How You Work The Anatek for Fun and Profit

Simplicity itself.

On the back: Optical input/output, S/PDIF input/output (RCA jacks), AES/EBU input/output (XLR jacks) plus sync (for word clock, also XLR). A jack for the wall wart power supply (boo, hiss - I hate wall warts! At least can we have in-line warts with screw mounting holes?).

On the front: four tally lights to indicate the sample rate of the input, a switch to select the input format (optical, S/PDIF or AES/EBU), a switch to select the desired output's sample rate (may also be the word clock input), and a switch to select the desired output format (optical, S/PDIF or AES/EBU). Th,th,that's all, folks!

Patch it, set the switches and hit play. Nothin' to it.

Me? I'd probably use this box as the inspiration to build a digital patch bay so I could run all of my digital toys out to a single jack field.

So, if digital sample rates present an ongoing operational problem for you (they do for me) and you're not particularly happy with the quality of your converters (I'm a little iffy, myself), then the Anatek is a fine alternative solution. It does the job, at a very high level of performance, with no fuss or muss.

Happy samples!

Dave Moulton is indebted to Tom Bates, as usual. Hey, what are neighbors for?