2. digital
  3. 1341996945

AES/EBU XLR pinouts

I need to make up some AES/EBU XLR connectors to connect a PS Audio PWT to my Bryston DAC. But I cannot seem to find the pinouts from either Bryston or PS Audio's website.

A websearch yields some sources (forum responses) that say pins 2 (+) and 3 (-) are connected and pin 1 is left unconnected. The shield is connected to the XLR connector shell.

I am confused because some claim to be using these AES/EBU cables for their analog balanced XLR connections, which have the cable shield connected to pin 1, and the connector shell is left unconnected.

A third choice is to connect pin 1 to cable shield at the source end (PWT) and not connect it at the other (BDA-1).

So which is correct for digital AES/EBU?
dhl93449
dhl93449 OP
455 posts
 
Here's an update to this post. I built an XLR cable with DHLabs D-110 AES/EBU digital cable and Neutrik XLR connectors, about 1.5 ft long.

First version of the cable had the shield drain wire connected to pin 1 at BOTH ends of the cable, as in standard analog practice.

I connected the PSA PWT to the Bryston BDA-1 with the AES/EBU cable and compared it to the two units connected with a 75 OHM coax cable. Results were close, but I actually preferred sound of the coax cable.

However, the best results were obtained when I lifted the connection of the shield drain wire at the XLR on the Bryston side of the connection. So in this configuration, the shield is grounded at the PWT side only.

The sonic differences were not subtle, with the modified cable giving the best ambience, 3d sounstaging, bass response, and transient attack. I was very surprised myself to find such a large difference.
extravaganza
373 posts
 
First version of the cable had the shield drain wire connected to pin 1 at BOTH ends of the cable, as in standard analog practice.

I made described version with van damme digi grade aes/ebu cable with neutrik xlr plugs gold plated pins and run it from musical fidelity v-link 192 which is connected to computer via usb.First impressions are:improved high freuqencies,overall sound sounds like some trash,clicking noises has been removed from the sound .
I see that many people state coax cable sound the best with bda1
dhl93449 OP
455 posts
 
Extra...:

Try your cable with pin 1 disconnected at you A/D and let us know what you think.

In my experience the dual grounded XLR AES/EBU sounded about the same as coax to me. The single gounded XLR sounded much better. But this may be a quirk related only to use of the PS Audio PerfectWave transport connected to the BDA-1. Other systems may not confirm those results.

James Tanner of Bryston recommends the AES/EBU over coax FYI (his personal choice).
More to discover