Square waves or 1's and 0's?

Thanks, Steve.

I would add to your comment, though, the clarification that the 1's and 0's that are referred to in your definition are NOT the same thing as the 1's and 0's which constitute the audio data that may be communicated via S/PDIF or ethernet, which are the focus of this thread.

Also, although your definition of a square wave is a reasonable one, it is a looser definition than many others would apply to the term, their more narrow definition also being reasonable IMO. See, for instance, the first paragraph of this Wikipedia writeup, in which a square wave is defined as being periodic, and as having equal durations in its two states.

Regards,
-- Al

Its not sending an exact square wave, but it sends the signal as an analog waveform.

So anyone who says 'square wave' is about 1000x more accurate than the person who says 1s & 0s.

Al and Agisthos are right. I was not asking the content of the message (signal). I was asking for a physical description of the signal. I thought I was asking in effect for someone to dispel a myth. Now I'm not sure of that because there seems to be a gray area of confusion depending on what exactly is the question.

I also read that a digital coax cable between transport and DAC should be 5 ft long. This certainly qualifies as myth.

Lynne

Hi Lynne,

Perhaps surprisingly, the 5 ft/1.5 meter length suggestion is not a myth. See Steve's paper here, which makes sense to me, and is also supported by experimental results that have been reported by some A'gon members I consider to be credible. What length will be optimal in a given system is dependent on a number of hardware-specific variables, however, which are generally unspecified, and IMO that recommendation should be viewed as a length that is LIKELY to be optimal in MOST cases, but is not guaranteed to be. There have been at least a few reports I have seen here from members who have compared different lengths, and have found shorter lengths, such as 1 meter, to be preferable in their systems. Also, if a very short length is practicable, such as 8 inches or less, IMO that stands a very good chance of being an optimal choice.

Some further comments on the definitions Steve provided in his post above:

As I indicated in my previous post, what he defined as "1's and 0's" has nothing to do with the 1's and 0's which comprise the data content of the signal. A less ambiguous way of referring to what he defined as "1's and 0's" would be to refer to them as "logic levels," or more specifically as "logic 1" and "logic 0" levels, respectively.

If we go by the assumptions I stated in my initial post, that "1's and 0's" refers to data, and that square waves are periodic and symmetrical, then the parties you quoted, who were disagreeing with each other, were both wrong.

If we go by Steve's definitions, then those parties, who were disagreeing with each other, were both right!

I would agree that a plausible case could be made on the basis of either set of definitions. However, IMO it would be a safe bet that the presumably non-technical person who was arguing that what is being sent are 1's and 0's was referring to data, and not to logic levels.

Best regards,
-- Al

Hi Al,

Thanks for articulating the original question. Steve's paper is very helpful.

I can do close to 8" but will have to measure to make sure. It will be interesting to experiment and very helpful to know that length is almost always a factor.

Best Regards,

Lynne