MacBook Mini-TOSLINK and QLab

[themuzicman]

So, I was messing around on my computer, and noticed that the minijack plug also doubles as a mini-TOSLINK connector. I know that Apple's built in DVD player utilizes this for 5.1 Surround out. Anyone know if I can use this optical out and map it to the optical in on a sound board in QLab?

 

[mbenonis]

Good question - I don't know. You might ask on the QLab mailing list (see the QLab website for directions on how to send messages to it).

That would be wicked cool, though!

 

[doctorhandshake]

Bump - did you ever get an answer to this? Was just researching the same thing for the purposes of doing multichannel playback from a mac to a 5.1 home theater receiver.

 

[themuzicman]

4 Years later, and I know the answer...The MINI-TOSLINK connector in a Mac computers is transferring S/PIDF. While S/PIDF and ADAT both use the same JIS F05 optical connector, the physical data is not compatible. S/PDIF is a consumer variance of AES-3 (the only difference between variants is the voltage level). S/PDIF was created by Sony/Phillips based on an AES standard to transfer stereo or simple multi-channel audio between consumer devices at a variable rate. ADAT is completely different, developed by Alesis not based on any standard and carries 8 channels of 24-bit audio at 48k.

 

[Chris15]

S/PDIF is a consumer variance of AES-3 (the only difference between variants is the voltage level).

This is not quite true, there are also minor differences in the data frame structure that can lead to incompatibility, though it can work, depending on how the manufacturer has designed their gear...