RE: WAS : Sound hardware question..NOW: - terminoligy exp lantion if you would please ..

["Ian Lowe" <ian@xxxxxxx>]

In it's looser sense, as (ab)used by PC hardware manufacturers...

SP-DIF is simply an audio transport, a protocol involved in moving
audio
channels from one place to another. it can handle the six channels of
5.1
Dolby, 2 channels of flat stereo, or even the newer 7.1 EAX signals
happily.

The SP-DIF Protocol can be physically carried over Co-Axial, or over
Optical. I *BELIEVE* it's down to the end equipment to simply ignore a
stream it can't process, so you get the situation where some 2.1
equipment
will simply ignore the centre+rear(s) in a 5.1 stream and happily play
the
fronts + sub

As I understand it toshiba's TOSlink specifies the physical connector,
but
uses the general Sp-DIF protocol, so with a suitable convertor, TOS-link
kit
can work with generic Optical SP-DIF kit. (although this may be a
historical
curiosity rather than a "here and now" thing: I haven't seen an
optical
SP-DIF other than TOS-link for a while!)

HTH

Ian

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