A digital audio signal carries a great deal of data; for example, conventional 16-bit systems using a sampling frequency of 48 kHz (considered the "professional" standard), data is output at 768000 bits per second per channel; at a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz (used for Compact Discs, some workstations, digital audio add-on boards, and audio DSP boards) this becomes 705 kbits/s; for broadcasters and others utilizing a sampling frequency of 32 kHz, the data rate is 512 kbits/s. Sampling frequencies of 44.056 kHz are also used in certain mastering applications, including digital audio for videodisk manufacture.
Several manufacturers and standards organizations have developed interconnect schemes for carrying mono, stereo, and multichannel data between different audio hardware devices. A brief description of the most relevant schemes is given here. Two of them, AES3-1992 Digital Interface (revision of AES3-1985) and AES10-1991 MADI (Multichannel Audio Digital Interface), have been previously discussed within the "Recent AES Standards" section.