Quick question: lightpipe cable

[bobby yarrow]

So, is any old lightpipe cable the same thing as an ADAT lightpipe cable, or do they just look the same?

Thanks.

[bobby yarrow]

Does my question not make sense? I'm basically asking, are all optical cables ADAT lightpipe capable, or is the ADAT lightpipe a specialized cable that just pins out the same as a regular optical cable.

[JonCraig]

it's my understanding that "lightpipe" describes the connection, ADAT describes "language" of the digital signal. thus, you can have optical S/PDIF over lightpipe. you can't have optical S/PDIF over ADAT.

someone who knows more may teach us both something.

however, to answer your question, there shouldn't be a difference between an ADAT cable and a lightpipe cable. the "ADAT" cable is likely just marketed to those who have the same question as you. so, your concern would be about cable quality--do different lightpipe cables have different properties, light transfer, etc.? this i don't know.

--jon

[20to20]

2-channel "TOSLINK" and 8-channel "ADAT/Lightpipe"
both use the same optical cable and connectors...

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally posted by 20to20
2-channel "TOSLINK" and 8-channel "ADAT/Lightpipe"
both use the same optical cable and connectors...

...but AREN'T interchangeable!

[bobby yarrow]

Ok, so, turns out, not such a quick question.

There's terms: ADAT, lightpipe, optical, toslink.

There appears to be some at least 2 types of optical cable: lightpipe and toslink.

It occurs to me that my home television setup uses a radioshack "optical cable" to carry at least 5 bands.

Nonetheless, I think I'm going to look for a cable labelled 'ADAT lightpipe.'

[Blue Bear Sound]

The cable itself is the same - plastic fibre optic.... it's the digital protocols that are different (and the protocol is not dictated by either the cable or the connector)......

[bobby yarrow]

Ok, that sounds like the answer I'm looking for. I'm cable shopping. Thanks.

[not_so_new]

Okay but I think he is asking is there a difference between cable brands not the protocol talking over them. ??? Correct??

If that is the questions, yes cable brands do make a big difference, I hate to say.

I don't want to start a "can you hear a difference in this cable" flame war thread but a quick story might be in order.

A good friend of mine asked me to come and record his last show with his old bass player. I wanted next to nothing to do with the gig but he was a friend so I did it (never got paid... what can you do).

Anyway on the way out of the house I grabbed a 3 foot optical cable that was sitting around and my Digimax (was not going to take my high end stuff to the bar) and went to the show. Set up my gear and started running a few takes and noticed all kinds of clocking issues, clicks, pops dropouts all kinds of bad stuff.

I had one of our buddies run down to Radio Shack and I told him to get the most expensive optical cable he could get (we were in a hurry). He came back with a new $50 5 foot optical cable, clocking issues disappeared.

I think better optical cables have less light spill maybe?? Or they have better cadding and reflect more light inside the unit?? I don't know but as skeptical as I am about "high end cables" this one saved my butt.

I would get the best cables you can get, my optical cables are all pretty expensive but I think it is worth it.

[heinz]

IME the only real technical concern is poorly made cheap cables, or long runs (>6ft) of cheaper cable can introduce more jitter into the signal. ADAT carries the clock in ch1. Also, I've seen stuff like monster optical cable have really bad connectors on the ends, that don't actually fit into the receptacle. Rather than screw around (since I use optical from my comp to/from ad/da's) I went with short runs of Apogee glass cable and have had no problems.

There was a thread at Dan Lavry's forum on this FYI.

[exploded]

I know this is an ancient thread, but I was having really frustrating problems with my Frontier Design Tango 24 lightpipe converter. I kept having weird drop outs and pops. It got exponentially worse when I did an external insert and brought some external gear in.

I did everything I could from a software standpoint. I thought maybe my computer was getting bogged down, but it was never running over 20% of CPU usage. I was worried that I was starting to have a hardware failure. So as a last ditch effort, I swapped around my in and my out lightpipe cables. The problem didn't fix itself, it just changed. I didn't even think about toslink cables being the same thing as lightpipe, so I figured I would have to order something online. Luckily I saw this thread, and ran down to Best Buy, picked up a new optical cable. It fixed everything. I've spent a week fighting with this problem, and it turned out to be a fiber optic cable that was going bad. I've had plenty of analog cables go bad, so I know what that sounds like, but never a fiber optic.

I guess the lesson here is that a fiber optic cable going bad can illicit the exact same symptoms as a hardware or syncing failure (drop outs, stutters, clicks)

Edit: anyone know why when I wrote s t u t t e r above, it gave me the emoticon???

