new adaptor just dropped

sunnie@sopuli.xyz to Lemmy Shitpost@lemmy.world – 701 points –
82

In case you're wondering, some broadcast equipment, such as the Axia Radius, uses Ethernet sockets for the connection of balanced and unbalanced audio.

This simplifies cabling, but you need adapters at the end of each cable to go back to RCA, TRS, XLR etc.

Some networking equipment has serial ports (RS-232) that use RJ45 connectors. 3.5mm TRS connectors are also commonly used for serial ports.

In my home studio I have a Behringer S16 digital snake which connects to my X32 in the control room with only a single CAT5 cable in between. So it's literally sending 16 channels of audio with a single ethernet cable. Pretty cool!

How else did you think they got the dialup noises to play?

This could come in handy for my USB industrial smelting oven

Useless, you can't charge from USB-a!

(Seriously, it would be a fun project to stuff a USB powersupply in the 400v plug and a add a USB-c cable to mess with people at work... I'd do it but we only have 230v 3-phase outlets and that plug is probably too small.)

I think you can fit a fairly powerful GaN charger in that space.

You could use it if you had another one with a female headphone jack. You could play your music to a speaker in another room if you have Ethernet in both rooms. Copper is copper.

I've done this. I've made speaker wire to ethernet adaptors to connect speakers in a different room through the walls to an amp. Feels and probably is so wrong.

It really depends how much power you put through the cable, ethernet is something like 0.2 mm2 per core. You'd definitely want to double up cores.

While, as you said, both wires will conduct electricity just fine, they will have different AC impedance.

I would guess this wouldn't make much of a difference if you go Audio->Ethernet->Audio, since sound is at fairly low frequencies. But Ethernet->Audio->Ethernet might have problems with really high data rates, like GiB/s.

Hell, 10/100base-t only uses four wires so you could run internet through a 4-pole 3.5; though YMMV depending on the particular 3.5mm's specs. I don't know if drivers would be a problem, but perhaps a 4-pole 3.5 to USB would be handy.

Easy AliExpress purchase

1 more...

Fun fact: usb uart to audio jack is actually a thing: https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1G43QaOnrK1RjSsziq6xptpXaN/win8-10-android-mac-pl2303hxd-usb-uart-ttl-to-2-5mm-audio-jack-serial-adatper-cable.jpg

Some older android phones used the audio jack double duty as a serial debug console, the nexus 5 for example.

did you know you can use markdown to embed that picture in your comment:

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I mean, the PinePhone has a switch to change the audio jack from audio into some kind of data transfer protocol. I guess someone could make it work.

Audio jacks have been muxed as debug serial for ages.

I use 3.5 stereo as an rs232 connector all the time. A poe ethernet to serial would be a huge help to me.

I think you would need another connection (ie. a 3rd stripe, TRRS vs TRS cable) for data transfer. Although digital audio is all data anyways I guess and now I don't even feel right but I've already typed it out.

I totally used an adapter like that. It did have a raspberry pi in the middle, though.

Can I do dial-up over VoIP?

You joke, but it happens... I've had to deal with it supporting credit card processing. Once had a guy calling on a magic jack complaining that his credit card machine couldn't connect. Once I found out he used the same magic jack for both, I had to explain that in the same way we could barely understand each other through the distortion, the credit card machine was having the same problem.

Finally, I can connect my Sinclair ZX Spectrum to Ethernet!

Only if you have the TRS to D-DVI converter, and those are super super rare.

i made a male version of this 4 times and then bought a ABC RJ45 switchbox for my work desk, so i could choose between computer audio and desk phone audio and cellphone audio through my work headphones.. lets you bump your own music in between calls without dealing with pause buttons etc.. worked great.

A manual switch?

Does it care that it isn't the sort of signal it is expecting? I guess since it's a physical switch it may not care.

yes its a manual switch, the analog audio signal doesn't know or care. those boxes have no electronics.

some older people enjoy having a oversized knob to play with.

I mean, network cabling is the same unshielded twisted pair wiring we've used for analog telephone audio over the last 150 years.

Networking uses 4 wires in 2 pair for 10mbps and 100mbps. You need the full 8/4 for gigabit and above. Telephone uses 2/1.

...for audio streams?

I mean, if the adaptor is active, this could actually work. I have a fucking USB-fed Router/Modem in a case this size.

Is this a USB Ethernet adapter for one of those weird older devices that used 2.5mm for USB?

This is likely an adapter for a switch or router to access it's debug console.

It plays my favorite song https://youtu.be/gsNaR6FRuO0

Does it go "Brrrr kshchchhhhhhh brrr wwweeeeerroioooooo. raarrarrrrrooooooo deed aaa deec edaaa"? (Banned from youtube btw.)

I’ve never been able to hear text more than this