Mutec MC- 4 Format Converter ADAT + AES/EB'U + S/PDIF

The Mutec MC-4 Multi-Channel Audio Converter is a high-quality digital multichannel audio format and sampling rate converter for use with ADAT, AES3 and S/P-DIF; a unique and flexible digital multichannel audio converter.

The MC-4 converts ADAT™, AES3 and S/P-DIF digital multichannel audio signals whereas uni- and bidirectional conversion modes are available. All digital audio signals can be processed up to 192.0kHz including SMUX2 and SMUX4 support for ADAT conversions with higher clock rates than 48.0kHz. Based on latest FPGA designs, the MC-4 achieves levels of performance regarding its signal quality, unique flexibility and clocking features, which are outstanding in today’s industry!

An enormous feature-set with various operation modes enable the use of the MC-4 in many applications. Generally, incoming digital audio signals are converted unidirectionally to all three audio formats simultaneously, with or without SRC functionality. If clock rate conversion is necessary, the SRC engine can be locked to Word Clock, AES11 (separate input available) and any digital audio input in both, uni- and bidirectional operation modes.

Unique to the MC-4 is its capability to lock two 8-channel digital audio sources with different clock rates and to convert their audio formats and clock rates bidirectionally in realtime with help of the X-SRC mode. Therefore, unlike any product in its category, the unit includes a 16 channel SRC engine as a standard, whereas two audiophil-optimized PLL synthesizers secure best sound quality in all operations modes.

The MC-4 extracts the master clocks out of each of the two incoming 8-channel digital audio streams and uses these clock references to synchronize the SRCs in front of each of the format-same outputs. Thus, the two digital audio sources are held permanently in sync to each other by the MC-4 without the necessity to lock any of the involved devices to an external master clock reference. This is especially useful when interconnecting two non-synchronized or non-synchronizable digital audio devices, each running on its own internal clock base.

As a further special feature, the MC-4 offers an internal, ultra low-jitter clock base with outstanding accuracy to which the SRCs can be locked to, if no external reference is available. Running the MC-4 in this mode, its Word Clock output can be used e.g. as master clock reference to synchronize any other digital audio device in the studio.

The main features of the Mutec MC-4 Multi-Channel Audio Converter include:

• Digital Multichannel Audio Format and Sampling Rate Converter
• For ADAT, AES3 and S/P-DIF
• 192kHz Rate Conversion
• SMUX2 and SMUX4 Support
• 16 Channel Sampling