G5 Optical Specs.

[Scoot]

SPDIF Optical specs from the G5 technical overview pdf:
16 or 24 bit input and output
output samplerate 32kHz, 44.1kHz, or 48kHz
input samplerate - external clock mode: 32kHz, 44.1kHz, or 48kHz
input samplerate - internal clock mode: 16kHz- 96kHz

[fastlanephil]

What and who is it for besides gamers.

[Jerm]

Well, it is hell of a lot better than 1/8 inch mini especially since I remember 8 or years ago when Apple was telling developers that there would 'never' be digital audio in or out.

[Scoot]

If it's increased the number of inputs to the mac........it's a good thing.


scoot

[Sami23]

Uh... it increases the speed of data transmission since the data is theroretically traveling at the speed of light versus being limited to traditional cabling and it's limitations...

At least that's what I've been led to believe since the late 80s when optical started appearing on "pro" studio recoding gear...

[fastlanephil]

I imagine you'll need a interface device to use it with mics and standard electronic instruments. It's dedicated to audio so maybe it will have some advantages over USB and FW audio. Apple didn't mention much about audio recording with it in their statement about it.

On another note(book). Just read about the Echo Indigo io card bus for 15" and 17" powerbooks. Sounds impressive.

[Sami23]

"...a interface device to use it with..."

Most of the Edirol USB audio devices (if not all) already have optical outputs built in. Should be much faster than plugging into USB...

[fastlanephil]

I checked out the Edirol audio interfaces and they all use Apples OSX audio core driver. Does that mean no software audio through like my iMic? Yes, they all have optical.

[buserror]

Uh... it increases the speed of data transmission since the data is theroretically traveling at the speed of light versus being limited to traditional cabling and it's limitations...

Ah ? because electric current doesn't travel at the speed of light in a conductive material ? Hmmm ?

At least that's what I've been led to believe since the late 80s when optical started appearing on "pro" studio recoding gear...

It's still digital on the optical link, so you don't need to have DAC in the chassis of the Mac, and pick all the electromagnetic soup that live in there.
And the optical link will be faster than USB, but not because it's "light" but because theres no protocol overhead etc, it's synchronous and only sound.

[Jerm]

I checked out the Edirol audio interfaces and they all use Apples OSX audio core driver. Does that mean no software audio through like my iMic? Yes, they all have optical.

I think that is true. Currently the apple driver divorces input from output and then higher level applications and utilities merge them back together so that they look like a single device. This means they are not in sync and may not handle audio play-thru properly.