[Dan Tinen]

Thanks for the information, Park. The Rane paper is particularly authoritative and I appreciate their work. I seem to recall that very few products actually use "S/PDIF" (which implies use of track #s in subcode). For this reason, some Japanese companies labeled the digital jacks "IEC958" or "CP340" to point this out.

My guess is that in my particular situation--from an OO2 to a Crane Song D/A--the subcodes will not be a problem, since this application doesn't care about track IDs, etc. Going from an external (Lavry) A/D (AES out) to the 002 (SPDIF in) will probably work using the Canare adapter with its -10 dB pad, since the main difference is the voltage.

Going the other way--from the 002 SPDIF out into a Crane Song--is potentially a bigger problem, whether the voltage from a 1-volt SPDIF output will be "read" by an AES input expecting a higher voltage. But, as people have noted, the hardware is forgiving enough these days that it might be able to read it. I don't know at this point if the Crane has a transformer-balanced AES input, or how sensitive it is. But why doesn't Canare (or someone) make a step-up transformer in that convenient in-line format? It seems like an easier thing than using active hardware.

Cost of the Canares ranges from $19 to $34 depending on dealer. The RDL and Hosa boxes are in the $90 range, (plus power supply in RDL's case). I'm tempted to try the Canares and see how they work in my situation, it seems a little more kosher than simply using a hard-wired adapter.

I'd love to hear from 002 users who have used its SPDIF I/O with AES equipment. Anyone?