A communication
system, source and destination ports of the communication
system, and methodology is provided for transporting data in one of possibly three different ways. Data is transported across the network at a frame sample rate that can be the same as or different from the sample rate or
master clock within the source port or the destination port. If the sample rate of the source port is known, the sample rate of the destination port can be created using a PLL within the destination port and simply employing a phase
comparator in the source port. The phase
comparator forwards the phase or
frequency difference of the network transfer rate and the source sample rate to the destination port, which then generates a local
clock equivalent to the source which then compiles audio data being played at the same rate in which it was sampled at the source. Where economically feasible,
sample rate conversion can be used at the source. However,
sample rate conversion at the destination is preferred if the source sample rate is forwarded across the network relative to the frame transfer rate of the
synchronous network. The sample rate converter simply produces a play rate from the transmitted information at the destination. Again, however,
sample rate conversion compares
relative phase difference changes similar to the
phase difference compared in the digital PLL mode. As a further alternative, sample rates within the source and destination ports can be derived from the network
frame rate using fractional dividers in the source and destination ports.