ADAT vs Z-LINK etc

edmann · Post by **edmann** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 9:09 am

Greetings All -

Does anyone know (or have an opinion on) the quality/stability of a digital audio data stream into a Pulsar II card in these 3 configurations:

ADAT optical. plastic or glass
Z-LINK
S/PDIF
any of the the above with the CW Sync-plate Word Clock Module, sync'd to (for ex) the A16 Ultra or similar device

What I wish to understand first is if there are any differences between ADAT and Z-LINK with regard to jitter

anyone have any experiences to share?

thanks in advance

Ed

kimgr · Post by **kimgr** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 12:24 pm

Adat has the worst jitter of any digital format in my experience. Always use wordclock when adat is involved. Z-Link is MUCH better.

I haven't gotten around to measuring the difference on Z-Link with and without wordclock, but the difference is so small that I can't hear it. (I have an A16ultra hooked up to Scope via 2 Z-Links.)

Kim.

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 5:00 pm

What does jitter sound like?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: braincell on 2004-02-06 17:03 ]</font>

kimgr · Post by **kimgr** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 6:21 pm

Bad stereo imaging, muddy low-end, less "punch" etc...

Kim.

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 6:25 pm

I've been using ADAT with the A16 but mostly for mono. I thought it sounded great but I haven't compared it yet.