M-AUDIO Delta TDIF - Manual (Page 12)

include digital multitracks, digital mixers, or a converter that turns 8
analog signals or ADAT 8-channel optical into a TDIF format signal.
On the external breakout cable that connects to the PCI card, you will find
connectors for all other inputs and outputs. Coaxial S/PDIF I/O on
female RCA jacks accepts a digital input from a variety of sources, and
sends a digital output from your computer via the Delta software. The
Delta Control Panel software gives you several options for digital output,
such as setting copy protection bits, plus advanced settings that will
allow the output of a Dolby Digital 5.1, or “AC3” signal. The breakout
cable BNC connector is a wordclock output which may be used to
synchronize other digital devices to the Delta TDIF board. Wordclock is
a sampling clock signal which automatically operates at the present Delta
TDIF sample rate, whether that sample rate is derived from the Delta
TDIF’s internal clock, S/PDIF input, or TDIF input.
Analog jacks on the Delta TDIF breakout cable, two for input and two for
output, are RCA phono type female jacks. Although the RCA jacks
typically allow connection to unbalanced (typically consumer) line level
connections, +4dBu level unbalanced equipment may be connected to the
Delta TDIF’s RCA jacks. However, sometimes +4dB signals may be too
hot for these analog inputs. Consult the user guide for your particular
device. On the analog outputs, the Delta Control Panel software provides
line level switches between -10dB and -4dB, labeled “Consumer.” These
software switches allow you to adjust your stereo output signal to the line
level of the receiving device.
NOTE: In order to preserve its high dynamic range and minimize
distortion, the Delta TDIF does not have microphone pre-amplifiers
built into it. Therefore direct connection to a microphone is not
recommended. Instead run the microphone signal through a
microphone pre-amp and then connect the pre-amp output to the
input of the Delta TDIF.
The Digital Monitor Mixer
The Delta TDIF PCI Audio Card has a hardware digital audio mixer built
into its PCI controller chip. It accepts digital audio streams from all
hardware inputs and all outgoing software audio devices, mixes them
with 36-bit internal precision and then provides the mixed output to one
or more locations. For the purpose of monitoring, the output of the mixer
may be routed to the pair of Delta TDIF analog outputs and the S/PDIF
digital output simultaneously (SP/ANA stereo pair) . The output of the
mixer may also be routed to the Delta TDIF Audio Card’s TDIF OUT1
and OUT2. At the same time the mixer may be used for stereo mix-down,
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