, but it still can have interference from other electrical equipment...just like analog cables. (USED FOR AUDIO)

2) SPDIF or Digital Optical: This transmits the digital signal across a fiber optic cable using light rather than a metal conductor. (USED FOR AUDIO)

3) Firewire: Yep just like on your computer...this is on many consumer Digital and HD video cameras (USED TO SEND VIDEO AND AUDIO)

4) DVI: This is a Digital Video Interface, used on high end consumer electronics such as DVD player, HD-VHS, TV's, some receivers, etc... (USED FOR VIDEO)

5) HDMI: This is a digital connection that carries both video in HD resolutions and digital audio 5.1/6.1 on one cable. Found on TV's, some receivers, DVD players, HD-VHS, etc...

A "DAC" stands for Digital to Analog Converter. Most DVD players and Receivers have these built in, that is how you can send an analog RCA (L/R) from a DVD player to your receiver.

I hope this has helped some.

 

[Stupid]

Thank you. So does this mean I can go from an RCA output to a digital coaxial input, but I can't go from a digital coaxial output to an RCA input?

 

[markw]

That depends on the signal being passed from the output to the input, even if they both use "RCA" type output/input jacks. You cannot pass a digital signal to an analog input and expect it to work. ...and vice versa.

 

[Stupid]

Some say that you can connect digital coaxial to RCA or vise versa, and it didn't seem to make sense to me. Thank you.

 

[JohnA]

Nope

Thank you. So does this mean I can go from an RCA output to a digital coaxial input, but I can't go from a digital coaxial output to an RCA input?

Sorry but no...Analog goes to analog and digital goes to digital...you can't mix the two.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Thanks for your reply. Sorry, what's a moniker?

.

The name you are using, "stupid."

 

[mtrycrafts]

Howdy, I have a connection that goes from digital coaxial to RCA, so does this mean I need a digital to analog convertor? If so, how much are they, and where could I find one? If not, what would I need to make that connection successful? Thank you.

Just to add to all the good responses to you, the RCA plug by itself doesn't define the type of signal going in that input/output connection.
A digital output must go to a digital input. An analog goes to analog. A video goes to video; yes, video cables also use RCA plugs.
Perhaps if you use the manual and follow the directions you should not have problems. That doesn't mean you shouldn't ask questions to expand your knowledge base

A coax cable is what is called a 75 ohm cable. You can use this for all your RCA application, including analog audio, video and digital audio. But, you should only use the analog audio cables not further defined as coax, only in the analog audio applications.

 

[BMXTRIX]

To actually answer the question:

If your receiver requires analog input on RCA connections (or any connection that is analog) then you will need to convert the signal from digital to analog between the two devices.

Because almost every device nowadays includes internal D/A converters, you may have a tough time finding one. I found mine at www.audiogon.com and there are some on eBay.

The product I have is the original iMerge S1002 2-zone digital jukebox. Zone 1 comes out analog from the product, but zone 2 is only available through a digital connection. This meant that if I wanted to use the second zone in my distributed audio system I first had to convert it to analog. Which I did by using a D/A converter purchased from Audiogon.

Now, I imagine if you are hooking the product directly up to an A/V receiver, any NEWER receiver should have at least a couple of Digital Coax (SPDIF) inputs on it. Those inputs should be assignable to whatever input you use. So, if you connect your digital source to 'aux 3' then in the receivers menu system you should be able to assign 'aux 3' audio to 'SPDIF 2' or wherever you hook it up.

I have also considered purchasing an old(ish) A/V receiver that has pre-outs and SPDIF connectors on it. It may be cheaper or the same price as a D/A converter as there are a ton more A/V receivers on the market than D/A stand-alone converters.

 

[Stupid]

Thank you for your replies all. It helped alot.

 

[Movendi]

I also face a similar problem.

I want to know if i can use the unbalanced RCA unbalanced output of my dj mixer to a coaxial BNC female input connector on a Benchmark DAC1 using a "RCA female jack to BNC male plug". Like this htp://cgi.ebay.com/5-Pack-RCA-female-jack-to-BNC-male-plug-coax-adapters_W0QQitemZ290229352803QQihZ019QQcategoryZ48637QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

The dj mixer uses "RCA unbalanced output -10 dBV unbalanced"

First of all i'm wondering if this will even work. Second if this theoratically works, will it be okay to use it electronically speaking, like impedance etc.

The dac1 manual says:

The coaxial input uses a female BNC connector that is securely mounted directly to the rear panel. The input
impedance is 75 Ω. This input is DC isolated, transformer coupled, current limited, and diode protected.

Like the other digital inputs, this input accepts AES/EBU or S/PDIF digital audio formats. The BNC connector is
specified by the AES3-id and SMPTE 276M standards for 75-Ω 1 Vpp digital audio signals and is commonly used
in video production facilities. IEC 609588-3 specifies the use of an RCA type connector for 75-Ω 0.5 Vpp
consumer-format digital audio signals (commonly known as S/PDIF). The coaxial input on the DAC1 is designed
to accept either type of signal. We have chosen to use a BNC connector because of its superior reliability. The
DAC1 comes with a BNC-to-RCA adapter to allow easy interface with consumer equipment

OR

Can i use the djmixer 2 (XLR Balanced/+4 dBu balanced) output into the 1 female dac1's XLR Digital Input (Impedance on XLR input:
110 Ω) using a XLR y-splitter?

 

[Midcow2]

first understand the difference between analog and digital

... Analog is a continious spectrum with theoretically an infinite number of levels. For example in the normal human hearing frequency range an analog signal might be able to have every frequency between 0 and 20K Htz of 20,000 different levels.

Now digital on the other hand has distinct steps of values. The smaller the steps the better the convernsion. For example if the sampling is every 2,500 Htz you would get a very bad sound reproduction of the original signal: set -= 0, 2500, 5000, 7500, 10000, 12500, 15000, 17500, 20000.

However even a sampling rate a large as 100 gives prettty good sound reproduction of the original: 0, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700 ...

Besides the frequency range you also have to take into account the time of the interval. If for example you sample for 1 seconds and then break down the signal even to a low 10 Hz interval you would obtain a poor reproduction.

To be valid and repordocue qulaity sound you have to get somthing below the sound persistnace of the human ear, it you statrt to approach less than 10 milli-seconds with a frequency sampling of 100 Hz you begin to obtain good SQ.

Analog can be converted to digiatal and digiatl can be converted to analog. The quality depends on the the frequency interval and the interval length.

Any reasonable cost convetor will sucessfully convert analog to digiatl or vice-versa. However, look at the specs and listen before you buy!

 

[Movendi]

Sorry i bumped an old thread cause i had a similar kind of question but different hardware and connecters.

Will a xlr y splitter work in my case? How bad is the quality degradation?

 

[Midcow2]

Sorry i bumped an old thread cause i had a similar kind of question but different hardware and connecters.

Will a xlr y splitter work in my case? How bad is the quality degradation?

You get a 3 dB loss (which is expected) but you should not get any quality degradation. It will only be noticable if you have a very low signal level.