Topic: SPDIF optical on Adi 8QS?

Simple question: I want to route the digital audio of a blue ray player to my RME Aid 8QS Converter. There are HDMI splitters available that split the audio out to an SPDIF port. Can this be connected to the RME interface? It is the same cable, but I am not sure, if the 8QS will accept SPDIF on optical ports. It does so on the AES ports and other RME-interfaces state that the adat ports do accept SPDIF ... in this case it is not mentioned in the manual.

2 (edited by ramses 2018-08-24 08:50:17)

Re: SPDIF optical on Adi 8QS?

According to handbook only on AES ports (coaxial).
Would be nice of optical SPDIF would have been supported to make such a unit more flexible in that regards.

What is your main interface ? The UFX II / UFX+ support this on the ADAT2 port.

If its not required for routing in one instance you could also add a not so expensive Digiface USB, which allow optical SPDIF even on all 4 ADAT ports which is amazing in terms of flexibility.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

Re: SPDIF optical on Adi 8QS?

Even if it supported spdif on optical, it won´t decode AC3 DTs and other surround formats.

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
Babyface pro fs, HDSP9652+ADI-8AE, HDSP9632

Re: SPDIF optical on Adi 8QS?

ramses wrote:

According to handbook only on AES ports (coaxial).
Would be nice of optical SPDIF would have been supported to make such a unit more flexible in that regards.

What is your main interface ? The UFX II / UFX+ support this on the ADAT2 port.

If its not required for routing in one instance you could also add a not so expensive Digiface USB, which allow optical SPDIF even on all 4 ADAT ports which is amazing in terms of flexibility.

Thanks, Ramses. I use the RME madi FX. Besides the madi it offers an AES input, but that is already occupied with an external studio effect. Besides, I only want to use optical connection between studio and consumer gear.

Re: SPDIF optical on Adi 8QS?

vinark wrote:

Even if it supported spdif on optical, it won´t decode AC3 DTs and other surround formats.

Thanks, Vinark! You are right! I didn’t think about the Blue Ray Players DTS output.
So, I guess I am no longer looking for a splitter, but rather for a decoder with hdmi input/split and ADAT output. The other option would be 5.1 analog output, but I would need that to be symmetrical, as I would Route that to a balanced patchbay. Does anyone happen to know which decoder would be a good choice (and hopefully not to expensive)? It should offer all relevant surround decoding options for a 5.1 setup (I will not have anything like 7.1 or atmos). The Blue Ray Player I am looking into also plays back DVD audio and SACD. Although that medium is pretty dead, as far as I can see, it would be great, if playback of these would be possible, too. Not required, though!

Re: SPDIF optical on Adi 8QS?

If your BR player has analogue outs even if unbalanced, I would use those. There is no inherent problem going from unbalanced outs to balanced inputs even through a patchbay. These are not mic levels so I expect no problems and it is easy to try. On top of that you are not chained to the sample rate of the BR player. If it works it works. I know of no surround to adat converters and if they exist at all they will be pro$$$.
Current DA converter quality is really good enough to not insist on digital connections.
As SOS magazine said so practically, see analogue as the universal digital connection....

Vincent, Amsterdam
https://soundcloud.com/thesecretworld
Babyface pro fs, HDSP9652+ADI-8AE, HDSP9632

Re: SPDIF optical on Adi 8QS?

vinark wrote:

If your BR player has analogue outs even if unbalanced, I would use those. There is no inherent problem going from unbalanced outs to balanced inputs even through a patchbay. These are not mic levels so I expect no problems and it is easy to try. On top of that you are not chained to the sample rate of the BR player. If it works it works. I know of no surround to adat converters and if they exist at all they will be pro$$$.
Current DA converter quality is really good enough to not insist on digital connections.
As SOS magazine said so practically, see analogue as the universal digital connection....

The BR player I chose does not have analog outs. It just audio via HDMI (and a second HDMI port for only audio - so , at least I would not need a splitter). Do you know a good choice of a DTS decoder with HDMI input and analog out, then? Just in case there is something you would recommend ...

8 (edited by ramses 2018-08-24 16:59:21)

Re: SPDIF optical on Adi 8QS?

Get Oppo UDP-203 or UDP-205 .. The best and fastest player.
This is the last year where they produce. Nothing comparable on market anymore.

You can perfectly combine BR player with ADI-2 DAC in recording corner, see here: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … her-EN-DE/

Meanwhile I got the UDP-203 and perform best D/A conversion by using ADI-2 DAC.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

Re: SPDIF optical on Adi 8QS?

Thanks, Ramses! I will go through that forum entry with great interest. The UDP-203 is a little more than I had planed spending on this kind of device, as it is not work related - rather for pleasure to use my studio 5.1 system to watch movies and listening to surround music. Yet, it is within the range of possible and I might get it. However - this BR player misses one essential feature to me, which is playback of Netflix and Amazon prime. The 205 seems to offer this, but it is out of my price range and also - as the company seems to be insolvent, there probably won't be any updates and this kind of feature could easily break all to soon ... Which makes me think: weren't there other hardware solutions to make netflix and amazon prime possible? How would that interface with the UDP-203?
Sorry for asking these stupid question, but I really have no experience with any of this consumer based world! ;-) I just know my way around professional audio equipment. The reason I want netflix an prime to work over a hardware box is that this seems to be the only way to get it to play surround, which does not work on mac computers (probably also windows). I just would like to get both Bluerays and streaming to work - hopefully both with one box! :-)

Re: SPDIF optical on Adi 8QS?

AFIAK company and service for the devices continues for a couple of years.
They only do not sell BR players anymore.

This might be due to the fact that most people only stream films.
When I told this info about Oppo to a friend, he simply said, he is not interested in buying BR anymore, he only streams.
Maybe like many people nowadays listen to MP3 and not lossless ...

The interesting part of the 205 is, that he has a high end D/A converter which is very expensive.
If you intend to playback i.e. SACD, then for copyright reasons the sound won't be played through optical SPDIF.
Then you really need a good D/A converter built into the system.
This was a very big disappointment for me finding out, that I can not perform the D/A conversion for SACDs using OPPO via optical SPDIF via RME ADI-2 Pro. Since then SACD is dead for me. Nice idea, but bullshit implementation killing every possibility to let the customer decide, where the D/A conversion shall happen.

If I would have known that upfront, maybe I even would have spend the money for the 205.
On the other hand .. dunno whether the difference is that high.
RME gets the most out of the AKM chip and the sound is phantastic, even slightly better compared to Accuphase DAC-40 module, which I thinik is really good.

But .. I would get at least an Oppo, because it has great features
- operation is very fast, including loading of a medium until playback
- better options to adjust / resynchronize tone to video. My old player was only able to add time for music playback. It turned out for me that I need a negative adjustment of approx -50ms, which my old player didnt support. With the Oppo all this is possible

In terms of clients for netflix ... yes nice to have BUT .. I  don't see it necessarily the task of a BR player.
I would rather than that prefer, that the vendor concentrates on the basic job of such a device to make it perfect.

For Netflix I use the old Amazon Stick without Alexa, fully satisfactory. Or if you have it build into TV.

Whats also nice with the Oppo. It has an andriod App.
I have all my 5-star rated music as lossless FLAC on my smartphone.
If I want I can perform the playback of lossless files via Wireless and the Oppo displays the covers etc ...
Nice option if you sit on your sofa and want to select what you want to listen to.

Similar functionality can be achieved with MusicBee and MusicBee Remote on an android phone.

I would at least get the Oppo 203. It works really phantastic. I spend the additional money to get it region free.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13