Become a Site Supporter and Never see Ads again!

Author Topic: Optical / SPDIF to USB converters  (Read 2011 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline loughney

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Taperssection Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 295
    • YouTube show clips
Optical / SPDIF to USB converters
« on: June 08, 2023, 05:56:30 PM »
Looking for a box to connect either optical or SPDIF /Coax to USB, to digitially transfer some recordings.  Looking at this: ESI U24 XL | 24-bit USB Audio Interface for PC & Mac with S/PDIF I/O

Any other options?  I would be looking at utilizing my laptop's USB/Thunderbolt port.

Offline jielkade

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Taperssection Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 40
Re: Optical / SPDIF to USB converters
« Reply #1 on: June 08, 2023, 06:34:30 PM »
I use it, nice gear.

Offline goodcooker

  • Trade Count: (43)
  • Needs to get out more...
  • *****
  • Posts: 4638
  • Gender: Male
  • goes to 11
Re: Optical / SPDIF to USB converters
« Reply #2 on: June 08, 2023, 09:20:51 PM »

If you want to go cheaper than $100 there's bunches of these available used for around $35. They have coax but not optical if that matters.

https://reverb.com/item/68124850-tascam-us-144-mkii-usb-audio-interface-vg-condition-2010s

During the pandemic when I was transferring boatloads of DATs I used a SD USBPre v1. People were giving them away and I got mine for less than $100 but I just looked at Reverb and Ebay and that seems to not be the case any longer.
Line Audio CM3/OM1 || MBHO KA500 hyper>PFA|| ADK A51 type IV || AKG C522XY
Oade Warm Mod and Presence+ Mod UA5s || Aerco MP2(needs help) || Neve Portico 5012 || Apogee MMP
SD Mixpre6 || Oade Concert Mod DR100mkii

pocket sized - CA11 cards > SP SB10 > Sony PCM A10

http://www.archive.org/bookmarks/goodcooker

"Are you the Zman?" - fan at Panic 10-08-10 Kansas City
"I don't know who left this perfectly good inflatable wook doll here, but if I'm blowing her up, I'm keeping her." -  hoppedup

Offline 2X2

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Taperssection Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 23
Re: Optical / SPDIF to USB converters
« Reply #3 on: June 09, 2023, 08:29:29 AM »
Without actual testing its difficult to know whether any of these interfaces are indeed bit-accurate, many resample as a matter of course, which is convenient for interoperability but not ideal for your data stream itself

Offline goodcooker

  • Trade Count: (43)
  • Needs to get out more...
  • *****
  • Posts: 4638
  • Gender: Male
  • goes to 11
Re: Optical / SPDIF to USB converters
« Reply #4 on: June 09, 2023, 09:57:39 AM »
Without actual testing its difficult to know whether any of these interfaces are indeed bit-accurate, many resample as a matter of course, which is convenient for interoperability but not ideal for your data stream itself

Bit accuracy on digital sources is pretty much a thing of the past - as is worrying about it. Almost every modern device resamples the digital input before sending it to the output. In a blind test 100 out of 100 people wouldn't know the difference.

Not trying to be argumentative - the original post was giving an example of a device in the $100 range. Any device in that price range is going to resample. Even very highly regarded digital devices like Benchmark, for example, use asynchronous resampling in the absence of a master clock as do almost all USB devices by nature.
« Last Edit: June 09, 2023, 10:05:51 AM by goodcooker »
Line Audio CM3/OM1 || MBHO KA500 hyper>PFA|| ADK A51 type IV || AKG C522XY
Oade Warm Mod and Presence+ Mod UA5s || Aerco MP2(needs help) || Neve Portico 5012 || Apogee MMP
SD Mixpre6 || Oade Concert Mod DR100mkii

pocket sized - CA11 cards > SP SB10 > Sony PCM A10

http://www.archive.org/bookmarks/goodcooker

"Are you the Zman?" - fan at Panic 10-08-10 Kansas City
"I don't know who left this perfectly good inflatable wook doll here, but if I'm blowing her up, I'm keeping her." -  hoppedup

Offline 2X2

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Taperssection Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 23
Re: Optical / SPDIF to USB converters
« Reply #5 on: June 09, 2023, 06:21:06 PM »
youre probably right about most USB devices resampling. And of course resampling is better than it was back in the day when people used creative cards, etc. so in theory its less undesirable

i still prefer to not resample my digital data, and shy away from USB interfaces in favor of PCI-based solutions or the cheap and common standalone recorders with digital in, which again generally start over $100

as always, you get what you pay for.

Offline loughney

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Taperssection Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 295
    • YouTube show clips
Re: Optical / SPDIF to USB converters
« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2023, 09:23:03 AM »
Without actual testing its difficult to know whether any of these interfaces are indeed bit-accurate, many resample as a matter of course, which is convenient for interoperability but not ideal for your data stream itself

Bit accuracy on digital sources is pretty much a thing of the past - as is worrying about it. Almost every modern device resamples the digital input before sending it to the output. In a blind test 100 out of 100 people wouldn't know the difference.

Not trying to be argumentative - the original post was giving an example of a device in the $100 range. Any device in that price range is going to resample. Even very highly regarded digital devices like Benchmark, for example, use asynchronous resampling in the absence of a master clock as do almost all USB devices by nature.
Thanks, this is helpful.

 

RSS | Mobile
Page created in 0.068 seconds with 36 queries.
© 2002-2024 Taperssection.com
Powered by SMF