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Advice for Audio interface with SPDIF in/out

l1feform

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Sooo i am going to upgrade my desktop mic to an XLR one (currently using an USB one) and i need to be able to have a SPDIF out on the interface (SPDIF in is also welcome).
Requirements:
  1. TRS/XLR outs
  2. SPDIF out
  3. Decent DA/AD conversion
  4. Small-ish form factor (no rack stuff)
  5. good price/performance

Main problem i have is the USB power on my PC ports is dirty - grounding issues.

What i found thus far that fit the bill and might bypass that USB issue is:
Focusrite Scarlett 6i6
Focusrite Scarlett 8i6

On the fence for the:
Motu UltraLite-mk3
Motu MicroBook IIc
Antelope Audio Zen Go Synergy Core
Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6

Accepting recommendations and advice.
Has anyone mentioned this? Arturia AudioFuse Rev2 USB Audio Interface - Black | Sweetwater Seems like nothing can touch it when it comes to features and price. ADAT IN AND OUT ALONE is not so common in "cheaper" units. I personally love this unit.
 
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Noodles

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Yep, see previous post. There were things i liked about it but ultimately decided that too much software is not what i want - went for the pure hardware side of things (SSL 2+)
 

137tmxth

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Is there something out there which is cheap yet good, preferably very small with ONLY a single SPDIF input?

I had to retire my old FireWire audio interface (since FW is dead), and its USB replacement unfortunately doesn't have any SPDIF inputs, so currently if I want to capture SPDIF sources, I have to use a separate DAC and then convert it back to digital again...
 
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Noodles

Noodles

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Is there something out there which is cheap yet good, preferably very small with ONLY a single SPDIF input?

I had to retire my old FireWire audio interface (since FW is dead), and its USB replacement unfortunately doesn't have any SPDIF inputs, so currently if I want to capture SPDIF sources, I have to use a separate DAC and then convert it back to digital again...
Audient id4 is probably what you are looking for.
 

137tmxth

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Audient id4 is probably what you are looking for.

That's still a bit more than I'd like to pay (139€ at Thomann). I was hoping there would be something from China for this despite me failing to find anything at AliExpress yet. For all I care, the ADC/DAC functionality can be hot garbage or non-existent as long as SPDIF to computer via USB works well.

Perhaps I should take a look at the 2nd hand market.

edit: hmm, seems the iD4 mk2 doesn't even have any digital inputs on the photos at Thomann? (and there is no mk1 for sale there anymore if you meant that)

edit2: Well, I looked more at AE and found this and this, wonder how well the SPDIF input works on those :) 32/44.1/48kHz are exactly the three sample rates I need, but I don't want the device to do something stupid like internally resample everything to 48kHz, and latency needs to be reasonable. Jitter performance probably not very good at that price?
 
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Noodles

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Sorry ... i missed a 1 ... i mean the id14 from audient. Its one of the cheapest decent interfaces with spdif in. I now see however what you really need and it is very niche.
If you want to record from the SPDIF i think you still need you invest in an interface. Normal DACs dont offer functionality to actually get SPDIF signal to a computer --- its just a signal select circuit. Possibly external sound cards do offer something like that but i would not get my hopes up.
If you want something really really cheap ... probably the behringer u-control might work (not sure) or some of the lower ESI stuff. Go Xlr has spdif/adat in as well. NI komplete audio 6 has one as well.
Digital interfaces will definitely give you the option to record spdif signal, external sound cards ... idk.
 

AnalogSteph

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edit2: Well, I looked more at AE and found this and this, wonder how well the SPDIF input works on those :) 32/44.1/48kHz are exactly the three sample rates I need, but I don't want the device to do something stupid like internally resample everything to 48kHz, and latency needs to be reasonable.
At what the thing is selling for, I'd just give it a shot. I would expect little in terms of processing power in one of these 1-chip wonders... if incoming sample rate and input device sample rate don't match, you might just get a recording that's either fast or slow.

Jitter performance probably not very good at that price?
Not a very relevant criterion in this case. If you want to record an S/P-DIF stream, you pretty much have to sync your input clock to it, and all that counts is retrieving the data bit-perfect. (I remember reading about a demonstration involving an S/P-DIF stream so jittery that realtime playback on a DAC sounded like crap, yet the same could be recorded just fine.) This is exactly why in the olden days CMedia-based cards used to be popular for this sort of thing... their analog I/O was crap, but you could get some models with both Toslink and coax in/out at a reasonable price and they would capture digital input as well as anything else.

If all fails, you can get Thunderbolt to Firewire adapters (though apparently to 800 only, necessitating another adapter to 400 if need be). Depends on how good your old interface was.
 
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ElNino

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Is there something out there which is cheap yet good, preferably very small with ONLY a single SPDIF input?

I had to retire my old FireWire audio interface (since FW is dead), and its USB replacement unfortunately doesn't have any SPDIF inputs, so currently if I want to capture SPDIF sources, I have to use a separate DAC and then convert it back to digital again...

For this I usually recommend the MiniDSP USBStreamer B. It's not dirt cheap, but it's under $100 USB, and it works without resampling.
 

dr0ss

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Is there something out there which is cheap yet good, preferably very small with ONLY a single SPDIF input?
You can often find a used Roland/Edirol UA-1G for well under $50. Needs a mini-toslink adapter or cable.
 
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