Behringer Ultramatch Pro SRC2496 User Manual

ULTRAMATCH PRO SRC2496 User Manual

So much for the theory. In practice, a lit EMPHASIS LED does not necessarily show 

that the emphasis function has really been applied. In several situations the 

emphasis bit was set during the mastering and editing process due to defective 

hardware/software—without any treble boost applied. This error usually remains 

undetected when the material is transferred, because modern DAT recorders no 

longer have an emphasis indicator for reasons of rationalization. When the master 

tape—usually only monitored briefly on the DAT recorder due to lack of time—

arrives at the customer’s end, it gives him a big surprise: The treble range has been 

cut in the DAT recorder by more than 10 dB, which cannot be undone and results 

in a dull sound that lacks brilliance in the treble range. It is for this reason that we 

equipped the ULTRAMATCH PRO both with an emphasis status LED and with an 

additional switch for manual correction of the emphasis bit setting.

Longer cable lengths or the use of a digital patchbay lead to deterioration of 

signal quality, which may result in a higher noise floor or even connection 

failures. Using special input circuitry your ULTRAMATCH PRO removes jitter, 

interference and level loss, thus restoring the signal to perfect quality. As a 

consequence, you can also use the SRC2496 to refresh the signal over longer 

cable lengths or to restore attenuated and distorted signals.

The sample rate of any equipment is subject to fluctuation due to temperature 

and ageing effects. Normally, an automatic locking circuit ensures reliable 

operation even with varying or slightly fluctuating clock signals. If such 

fluctuations exceed a certain level, however, the receiving equipment cannot 

be synchronized any longer to the clock rate supplied and therefore fails to 

function properly.
Your ULTRAMATCH PRO is totally free from such restrictions, as it works over 

the entire bandwidth from 31 to 100 kHz, rather than only within a small 

range around the actual sampling rate. The signal output by the SRC2496 is 

always synchronized correctly to the value selected. Thus, you can use your 

ULTRAMATCH PRO to “rescue” and work with sampling rates that have been 

modified deliberately (vari-pitch function on sampling keyboards or CD players) 

or fail to fall within the adjusted range due to rate fluctuations.

There are several reasons for modifying the speed of a digital playback, 

e.g. to change the pitch or synchronize the playback to other equipment. 

In such cases, the ULTRAMATCH PRO can track the sampling rate as it changes 

and then output the signal with a fixed rate of 44.1 kHz (or any other selectable 

or wordclock-defined value). Thus, it reliably removes sampling rate fluctuations, 

which could otherwise make it impossible to process the digital audio material 

any further in the digital domain.

Digital data transfer is frequently affected by problems with the format required. 

While some devices specifically need S/PDIF signals on the input side, others can 

only output AES/EBU. With the SRC2496 this problem is now history. The input of 

your ULTRAMATCH PRO readily accepts any standard used today. On the output 

side, you can select either AES/EBU or S/PDIF, so that it is just a matter of one key 

press to realize the successful transfer of your audio material.

Many CD players have no coaxial but only an optical output. Some DAT recorders, 

on the other hand, only have a coaxial input. Digital interface cards for personal 

computers are usually equipped either with optical or coaxial connectors. 

So, when you try to transfer data from one unit to another you are likely to 

encounter incompatibility problems, in that one unit has an optical connector, 

while the other has a coaxial RCA connector. Connection to professional 

equipment is difficult because of the XLR connectors used there, or even 

impossible if it features optical interfaces.
Such incompatibilities between inputs and outputs are definitely a thing of 

the past with the ULTRAMATCH PRO. For example, if the CD player only has an 

optical digital output, while the DAT recorder is equipped with a coaxial RCA 

input, your SRC2496 will easily eliminate the resulting connection problems with 

its three inputs and outputs in all formats. Your ULTRAMATCH PRO allows for 

interconnecting virtually all equipment that is available on the market today!

The digital outputs of your ULTRAMATCH PRO can all be operated at the same 

time. In this case, the input selector functions as a kind of miniature patchbay 

determining which signal is sent to the output. It is not necessary to switch-over 

the output, because you can freely select on the down-stream devices which 

signal to accept (example: recording active/inactive). Therefore, the outputs 

of the ULTRAMATCH PRO carry the identical signal all the time and are 

operative simultaneously.
The parallel operation of all three outputs enables you to use your SRC2496 as a 

splitter, which is useful for copying material to several DAT recorders. With some 

special types of equipment in particular that does not allow for looping through 

the digital data from the input to the output, this useful function makes it 

possible to split up the signal.

In the past, the conversion of various sample rates into a fixed value necessitated 

a whole rack full of components and even then had some disadvantages 

that could be measured as increased noise, distortion or undesirable mirror 

frequencies (high-frequency chirping). On the other hand, the sampling rate 

converter chip installed in the ULTRAMATCH PRO converts in real time and with 

24-bit precision. Its processing is absolutely inaudible and can only be identified 

with state-of-the-art, extremely expensive measuring instruments.
The functional principle is difficult to comprehend, even for professionals. 

That is why we are presenting you with an equivalent model, which describes 

the processes taking place in the processor in an easily understandable manner. 

The processor carries out an oversampling at the input signal. Between each 

sample, more samples are inserted, thereby significantly increasing the number 

of sampling points by filling in the gaps. Subsequently, the signal passes through 

a variable low-pass filter, which ensures that the correct limit, below which no 

problems with mirror frequencies (aliasing) occur, is observed. Then, the number 

of sampling points is distributed in such a way as to obtain the desired sampling 

rate at the output. This enormous oversampling allows the SRC processor to 

achieve excellent precision in the complete conversion range. Moreover, it also 

simultaneously eliminates any jitter present in the input signal.
There is no doubt that digital signal processing guarantees the lowest distortion 

and noise values. However, up until now signal conversion, specifically sampling 

rate conversion, had partially led to considerable distortion and interference: 

If you tried to use traditional methods, the incoming data quantity would far 

exceed any hardware capacity. If data was put into smaller pieces to avoid 

storage problems, the necessary turnaround time would prevent any practical