I just got my 3rd card in here. It's a Scope Home and it's got some wierd kind of S/Pdif port on it and there is no cable in the box that interfaces with this wierd little port. It's obviously going to be a stereo in / dual mono out, but it's just sort of annoying that this thing isn't ready to go, right out of the box and that now I've got to either build or buy a cable and that's going to put me another day or two out from being able to get this system interfaced with the rest of my studio. I think the ad for this product should say something like:
"Scope Home...yadda, yadda..........and don't forget that this is not turnkey and ready for immediate use because there is a wierd little port for a stereo s/pdif cable that you will need to build or buy separately"
sorry...I'll quit grousing about it now.........I guess I just expected something ready to work with out of the box. There really should be some kind of stereo pigtail provided that will allow patching to a S/Pdif RCA so this can be used without having to jump though more hoops........wait!!!!..I said I'd quit grousing, didn't I?
DJ wrote:It's obviously going to be a stereo in / dual mono out, but it's just sort of annoying that this thing isn't ready to go, right out of the box and that now I've got to either build or buy a cable
it says in the manual it's a stereo in / stereo out combination socket. the cable should be a standard mini trs to rca stereo cable which is available in every electronic shop. ground is wired to sleeve, while ring is output signal and tip is input. one should check this with a tester. I don't have the rca spdif wiring specs ready; I would assume that the inner connector is signal and the metal circle aorund it is ground. maybe you can enlight me
-greetings, markus-
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I'm sorry, but my karma just ran over your dogma.
someone recently posted a catalog page of such adapters (from the UK, tho) and there was a mini-stereo 90 degrees to 2 female RCA plugs with 2-3" of cable in between.
It's the only version that takes tension off the connector, which otherwise is (I have to agree to your rant...) a complete technical misconception.
My personal guess is that the card was (in it's original form) designed for the 'home' user who wouldn't mind to connect 'any-3ft-end-of-stereo-cable-around' to the s/pdif io
DJ wrote:It's obviously going to be a stereo in / dual mono out, but it's just sort of annoying that this thing isn't ready to go, right out of the box and that now I've got to either build or buy a cable
it says in the manual it's a stereo in / stereo out combination socket. the cable should be a standard mini trs to rca stereo cable which is available in every electronic shop. ground is wired to sleeve, while ring is output signal and tip is input. one should check this with a tester. I don't have the rca spdif wiring specs ready; I would assume that the inner connector is signal and the metal circle aorund it is ground. maybe you can enlight me
-greetings, markus-
>which is available in every electronic shop<
I live in the mountains. The roads are mere goat trails and the mountain passes are covered with snow at this time of year. To get to an electronics shop I have to get my sherpas to help me hitch a team of horses to a wagon, and then we arm ourselves with spears, bows, arrows and make enough torches dipped in pitch that they will last the 8 hours it takes to get to town while fighting off hordes of ravenous wolves who lie in wait between my hut and Radio Shack, waiting for any opportunity to waylay and devour the unwary traveller. If I'm lucky and get past the wolves, then there are the avalanches and yetis.............
DJ wrote:
I live in the mountains. The roads are mere goat trails and the mountain passes are covered with snow at this time of year. To get to an electronics shop I have to get my sherpas to help me hitch a team of horses to a wagon, and then we arm ourselves with spears, bows, arrows and make enough torches dipped in pitch that they will last the 8 hours it takes to get to town while fighting off hordes of ravenous wolves who lie in wait between my hut and Radio Shack, waiting for any opportunity to waylay and devour the unwary traveller. If I'm lucky and get past the wolves, then there are the avalanches and yetis.............
sorry, I seem to have forgotten about the yetis...
I couldn't guess your home out there in the wilderness, since you don't provide location information in your profile
a soldering iron and a some spare plugs will do as well... or wait, do you have to call the sherpas to spin the wheel faster that drives the generator which gives you the electricity necessary to run both the scope system AND the soldering iron?
-greetings, markus-
--
I'm sorry, but my karma just ran over your dogma.
