Hello,
Im in search of a DAC (well, a DDC i guess 😀)
Im not sure how to say in english but my plan looks like this:
I wanna connect a DAC to my Raspberry Pi with Moode BUT i wanna use this raspberry pi as DSP with CamillaDSP where i can route my Music from my PC over Toslink/Spdif to the Raspberry Pi, change the stream with CamillaDSP and output it via USB, is this possible with for example the Aune X8 ? or can such a device just switch the input from Toslink to USB without being able to "catch" the toslink stream over USB?
What would be my best option here? i actually have laying around a Hifi Digi I/O which was my first plan in combination with a USB DAC but i would rather prefer to have one USB Device that can handle both (toslink input to USB and USB output to analogue) since the Hifi Digi I/O is pretty cheap, so im not sure how Spdif will perform on it beside the problems that samplerate has to be set manually
I also wonder why this is such a uncommon thing, wouldnt this be a good alternative to a minidsp connected to my PC but much cheaper? (and probably with better dac)
I hope you guys understand my plan and thanks for any help in advance
Im in search of a DAC (well, a DDC i guess 😀)
Im not sure how to say in english but my plan looks like this:
I wanna connect a DAC to my Raspberry Pi with Moode BUT i wanna use this raspberry pi as DSP with CamillaDSP where i can route my Music from my PC over Toslink/Spdif to the Raspberry Pi, change the stream with CamillaDSP and output it via USB, is this possible with for example the Aune X8 ? or can such a device just switch the input from Toslink to USB without being able to "catch" the toslink stream over USB?
What would be my best option here? i actually have laying around a Hifi Digi I/O which was my first plan in combination with a USB DAC but i would rather prefer to have one USB Device that can handle both (toslink input to USB and USB output to analogue) since the Hifi Digi I/O is pretty cheap, so im not sure how Spdif will perform on it beside the problems that samplerate has to be set manually
I also wonder why this is such a uncommon thing, wouldnt this be a good alternative to a minidsp connected to my PC but much cheaper? (and probably with better dac)
I hope you guys understand my plan and thanks for any help in advance
Funny I have been looking for this very solution as well. Any input from the community would be welcome by two of us. You might check out the Orchard Audio Pecan PI DAC, https://orchardaudio.com/product/pecanpi_streamer/, it references a USB to S/PDIF converter as an option. Please let me know if this does what you are looking for. Thank you.
the usb to spdif converter seems to be just something like the topping d10, usb input + spdif output (so you can connect your pecanpie to a PC via the spdif input on the pecanpie)
It states this : Rev 3.0 of the streamer has a S/PDIF (coax) input. With the S/PDIF input, the streamer can be used as a DAC with S/PDIF devices like TVs, CD players, and other transports.
which kinda sounds like the same problem as with dacs with input select (atleast if i understand it right) that spdif will in this case be routed directly to the analogue output and we cant "catch" it over usb in the raspberry pi itself
One thing to keep in mind: the raspberry pi has just one I2S, while it seems its possible to input/output with for example the hifiberry digi i/o at the same time (actually its the only hat i found with input/outputs) but you probably cant use two i2s devices at the same time, so its either the hifiberry digi i/o OR a dac hat, not both
here is a nice read i found : https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...lladsp-set-up-instructions-for-newbies.30830/
it seems there a very few devices like for example https://hifimediy.com/product/s2-digi/ which actually offer a toslink/spdif to usb conversion, with those it would be possible no matter what dac you use additionally it seems
one additonal device for toslink input also has the advantage that we can choose whatever dac we like, so we dont need to use a "crappy dac" that actually has the toslink to usb functionality build in (im looking at you minidsp...)
---
if we wanna one device with toslink input and dac output maybe we have to look for audio interfaces like the Motu Ultralite MK5 which actually dont have a input select, unfortunaly the motu m2/m4 dont come with spdif at all 🙁
Last edited:
There are (or were) a number of Burr-Brown (TI) USB audio codecs that include S/PDIF in and out. The ADS Tech "Instant Music" RDX-150 looks like a faithful implementation of the BB application note, and includes line level RCA analog and Toslink S/PDIF I/O. I see them occasionally at thrift stores, but there are plenty on ebay (ADS instant music finds them).
this doesnt look like what we are looking for, this seems to be for capturing/recording, no?
The CODEC in an Instant Music is (almost always) the PCM2902E. You could check out the data sheet and see if it will work for you.
oh you are right, this has a spdif input to usb, unfortunaly i just find used devices but they are quite cheap
i also found these:
https://www.minidsp.com/products/usb-audio-interface/usbstreamer-box
https://www.thomann.de/de/esi_u24_x...aeMryV-x3WeVoTL3QAMDf3F3z3gDmM14aAhL1EALw_wcB
https://www.beis.de/Elektronik/DA2USB/DA2USB-de.html
https://hifimediy.com/product/s2-digi/
question is what is best, they are alot of 5.1 7.1 interfaces with all sort of inputs/outputs but they all look really crappy
Here's another box with Toslink AND RCA digital input. More expensive than the Instant Music, but it includes a phono preamp, headphone output, gain controls, and clipping indicator.
https://artproaudio.com/product/usb-phono-plus-project-series/
https://www.amazon.com/ART-USB-Phono-Plus-PS/dp/B000BBGCCI
https://www.whathifi.com/art/usb-phono-plus/review
https://artproaudio.com/product/usb-phono-plus-project-series/
https://www.amazon.com/ART-USB-Phono-Plus-PS/dp/B000BBGCCI
https://www.whathifi.com/art/usb-phono-plus/review
I wonder if IanCanada's ReceiverPi may offer what you need?
