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This has become a bit of a design mystery for me. But why have we yet to see a DAC offering with more than a single USB input? Wouldn't an additional one be of significantly more utility than I2S or AES inputs for most of us?
Sure would ease my own integration of wired Windows & Mac-Mini sources.
But I may be missing some solution found by others in a similar situation?
Follow Ups:
It's not a DAC, but one company has borrowed this idea at least in part. Schiit's URD CD player has 2 USB C inputs that allow it to be used as a hub for selecting music from a CD or either of the USB inputs. It will then output to a DAC via either USB, AES or coax. Not a bad solution if you want a CD transport in your system along with other USB out digital players.
I'm with you on this. I think it would be a great feature.
Or a stand alone SPDIF/USB converter with two USB inputs and a switch.
Another cool idea is to put a SPDIF/USB converter on CD Transport.
If Jays CDT3-MK3 had one I would buy it tomorrow. Until then, it's Douk Audio and repurposed Denon DVD player.
I have a second, older DAC where the USB input failed (actually pulled away from the circuit board). I still wanted to use the DAC so I got one of these, and it works fine.I just use the COAX input on the old DAX instead of the USB input. Might also be a solution for someone who has a second source with USB output that they want to connect to their DAC, when the sole USB input on the DAC is already in use.
Edits: 01/08/24
On my DAC (Holo Spring 2) I use the single USB port for a streamer and the S/PDIF coax for a CD deck. I wish it had a second USB. I also have a Mac Mini connected through a DDC (CI Audio Transient) using the i2s port with HDMI cable. I don't use the Mini for listening often - its primary job is to run the Roon Core server and try to stay quiet. But having it there is useful for the occasional thing I can't access through Qobuz/Roon. Once upon a time it functioned as an endpoint until I moved to a dedicated streamer.The Mac Mini > CI Audio > i2s setup sounds quite good, but it would be cleaner and more straightforward to simply have a second USB jack on the DAC. The workaround adds cable connections and another power supply (I avoid using USB bus power when possible).
. . . in theory, practice and theory are the same; in practice, they are different . . .
Edits: 01/05/24 01/05/24
I don't see two USB inputs on a DAC as being useful to MOST users and it could prove to be problematic. Some dingle berries will plug just anything into a open 2nd USB port. Maybe a disk drive, a printer, their phone for charging, etc. Manufacturers have to worry about those things ;-)A few possible solutions for you:
#1 - If your DAC has a COAX input (in addition to USB) you could use the COAX input by adding a USB-to-COAX adapter on the Mac or PC. Then switch between COAX and USB on your DAC depending on which source you're using (PC or Mac). Something like THIS ONE or similar on Amazon.
With the solution above I would be more inclined to use the USB-to-SPDIF converter on the Mac because there won't be any Windows USB drivers to find, download, and dick with on the Mac to support higher resolutions. You can find much more expensive audiophile USB-to-SPDIF converters on the market but they seem to have fallen out of favor. I still have my $299 Wyred 4 Sound uLink USB to SPDIF converter [discontinued]. It uses the same XMOS USB chip based solution found in many of the cheapie converters.#2 - You could try a USB hub but I'm not sure how the DAC will respond to possibly 'seeing' two sources - Windows & macOS at the same time. You might have to disable USB audio output on one computer in the OS or music player when the other computer is in use.
#3 - Another possibility might be a old school USB A/B Switch but you might run into issues (a glitch of some sort) with the DAC and/or computer when you switch from A to B. Something to experiment with.
Visit Amazon and search "USB Switch" and "USB Hub" and "USB to SPDIF converter".
Edits: 01/05/24 01/05/24 01/06/24
Ah yes... the 'ole USB hub. I can appreciate the likely "dingle berry" effect coming in to play if the situation here permitted it, but data collisions would be my biggest concern if the host can't keep things straight. While I do have a hub sitting in storage here, I think the wiser approach is as you list, the USB - S/PDIF converter.The clean implementation (no drivers) on the Mac appears to be a near ideal approach when staring at a DAC with a single USB-B port. My Benchmark DAC3 will accommodate the S/PDIF coax interconnect without issue so I think what you suggest is the proper approach.
I'll proceed to check out the device you show; do you know if I should have any "worry" about the XMOS chip(set?) version being employed? I'm thinking maybe timing accuracy of the output? I'd be sure to provide scrubbed +5vDC to the unit however.
Thanks Abe, for the solution!
Edits: 01/08/24
The XMOS based USB solution has been pretty solid for several years and many DAC makers use XMOS internally. The older XMOS versions are fine but I -think- the main difference in the latest ones is the much higher sample rates they can handle. As far as I know they've all been "driver-less" on Mac and Linux systems for many years.
Edits: 01/08/24
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