[piotr]

Originally Posted by exploded

I know this is an ancient thread, but I was having really frustrating problems with my Frontier Design Tango 24 lightpipe converter. I kept having weird drop outs and pops. It got exponentially worse when I did an external insert and brought some external gear in.

I did everything I could from a software standpoint. I thought maybe my computer was getting bogged down, but it was never running over 20% of CPU usage. I was worried that I was starting to have a hardware failure. So as a last ditch effort, I swapped around my in and my out lightpipe cables. The problem didn't fix itself, it just changed. I didn't even think about toslink cables being the same thing as lightpipe, so I figured I would have to order something online. Luckily I saw this thread, and ran down to Best Buy, picked up a new optical cable. It fixed everything. I've spent a week fighting with this problem, and it turned out to be a fiber optic cable that was going bad. I've had plenty of analog cables go bad, so I know what that sounds like, but never a fiber optic.

I guess the lesson here is that a fiber optic cable going bad can illicit the exact same symptoms as a hardware or syncing failure (drop outs, stutters, clicks)

Edit: anyone know why when I wrote s t u t t e r above, it gave me the emoticon???

I had some problems with drop-outs and pops/clicks when using Rosetta... all was resolved with a replacement optical cable.

Just wanted to chime in to confirm: quality/make of the optical cable does make a difference!

p.

[exploded]

Agreed. A crappy optical cable can make your life hell. However, just don't buy this one.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Rocketfi...link&cp=1&lp=1

I had to do a double take....a gold plated optical cable. Let me repeat that. A GOLD PLATED OPTICAL CABLE. It's obviously marketed to people who have no idea what they're looking at. That's such complete rip-off bullshit.

"24K gold-plated connectors for corrosion resistance and enhanced signal transfer"

Wow.

[drbob1]

S t u t t e r brings up the emoticon for t u t (hence the finger wagging).

[longhorn625]

I'm experiencing the same pops and crackles everyone before me has talked about. I'm using my Prism Orpheus in Direct ADAT mode with my Digi 003. The ADAT out of the 003 going in to the Orpheus works just fine. It's the Orpheus' out going into the 003 that causes all of the firecrackers. I'm using a 5 meter ADAT cable for both - when I don't touch the cable coming out of the Orpheus - it will pop or crackle every few seconds on its own. If I move the cable around near the connecter - it crackles and pops like crazy - and if I bend the cable together at any point - it's like the 4th of July (nonstop fireworks). So I def. think its the cable causing this and not the Orpheus. I can reduce the length to somewhere between 2 to 3 meters. I've seen people saying glass cables are better than plastic ones - if that is true - can any one recommend some cables. Thanks.

[bigteks]

It's the wear and tear. Fibre cables are sensitive to excessive or repeated bending or flexing or any dirt or oil on the ends.

As long as the cable has proper integrity they all work identically. But if you compromise the cable integrity they will all start dropping bits.

Possible benefits of a more expensive cable might be that the packaging is more robust so it can do a better job of protecting the optical fibre from damage.

But other than that, the fibre itself either works or it doesn't. It's digital. If the bits get through, they are the same bits regardless of how much you spent on the cable. Jitter in a fully functional optical cable is nonexistent on the time scales that the converter is operating on. And the converter determines the timing when bits get converted to sound, not the timing of when each bit arrives over the cable.

I'm an electrical engineer and I can tell you don't waste money on fanciful claims about fibre cables. Just make sure they're mechanically solid and treat them like they're made out of glass (they are).

Oh - and yes the optical cable for ADAT/lightpipe is the same as for SPDIF.

[poolshark]

Originally Posted by bigteks

It's the wear and tear. Fibre cables are sensitive to excessive or repeated bending or flexing or any dirt or oil on the ends.

As long as the cable has proper integrity they all work identically. But if you compromise the cable integrity they will all start dropping bits.

Possible benefits of a more expensive cable might be that the packaging is more robust so it can do a better job of protecting the optical fibre from damage.

But other than that, the fibre itself either works or it doesn't. It's digital. If the bits get through, they are the same bits regardless of how much you spent on the cable. Jitter in a fully functional optical cable is nonexistent on the time scales that the converter is operating on. And the converter determines the timing when bits get converted to sound, not the timing of when each bit arrives over the cable.

I'm an electrical engineer and I can tell you don't waste money on fanciful claims about fibre cables. Just make sure they're mechanically solid and treat them like they're made out of glass (they are).

Oh - and yes the optical cable for ADAT/lightpipe is the same as for SPDIF.

So there's no fix for a cable with pops and dropout issues aside from replacing it?