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Conference Paper

Measuring AES/EBU Interfaces

Authors: Cabot, Richard C.

AES Conference: UK 3rd Conference: AES/EBU Interface · Paper EBU-11 · September 1989

Abstract

The AES/EBU interface provides a means of sending two channels of digital audio data from one device to another. It additionally provisions for control bits to convey other information about the signal. In the years since its standardization it has been slow to gain market acceptance for various reasons. The primary reason has been the complexity of the interface and the attendant engineering design time required to implement it. A lack of commercially available IC's which implement the interface has forced designers to produce parts-intensive discrete implementations. Most of these are partial implementations in an effort to reduce cost and complexity. Many designers have chosen to implement a consumer style interface, which has similar but not identical characteristics, because of the availability of dedicated IC's. The differences between the AES/EBU and consumer interfaces, along with the wide variety of partial implementations has resulted in frequent incompatibilities in the field. Several ambiguities exist in the official specification which further serve to promote incompatible versions of the interface. This paper will describe some of the fundamental parameters of the interface and the problems they create. Methods of testing the integrity of the complete interface will be discussed. Simple checks of implementation completeness will also be presented.

Details

Published in
AES Conference: UK 3rd Conference: AES/EBU Interface
Paper number
EBU-11
Publication date
September 6, 1989
Session subject
AES/EBU Interface
Affiliation
Audio Precision, USA (See document for exact affiliation information.)
Type
Conference Paper