IEC 60958-1:2021

IEC 60958-1 ®
Edition 4.0 2021-09
REDLINE VERSION
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
inside
Digital audio interface –
Part 1: General
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form
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IEC 60958-1 ®
Edition 4.0 2021-09
REDLINE VERSION
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
colour
inside
Digital audio interface –
Part 1: General
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 33.160.01 ISBN 978-2-8322-1023-9

– 2 – IEC 60958-1:2021 RLV © IEC 2021
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 4
INTRODUCTION to Amendment 1 .
1 Scope . 7
2 Normative references. 7
3 Terms and definitions . 7
4 Interface format . 9
4.1 Structure of format . 9
4.1.1 Sub-frame format . 9
4.1.2 Frame format . 10
4.2 Channel coding . 11
4.3 Preambles . 11
4.4 Validity bit . 12
5 Channel status . 12
5.1 General . 12
5.2 Applications . 13
5.3 General assignment of the first and second channel status bits . 13
5.4 Category code . 13
6 User data . 15
6.1 General . 15
6.2 Applications . 15
6.2.1 Professional use . 15
6.2.2 Consumer use . 15
7 Electrical requirement . 15
7.1 Consumer application . 15
7.1.1 General . 15
7.1.2 Timing accuracy . 15
7.1.3 Unbalanced line . 16
7.2 Professional application . 19
8 Optical requirements . 19
8.1 Consumer application . 19
8.1.1 Optical specification Configuration of optical connection . 19
8.1.2 Optical connector . 19
8.2 Professional applications . 20
Annex A (informative) The use of the validity bit . 21
Annex B (informative) Application documents and specifications . 22
Annex C (informative) A relationship of the IEC 60958 series families . 23
Annex D (informative) Transmission of CD data other than linear PCM audio . 25
Annex E (informative) The IEC 60958 series conformant data format . 26
Annex F (informative) Stream change . 27
Annex G (informative) Characteristics of optical connection . 29
Bibliography . 31

Figure 1 – Sub-frame format (linear PCM application) . 10
Figure 2 – Frame format . 11

Figure 3 – Channel coding . 11
Figure 4 – Preamble M (shown as 11100010) . 12
Figure 5 – Simplified example of the configuration of the circuit (unbalanced) . 16
Figure 6 – Rise and fall times . 17
Figure 7 – Intrinsic jitter measurement filter . 17
Figure 8 – Eye diagram . 18
Figure 9 – Receiver jitter tolerance template . 18
Figure 10 – Basic optical connection . 19
Figure C.1 – Relationships of the IEC 60958 families . 23
Figure F.1 – Audio sources and AV receiver model . 27
Figure F.2 – Switching from linear PCM to non linear PCM . 28
Figure F.3 – Switching from non linear PCM to linear PCM . 28
Figure F.4 – Switching from non-linear PCM to non-linear PCM . 28

Table 1 – Preamble coding . 12
Table 2 – Channel status data format . 14
Table B.1 – Application documents and specifications . 22
Table C.1 – data_type values and application . 24
Table G.1 – Characteristics of standard optical connection (optical interface) . 29
Table G.2 – Characteristics of optical transmitter (optical interface) . 29
Table G.3 – Characteristics of optical receiver (optical interface) . 30
Table G.4 – Characteristics of fibre optic cable . 30
Table G.5 – Optical power budget for the link with plastic fibre . 30

– 4 – IEC 60958-1:2021 RLV © IEC 2021
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
DIGITAL AUDIO INTERFACE –
Part 1: General
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international
co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To this end and
in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications, Technical Reports,
Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC Publication(s)”). Their
preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested in the subject dealt with
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This redline version of the official IEC Standard allows the user to identify the changes made to
the previous edition IEC 60958-1:2008+AMD1:2014 CSV. A vertical bar appears in the margin
wherever a change has been made. Additions are in green text, deletions are in strikethrough
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IEC 609
...

IEC 60958-1 ®
Edition 4.0 2021-09
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Digital audio interface –
Part 1: General
Interface audionumérique –
Partie 1: Généralités
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from
either IEC or IEC's member National Committee in the country of the requester. If you have any questions about IEC
copyright or have an enquiry about obtaining additional rights to this publication, please contact the address below or
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About the IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes
International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.