DJ wrote:
I live in the mountains. The roads are mere goat trails and the mountain passes are covered with snow at this time of year. To get to an electronics shop I have to get my sherpas to help me hitch a team of horses to a wagon, and then we arm ourselves with spears, bows, arrows and make enough torches dipped in pitch that they will last the 8 hours it takes to get to town while fighting off hordes of ravenous wolves who lie in wait between my hut and Radio Shack, waiting for any opportunity to waylay and devour the unwary traveller. If I'm lucky and get past the wolves, then there are the avalanches and yetis.............
sorry, I seem to have forgotten about the yetis...
I couldn't guess your home out there in the wilderness, since you don't provide location information in your profile
a soldering iron and a some spare plugs will do as well... or wait, do you have to call the sherpas to spin the wheel faster that drives the generator which gives you the electricity necessary to run both the scope system AND the soldering iron?
-greetings, markus-
I can get a fire hot enough to melt iron ore if i can find enough yak dung. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to get to a recent lightning strike before the area finishes burning and I can get *free fire* without having to work so hard with flint or by rubbing sticks together.
DJ wrote:
I live in the mountains. The roads are mere goat trails and the mountain passes are covered with snow at this time of year. To get to an electronics shop I have to get my sherpas to help me hitch a team of horses to a wagon, and then we arm ourselves with spears, bows, arrows and make enough torches dipped in pitch that they will last the 8 hours it takes to get to town while fighting off hordes of ravenous wolves who lie in wait between my hut and Radio Shack, waiting for any opportunity to waylay and devour the unwary traveller. If I'm lucky and get past the wolves, then there are the avalanches and yetis.............
sorry, I seem to have forgotten about the yetis...
I couldn't guess your home out there in the wilderness, since you don't provide location information in your profile
a soldering iron and a some spare plugs will do as well... or wait, do you have to call the sherpas to spin the wheel faster that drives the generator which gives you the electricity necessary to run both the scope system AND the soldering iron?
-greetings, markus-
I can get a fire hot enough to melt iron ore if i can find enough yak dung. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to get to a recent lightning strike before the area finishes burning and I can get *free fire* without having to work so hard with flint or by rubbing sticks together.
Well........I collected enough yak dung for the fire and sent up smoke signals which Ali saw and as we were communicating, I happened to run across one of these laying around in my tool kit:
............and so I plugged it in to the wierd little digital input of the Pulsar Home card, then I plugged a spdif output cable into the little red colored female coax jack and plugged a spdif input cable into the little white colored female coax jack and I am now hearing the spdif output of the Pulsar Home card which is routed to my Benchmark DAC-1 through a digital patchbay.
I tried to make this as difficult as possible. I really tried hard dammit!!!!
you're not done yet...
...unless you found a way to take tension (induced by cable weight) off the connector.
Unaltered it works like a lever and results in a fairly 'tilted' connection - no problems brand-new but suspective to wearout.
Since I've seen your rig, I'm convinced you'll have no problems to fix it - you could be the first one with a truely fully balanced s/pdif cable
astroman wrote:you're not done yet...
...unless you found a way to take tension (induced by cable weight) off the connector.
Unaltered it works like a lever and results in a fairly 'tilted' connection - no problems brand-new but suspective to wearout.
a 90° mini trs would be a goos idea indeed. there are coupling cables with such a trs plug and a female trs socket at the other end. he could still use his radio shack splitter then. I still recommend a custom built...
-greetings, markus-
--
I'm sorry, but my karma just ran over your dogma.
astroman wrote:you're not done yet...
...unless you found a way to take tension (induced by cable weight) off the connector.
Unaltered it works like a lever and results in a fairly 'tilted' connection - no problems brand-new but suspective to wearout.
Since I've seen your rig, I'm convinced you'll have no problems to fix it - you could be the first one with a truely fully balanced s/pdif cable
cheers, Tom
Actually, when the ZLink ethernet cable is inserted below this jack, the thickness of the plastic on the minijack adapter makes it sit perfectly on top of the ZLink cable so there is no tension. A happy accident I'm sure.
