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Gear / Technical Help => Battery Boxes, Preamps, Mixers, ADCs, and Processors => Topic started by: shackaholic on February 25, 2010, 09:21:15 PM

Title: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: shackaholic on February 25, 2010, 09:21:15 PM
I need to transfer an archive of DATs to my macbook but my decks don't have optical out. They are all coax out. Does anyone know of any bit perfect converters out there? I've heard that the M-Audio c02 isn't bit perfect?

Is this the only way to go from DAT > Macbook?

I have a Marantz Oade modified ACM 671 and tried to go from DAT to digi in on it but that didn't work.
Title: Re: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: shackaholic on February 25, 2010, 09:25:04 PM
http://www.esi-audio.com/products/u24xl/

Anyone know if that is any good as far as being bit perfect?
Title: Re: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: OOK on February 25, 2010, 09:27:15 PM
I believe the Hosa ODL-276 is bit perfect....

Peace OOK
Title: Re: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: shackaholic on February 25, 2010, 09:30:23 PM
solid! thanks so much.
Title: Re: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: deadheaded on February 25, 2010, 10:01:00 PM

I have a Marantz Oade modified ACM 671 and tried to go from DAT to digi in on it but that didn't work.

why doesn't that work?
Title: Re: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: shackaholic on February 25, 2010, 10:20:00 PM
Because I'm a moron and forgot to switch the input on the deck...
 ::)
Title: Re: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: deadheaded on February 26, 2010, 12:09:00 AM
figured it had to be something like that.
we've all done it!
Title: Re: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: greenone on February 26, 2010, 01:25:37 AM
If you're still curious, the U24XL's predecessor, the U2A was, so I have to assume the U24XL is as well.
Title: Re: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: yug du nord on February 26, 2010, 04:57:29 PM
I believe the Hosa ODL-276 is bit perfect....

Peace OOK

I think it is too...  but there are two different boxes made by Hosa, one that is 16bit...  and one that is 24bit.  I think??
Title: Re: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: DSatz on February 26, 2010, 11:48:48 PM
shackaholic, I would urge you to get some proof before accepting what you may have heard about the CO2. I haven't tested it myself, though I do own one and could set something up if no one else has already done so. But I would think that the processing power required to do anything BUT a 1:1 pass-through of the incoming bitstream would be cost-prohibitive in such a relatively inexpensive piece of gear.

A few years ago Radio Shack was selling a bidirectional converter for maybe $30; it could even be powered by a 9-Volt battery. Is that gone now? I bought one, which I can't find at the moment, but it seemed to work.

--best regards
Title: Re: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: Len Moskowitz (Core Sound) on February 27, 2010, 10:20:18 PM
Last time we checked, the CO2 was  bit-for-bit perfect.

Title: Re: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: twatts (pants are so over-rated...) on February 27, 2010, 10:51:46 PM
The CO2 I owned had drop-outs during transfers of DATs to my old JB3.  So I got a Hosa and never had the problem again. 

Terry
Title: Re: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: live2496 on February 28, 2010, 11:35:03 AM
A few years ago Radio Shack was selling a bidirectional converter for maybe $30; it could even be powered by a 9-Volt battery. Is that gone now? I bought one, which I can't find at the moment, but it seemed to work.

I don't think they stock them anymore. That is part no 15-1228. I will sell it for $15 plus postage if anyone reading this is interested.

I don't know what to say on the CO2 problem. Could be a bad cable or intermittent power supply(?). These things should be relatively trouble-free as they just convert from one format to the other. There is no DSP or way to adjust levels, so it should be bit-perfect.


Title: Re: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: DSatz on February 28, 2010, 02:25:22 PM
Obviously an intermittent connection is a different type of problem from having a converter that's engineered to alter the bitstream in some way. Again, the latter would require digital signal processing, which you would notice in the price, especially for a unit the age of the CO2.

For new digital equipment, and increasingly so in the future, DSP will be relatively cheap so it conceivably might be snuck into something where you didn't expect it. On the other hand, it could also be so high in quality that you wouldn't mind having it (e.g. modern asynchronous sampling rate converters costing $5 to implement are worlds better than the early ones that cost $500+).
Title: Re: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: ducati on March 01, 2010, 09:09:32 AM
If, by chance, you're considering a DAC for your hifi...  You could grab a Cambridge Audio DacMagic, and use it for both.  It will pass a bit-perfect digital signal (un-upsampled) out of its digital outs, so you can use it as a converter of sorts. Kinda expensive as a standalone converter, but as a "free" addition with a very nice little DAC, it's a nice side benefit.
Title: Re: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: rowjimmy on March 02, 2010, 11:33:09 AM
I believe the Hosa ODL-276 is bit perfect....

Peace OOK

I think it is too...  but there are two different boxes made by Hosa, one that is 16bit...  and one that is 24bit.  I think??

This is correct.
The older ODL-276 is 16bit.

Rock solid box that converts coax > optical as well as optical > coax.
The current ODL-276A supports 24bit.
Title: Re: bit perfect coax to optical converters?
Post by: ashevillain on March 03, 2010, 09:09:46 AM
I have an original ODL-276 that I'll sell on the cheap if someone here needs one.