About IEC publications
The technical content of IEC publications is kept under constant review by the IEC. Please make sure that you have the
latest edition, a corrigendum or an amendment might have been published.

IEC publications search - webstore.iec.ch/advsearchform IEC online collection - oc.iec.ch
The advanced search enables to find IEC publications by a Discover our powerful search engine and read freely all the
variety of criteria (reference number, text, technical publications previews. With a subscription you will always have
committee, …). It also gives information on projects, replaced access to up to date content tailored to your needs.
and withdrawn publications.
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The world's leading online dictionary on electrotechnology,
Stay up to date on all new IEC publications. Just Published
containing more than 22 000 terminological entries in English
details all new publications released. Available online and once
and French, with equivalent terms in 18 additional languages.
a month by email.
Also known as the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary

(IEV) online.
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IEC 60958-1 ®
Edition 4.0 2021-09
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Digital audio interface –
Part 1: General
Interface audionumérique –
Partie 1: Généralités
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
INTERNATIONALE
ICS 33.160.01 ISBN 978-2-8322-1053-0

– 2 – IEC 60958-1:2021 © IEC 2021
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 4
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 6
4 Interface format . 8
4.1 Structure of format . 8
4.1.1 Sub-frame format . 8
4.1.2 Frame format . 9
4.2 Channel coding . 10
4.3 Preambles . 10
4.4 Validity bit . 11
5 Channel status . 11
5.1 General . 11
5.2 Applications . 11
5.3 General assignment of the first and second channel status bits . 11
5.4 Category code . 12
6 User data. 14
6.1 General . 14
6.2 Applications . 14
6.2.1 Professional use . 14
6.2.2 Consumer use . 14
7 Electrical requirement . 14
7.1 Consumer application . 14
7.1.1 General . 14
7.1.2 Timing accuracy . 14
7.1.3 Unbalanced line . 15
7.2 Professional application . 18
8 Optical requirements . 18
8.1 Consumer application . 18
8.1.1 Configuration of optical connection . 18
8.1.2 Optical connector. 18
8.2 Professional applications . 19
Annex A (informative) The use of the validity bit . 20
Annex B (informative) Application documents and specifications . 21
Annex C (informative) A relationship of the IEC 60958 series families . 22
Annex D (informative) Transmission of CD data other than linear PCM audio . 24
Annex E (informative) The IEC 60958 series conformant data format . 25
Annex F (informative) Stream change . 26
Annex G (informative) Characteristics of optical connection . 28
Bibliography . 30

Figure 1 – Sub-frame format (linear PCM application) . 9
Figure 2 – Frame format . 9
Figure 3 – Channel coding . 10

Figure 4 – Preamble M (shown as 11100010) . 11
Figure 5 – Simplified example of the configuration of the circuit (unbalanced) . 15
Figure 6 – Rise and fall times . 16
Figure 7 – Intrinsic jitter measurement filter . 16
Figure 8 – Eye diagram . 17
Figure 9 – Receiver jitter tolerance template . 17
Figure 10 – Basic optical connection . 18
Figure C.1 – Relationships of the IEC 60958 families . 22
Figure F.1 – Audio sources and AV receiver model . 26
Figure F.2 – Switching from linear PCM to non linear PCM . 26
Figure F.3 – Switching from non linear PCM to linear PCM . 27
Figure F.4 – Switching from non-linear PCM to non-linear PCM . 27

Table 1 – Preamble coding . 10
Table 2 – Channel status data format . 13
Table B.1 – Application documents and specifications . 21
Table C.1 – data_type values and application . 23
Table G.1 – Characteristics of standard optical connection (optical interface) . 28
Table G.2 – Characteristics of optical transmitter (optical interface) . 28
Table G.3 – Characteristics of optical receiver (optical interface) . 29
Table G.4 – Characteristics of fibre optic cable . 29
Table G.5 – Optical power budget for the link with plastic fibre . 29

– 4 – IEC 60958-1:2021 © IEC 2021
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
DIGITAL AUDIO INTERFACE –
Part 1: General
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international
co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To this end and
in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications, Technical Reports,
Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC Publication(s)”). Their
preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested in the subject dealt with
may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-governmental organizations liaising
with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely with the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by agreement betw
...