Hello DCS Community,
I’m considering the Bartok Apex DAC but have a question about its Powerlink connection.
Bartok uses a RS232 cable for its Powerlink.
Lina uses a RJ45 cable for its Powerlink.
Will I be able to connect the Powerlink ports of the Bartok and the Lina Clock if I use a RS232 - RJ45 cable? I’m guessing it should work if its wired properly on both ends?
Won’t hurt to try - it might well work. Not a big investment, $8 
Welcome to the forum! 
These two interfaces aren’t compatible, no. The PowerLink connection on Lina is entirely separate to the RS232 comms on Bartók, so connecting them with this cable won’t do anything.
If you did want to control the Bartók via RS232, it uses the same commands as the Rossini DAC, which you can see here.
Noting James’ caveat that that a Bartok/Lina combination is incompatible regarding the RS232 input of the Bartok I also have reservations about he concept on other grounds.
I can find no evidence that Lina clock is preferable to the clock that already exists in Bartok. It could even be inferior or similar. I simply do not know.
Economically any cost saving is comparatively small in this context given what has to be an ambition of improving upon what you have now ( which is unknown to me). In UK prices a Bartok/Rossini clock is 28750 , Bartok/Lina clock is 26250. In the scheme of things I would prefer to find the small extra.
If the total sum is difficult o reach then you would probably find that Bartok Apex is superior to what you may have now anyway so I would be inclined to forgo a separate clock to begin with and see how you get on and worry about clocks if you need to later.
Ok got it. Thanks for the quick reply guys. Much appreciated. And thanks @James for confirming it too. 
Good point @PAR
@lopezjm
To be honest to my ears at least. Try the APEX first without any clock and take your time.
When you ready and you know the sound signature off APEX go listen the Bartók with a separate clock.
I am in the same process now. Spend like 400 hours with just the Bartók APEX and planning to go listen with the Rossini clock beginning 2024.
Do not rush things, enjoy is the goal 
Humm sounds like a good use case for that second rj45 port on the Bartok
Just to be clear … the second RJ45 port on the Bartok is hooked up to an Ethernet PHY and so is “wired” for Ethernet whereas the PowerLink port on the Lina kit is not configured for Ethernet so although the two use a common physical connector they have inherently incompatible electrical characteristics.
Think of it like the DB25 (*) connector in the 90’s … that same connector would be commonly used for fully wired RS232 serial, parallel printers and SCSI devices (plus many other uses but those were the main ones) and quite often if you were to plug them together (as many people would do because if they have the same connector then they must work together, right?) then you could very easily let out the magic smoke.
(* - as an every-day’s-a-schoolday aside … what most people think of as a “DB9” [serial] connector is actually a “DE9” connector, they just all get lumped together under the “DB” category. The “B” and “E” refer to the size of the physical connector with “E” being the smaller connector that is used with 9 pins for serial and 15 pins for VGA and “B” being the larger connector.)
Shall I go back and sit in my corner now?
Cheers
Phil
