There are numerous publicly available articles on digital substations, including those dedicated to current and voltage measurements, time synchronization, test systems development, principles of substation design, and other aspects of this topic. But the phase shift between instantaneous signals and the corresponding values in the SV (sampled values) stream has been little discussed. We can list the following principles to reduce the phase shift between instantaneous analogue and discrete signals and the corresponding values in the SV stream. 1) Exclusion from the device, of non-essential elements that introduce additional propagation delays of analogue and discrete signals, provided that such exclusion does not adversely affect the device performance or characteristics. 2) Reduction of the delay time for the other device elements to the minimum values. 3) Adjustment of the delay time of some device elements or addition of special delay elements to equalize the time of signal propagation over analogue and discrete channels. 4) Consideration of the total delay time of signal propagation over analogue and discrete channels and adjustment of the time stamp in the SV frame. The article provides examples of application of these principles in signal generation and measuring devices and phase shift meters.