AliExpress SPDIF to AES converter

[tw99]

Amir did a review of a AliExpress USB to AES converter, which didn't perform well (although the test methodology was also questioned). This led me to have a look inside my AliExpress Coax SPDIF to AES device which seems to be from a similar heritage. Sadly they've removed the labelling on the two ICs, as had been done on the one Amir tested.

On the left hand side we have the coax input and a MicroUSB power input, AES out on the right.

I had a search for SPDIF receiver ICs, and couldn't find one that was 14 pins. Can anyone have an educated guess as to how this works ?

 

[Bamboszek]

SOIC-14 chip is probably just simple hex inverter or other generic logic chip used as logic level shifter.
SPDIF receiver is not needed, as apart from voltage levels and line impedance there are only slight differences between SPDIF and AES/EBU standards.

 

[voodooless]

The SOIC-8 is probably a simple line driver (opamp) driving the transformer.