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/dac-...rface-i2s-spdif-for-raspberry-pi-p-14231.html
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/dac-...rface-i2s-spdif-for-raspberry-pi-p-14231.html
i also took a look at it a while ago but it seems that this doesnt route the input to the Pi itself you can just switch the input to either Pi OR spdif and from there you can go into a dac hat, atleast this is how i understood the manual
SPDIF carries its own clock. One device SPDIF-in + analog OUT means either two separately clocked devices with a single USB interface, or analog clocked by the recovered incoming SPDIF clock. Both types of devices exist. IMO your best bet are two separate devices, there is no reason to be afraid of two USB devices on RPi4.
Last edited:
HiFiMe S2Digi has toslink input and a USB connection to the computer. I would call that "digital input" not a DAC, which is output.
https://hifimediy.com/product/s2-digi/
The other option you can consider is a USB pro audio interface with an spdif input. You will need to know the sample rate ahead of time and run the interface at that rate.
https://hifimediy.com/product/s2-digi/
The other option you can consider is a USB pro audio interface with an spdif input. You will need to know the sample rate ahead of time and run the interface at that rate.
The sampling rate determines what you can get away with. If you need no more than 16 bit @ 48kHz, a CM108 USB soundcard will suffice for the input. They are dirt cheap. You can get them delivered for less than $15 via aliexpress. Search for "usb 5.1" and one of these will come up.
S/PDIF will work flawlessly, just don't expect anything at all from the analog side. It's horrible. But for digital audio up to 16 bit 48k you'll be fine.
S/PDIF will work flawlessly, just don't expect anything at all from the analog side. It's horrible. But for digital audio up to 16 bit 48k you'll be fine.
do you have suggestions? Motu M2/M4 doesnt have spdif/toslink ... the only one in the line would be the Motu Ultralite for 700€
personally i find this one he best so far https://www.thomann.de/de/esi_u24_x...aeMryV-x3WeVoTL3QAMDf3F3z3gDmM14aAhL1EALw_wcB only "problem" is it is like 14 years old now, yeah i know digital is digital but im kinda a believer that also toslink/spdif implementations matter so im quite unsure but this interface seems I/O wise the best and to get sound from my PC to my raspberry pi it is probably enough (i also believe that windows sounds worse than optimsed linux soo it probably really doesnt matter in this case)
its really a bummer that simpel toslink/spdif to usb devices are so rare
I can second the cheap CM106 based (blue) interface shown just above. I was just playing around with one yesterday. I think they cost all of US$15, possibly less. Only has toslink spdif input (no coax) but it works fine at 44.1/48k.
If you want an interface with all the inputs and outputs you would ever need, I can recommend the Behringer UMC1820. I own three of them. They work well, sound good, and are not all that expensive. SPDIF inputs include both coax and toslink, and you get 10 analog outputs.
If you want an interface with all the inputs and outputs you would ever need, I can recommend the Behringer UMC1820. I own three of them. They work well, sound good, and are not all that expensive. SPDIF inputs include both coax and toslink, and you get 10 analog outputs.
I never got the 44.1kHz TOSLINK capture right on my CM108. But maybe my piece is broken, anyone positive practical experience?
Have you considered sending the audio from your PC to the Raspberry Pi via network or USB? It's quite possible that you can make this work without any more hardware than what you already have.
A few years ago there was a forum user here who wanted to send audio from Windows to his Pi. He ended up using a virtual soundcard called "Scream" and sending the audio via LAN.
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...-speakers-powered-by-rpi.355988/#post-6246251
You can also have the Pi emulate a USB sound card to your PC and get your audio into the Pi that way.
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/linux-usb-audio-gadget-rpi4-otg.342070/
If you do want to buy hardware to do this, you could also consider an HDMI to USB adapter. You can then send the audio signal via HDMI to the USB adapter which will appear as a sound card on the Pi.
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/macrosilicon-2109-cheap-usb-hdmi-a-v-capture.357873/
Oh! that was the answers i was looking for! i hear about scream the first time, DLNA is because of the Latency not a option but Scream sounds interesting, i will need to try to make it on moode work
Also the 10€ HDMI Capture dongle seems worth a try for the price, unfortunaly it just supports 16bit/48khz tho but everything send from a browser in windows is 16bit 44,1/48 khz anyway, so not a dealbreaker (for me)
Another option i had in mind was just using 2 bluetooth dongles, since newer version also support higher qualitys than just mp3
Thanks!
Last edited:
Maybe the person from the old thread is still around? He made it work with moode back in the day.
It's a dirty hack, but it's a good one as far as dirty hacks go. I now own one of those dongles with an HDMI loop, so I can just insert it between the PC and monitor. Pretty trouble free.
Even with the "better" codecs, bluetooth is still lossy compression at 44.1/48kHz. Personally, I have yet to implement a bluetooth audio link that I don't hate after some careful listening. Yes, there is hope with Opus on Pipewire (Linux), but with the quality of the non-bluetooth solutions, I wouldn't bother.
TBH I avoid 44.1 like the plague. Having grown up on the dawn of PC audio in the early 2000s I have just grown to accept that high quality upsampling to (multiples of) 48kHz will make all my hardware troubles go away. Sometime before I switched to Linux full time in 2006 I spent some time ABXing between 44.1 upsampled to 48 and real 44.1 on my Marantz PM 75. With SSRC and dithering I couldn't tell upsampled audio from non upsampled audio. From that moment on I stopped caring about 44.1 and the whole 'bit perfect' fetish and never looked back.