D-subminiature connectors are used to carry balanced analog or digital audio on many multichannel professional audio equipment, where the use of XLR connectors is impractical, for example due to space constraints.
The most common usage is the DB25, using TASCAM 's pinout (now standardised in AES59 by the Audio Engineering Society [ 1] ). To avoid the possibility of bent pins on fixed equipment, the male connector is generally fitted to the cabling and the female connector to the equipment. The DD50 connector usage is described in AES-2id .[ 2]
DA15
Pin
Quartz Digital[ 3]
Bluefish Digital[ 4]
1
Out 1/2 +
In 5/6 +
2
GND
In 3/4 -
3
Out 3/4 +
In 3/4 +
4
GND
In 1/2 -
5
GND
In 1/2 +
6
Out 5/6 +
In 5/6 -
7
GND
Out 5/6 -
8
Out 7/8 +
In 1/2 GND
9
Out 1/2 -
Out 1/2 GND
10
GND
n/c
11
Out 3/4 -
Out 5/6 +
12
GND
Out 3/4 -
13
Out 5/6 -
Out 3/4 +
14
GND
Out 1/2 -
15
Out 7/8 -
Out 1/2 +
DB25
Pin
Yamaha Digital[ 5]
TASCAM / Digidesign Digital[ 6] AES59 "Digital combined I/O"[ 1]
TASCAM Analog[ 6] AES59 "8-way connections"[ 1]
1
In 1/2 +
Out 7/8 +
In/Out 8 +
2
In 3/4 +
Out 7/8 GND
In/Out 8 GND
3
In 5/6 +
Out 5/6 -
In/Out 7 -
4
In 7/8 +
Out 3/4 +
In/Out 6 +
5
Out 1/2 +
Out 3/4 GND
In/Out 6 GND
6
Out 3/4 +
Out 1/2 -
In/Out 5 -
7
Out 5/6 +
In 7/8 +
In/Out 4 +
8
Out 7/8 +
In 7/8 GND
In/Out 4 GND
9
n/c
In 5/6 -
In/Out 3 -
10
GND
In 3/4 +
In/Out 2 +
11
n/c
In 3/4 GND
In/Out 2 GND
12
GND
In 1/2 -
In/Out 1 -
13
GND
n/c
n/c
14
In 1/2 -
Out 7/8 -
In/Out 8 -
15
In 3/4 -
Out 5/6 +
In/Out 7 +
16
In 5/6 -
Out 5/6 GND
In/Out 7 GND
17
In 7/8 -
Out 3/4 -
In/Out 6 -
18
Out 1/2 -
Out 1/2 +
In/Out 5 +
19
Out 3/4 -
Out 1/2 GND
In/Out 5 GND
20
Out 5/6 -
In 7/8 -
In/Out 4 -
21
Out 7/8 -
In 5/6 +
In/Out 3 +
22
GND
In 5/6 GND
In/Out 3 GND
23
GND
In 3/4 -
In/Out 2 -
24
GND
In 1/2 +
In/Out 1 +
25
GND
In 1/2 GND
In/Out 1 GND
Lynx AES16(e) Digital I/O Pinout using HD26[ 7]
Pin
Signal
Pin
Signal
Pin
Signal
1
Clock Gnd
10
Clock
2
Out Ch 8 -
11
Out Ch 8 +
19
Out Ch 8 GND
3
Out Ch 7 GND
12
Out Ch 7 -
20
Out Ch 7 +
4
Out Ch 6 -
13
Out Ch 6 +
21
Out Ch 6 GND
5
Out Ch 5 GND
14
Out Ch 5 -
22
Out Ch 5 +
6
In Ch 4 -
15
In Ch 4 +
23
In Ch 4 GND
7
In Ch 3 GND
16
In Ch 3 -
24
In Ch 3 +
8
In Ch 2 -
17
In Ch 2 +
25
In Ch 2 GND
9
In Ch 1 GND
18
In Ch 1 -
26
In Ch 1 +
DD50 — AES-2id "High-density AES connections"[ 2]
Pin
Signal
Pin
Signal
Pin
Signal
1
Chassis
2
Ch 1 –
18
Ch 1 +
34
Ch 1 GND
3
Ch 2 GND
19
Ch 2 –
35
Ch 2 +
4
Ch 3 –
20
Ch 3 +
36
Ch 3 GND
5
Ch 4 GND
21
Ch 4 –
37
Ch 4 +
6
Ch 5 –
22
Ch 5 +
38
Ch 5 GND
7
Ch 6 GND
23
Ch 6 –
39
Ch 6 +
8
Ch 7 –
24
Ch 7 +
40
Ch 7 GND
9
Ch 8 GND
25
Ch 8 –
41
Ch 8 +
10
Ch 9 –
26
Ch 9 +
42
Ch 9 GND
11
Ch 10 GND
27
Ch 10 –
43
Ch 10 +
12
Ch 11 –
28
Ch 11 +
44
Ch 11 GND
13
Ch 12 GND
29
Ch 12 –
45
Ch 12 +
14
Ch 13 –
30
Ch 13 +
46
Ch 13 GND
15
Ch 14 GND
31
Ch 14 –
47
Ch 14 +
16
Ch 15 –
32
Ch 15 +
48
Ch 15 GND
17
Ch 16 GND
33
Ch 16 –
49
Ch 16 +
50
Chassis
DD50 — Quartz[ 3] [verification needed ]
Pin
Signal
Pin
Signal
Pin
Signal
1
Ch 1 GND
18
Ch 1 –
34
Ch 1 +
2
Ch 2 +
19
Ch 2 –
35
Ch 2 GND
3
Ch 3 GND
20
Ch 3 –
36
Ch 3 +
4
Ch 4 +
21
Ch 4 –
37
Ch 4 GND
5
Ch 5 GND
22
Ch 5 –
38
Ch 5 +
6
Ch 6 +
23
Ch 6 –
39
Ch 6 GND
7
Ch 7 GND
24
Ch 7 –
40
Ch 7 +
8
Ch 8 +
25
Ch 8 –
41
Ch 8 GND
9
Ch 9 GND
26
Ch 9 –
42
Ch 9 +
10
Ch 10 +
27
Ch 10 –
43
Ch 10 GND
11
Ch 11 GND
28
Ch 11 –
44
Ch 11 +
12
Ch 12 +
29
Ch 12 –
45
Ch 12 GND
13
Ch 13 GND
30
Ch 13 –
46
Ch 13 +
14
Ch 14 +
31
Ch 14 –
47
Ch 14 GND
15
Ch 15 GND
32
Ch 15 –
48
Ch 15 +
16
Ch 16 +
33
Ch 16 –
49
Ch 16 GND
17
GND
50
GND
Notes and references
Analog audio Digital audio Video Audio and video Visual charts General-purpose