[Radio Wrangler]

A lot depends on where the data came from. Some sources can be quite jittery, so as well as fixing corrupted bits from CRCs, you probably do want to re-sync to a good low-jitter clock.

This brings up the issue of the clocks being slightly different and eventually you wind up with either a sample too many, or a sample too few.

In the old Plesiochronous world, you had padding bits you could grow or sacrifice, but you still wanted a regular flow of samples to your DAC. The subsequent SDH world relies on everything being synchronised and no need for padding. I suppose the whole thing goes belly up if there is a GPS failure.

So with a need for regular feeding of the DAC, you need a clean clock oscillator, and you need a 2-port buffer. You can either manage the buffer by using a PLL to adjust the outgoing sample rate to prevent overflows and underflows, or else you make the buffer the size of a complete CD, read the whole lot in before starting playing. Hey, if the mechanism has stopped before the music starts, that's a wooden stake straight through the heart of all those audiophile arguments for separate decks and DACs or separate power supplies. Also if the file read is verified as properly corrected and error free (with any re-reads needed done), that's another sacred cow on the cattle truck.

Data is, well, just data.

Do you think we could sell them special, extra thick USB and CAT5 cables for their internet browsing, claiming that the concepts they read will be more favourable to their beliefs?

David