OK, not "pristine" pristine, but pretty nice (like your mom when I picked her up last night!)
Nothing like a mom joke out of nowhere! Anyway... I know the hardware exists - I've seen it in some inexpensive DACs lately (in the last couple years). It's been around enough time now that someone must have created a reasonably priced USB to SPDIF device to sell and got it to market
tl;dr readers skip to --------
No I don't have an ancient DAC I'm trying to jerry rig modernize- I'm trying to compare a few DACs I have, and it'd be reallll nice, if I didn't have to pause the song and let go of the mouse to reach for the preamp - reaching the preamp, extending my finger toward the button for the input on the preamp, the one connected to the other DAC I want to hear, now reaching for the button with my finger, reaching, reaching, reaching for, now arriving. Arriving at the button - pressing the button. Finished pressing the button - letting go of the button. Relaxing my finger from the extended position and opening my hand to the shape it needs to be to fit over the mouse, before reaching the mouse. Arriving, arrived at the mouse with my hand in the right shape to fit over the mouse - fitting hand over mouse. Once hand on the mouse, looking up at the screen to find the cursor. Where's the cursor? I can't find it! *Wiggle, wiggle.* Wiggles the mouse so the cursor makes itself known to my peripheral vision. Still don't see it, don't see it... There it is! I see it! Dang thing was being evasive, hiding in a mostly white Explorer window (the gall of that cursor!). Now determine the angle the mouse needs to move to go toward the area where the speaker-lookin' thing about 16 pixels tall lives. Start moving the mouse to it - that's where we click to bring up the PC's different audio devices. Stop moving the mouse now. No, hand, stop! I said STOP! What are you doing you moron STOOOP!!!! You went too FAR!!! Go back to the speaker! Ugh. Back!!! There - Now click on it. Go up top where the words are, now click them so the menu opens.... *Click* *menu opens* (remember, multiple Topping devices are in the list, and for some reason, the E70 Velvet option makes the E30 II Lite work, and vice-versa). Where's E30 II it was there a minute ago? Oh, yeah, the list is long... really long because the motherboard's integrated sound is there, and so is each monitor's speakers, and the TV (but under the A/V receiver's name), and can't forget the motherboard's optical out in the list... Yeah, it's so long you need to scroll. So scroll down to find the E30 II. Now CLICK it! Yes! Finallly! But... there's no sound? We didn't press play yet... We have to press play now. Look for the play button - find the play button. Find the play button? Found the play button! Start moving the mouse in that direction. Getting closer...... closer..... closer......... OK STOP! We made it this time, didn't overshoot! Good job, hand! Now click... NO!!! Don't move while you click, just click! If you move and click at the same time, it's like you didn't click at all! *Click!* *music starts playing*
A: "Reminder: this time we're comparing the track's stereo image. Compared to the 30, overall, does the track sound wider now? Or before? Any other notable differences?"
B: "What, after all that? You're out of your mind!-We've moved position and I didn't even hear this part of the song through the 30!"
---------
If the only interruption I had to deal with was the 2.74884672139 milliseconds of silence between switching sources, and the song remained exactly in time, that'd be great!
Since this is kind of a novelty device, I don't want to spend more than like $50. Am I asking the impossible?
Fine. $70!
But no more! It's a novelty device...
(but aren't they all lol)
(well not all of them...)
I'm also open to alternate methods if anyone has an idea, especially if it's free lol.
Oh, I almost forgot - the "coax" RCA cable for the SPDIF signal is supposed to be 75 ohms. I'm thinking of hooking up two coax cables to an RCA splitter, and using a standard shielded audio RCA cable to go from the signal source to the splitter. Should this work OK? I don't want to do it the other way around because the impedance of both units could differ and significantly affect the voltage each one gets, with one not getting a high enough voltage to lock onto. That's my thinking anyway - I'm sure they're supposed to be somewhat consistent, and as they're all recent and from the same manufacturer I wouldn't think they'd be too different. But I could be wrong! There's a pretty good possibility actually lol. Would this be the best way to split SPDIF over 75 ohm coaxial RCA cable to two DACs? If not what should I do? (ie. the least problematic way - I know there's not an ideal way to do something you're not supposed to do lol)
Nothing like a mom joke out of nowhere! Anyway... I know the hardware exists - I've seen it in some inexpensive DACs lately (in the last couple years). It's been around enough time now that someone must have created a reasonably priced USB to SPDIF device to sell and got it to market
tl;dr readers skip to --------
No I don't have an ancient DAC I'm trying to jerry rig modernize- I'm trying to compare a few DACs I have, and it'd be reallll nice, if I didn't have to pause the song and let go of the mouse to reach for the preamp - reaching the preamp, extending my finger toward the button for the input on the preamp, the one connected to the other DAC I want to hear, now reaching for the button with my finger, reaching, reaching, reaching for, now arriving. Arriving at the button - pressing the button. Finished pressing the button - letting go of the button. Relaxing my finger from the extended position and opening my hand to the shape it needs to be to fit over the mouse, before reaching the mouse. Arriving, arrived at the mouse with my hand in the right shape to fit over the mouse - fitting hand over mouse. Once hand on the mouse, looking up at the screen to find the cursor. Where's the cursor? I can't find it! *Wiggle, wiggle.* Wiggles the mouse so the cursor makes itself known to my peripheral vision. Still don't see it, don't see it... There it is! I see it! Dang thing was being evasive, hiding in a mostly white Explorer window (the gall of that cursor!). Now determine the angle the mouse needs to move to go toward the area where the speaker-lookin' thing about 16 pixels tall lives. Start moving the mouse to it - that's where we click to bring up the PC's different audio devices. Stop moving the mouse now. No, hand, stop! I said STOP! What are you doing you moron STOOOP!!!! You went too FAR!!! Go back to the speaker! Ugh. Back!!! There - Now click on it. Go up top where the words are, now click them so the menu opens.... *Click* *menu opens* (remember, multiple Topping devices are in the list, and for some reason, the E70 Velvet option makes the E30 II Lite work, and vice-versa). Where's E30 II it was there a minute ago? Oh, yeah, the list is long... really long because the motherboard's integrated sound is there, and so is each monitor's speakers, and the TV (but under the A/V receiver's name), and can't forget the motherboard's optical out in the list... Yeah, it's so long you need to scroll. So scroll down to find the E30 II. Now CLICK it! Yes! Finallly! But... there's no sound? We didn't press play yet... We have to press play now. Look for the play button - find the play button. Find the play button? Found the play button! Start moving the mouse in that direction. Getting closer...... closer..... closer......... OK STOP! We made it this time, didn't overshoot! Good job, hand! Now click... NO!!! Don't move while you click, just click! If you move and click at the same time, it's like you didn't click at all! *Click!* *music starts playing*
A: "Reminder: this time we're comparing the track's stereo image. Compared to the 30, overall, does the track sound wider now? Or before? Any other notable differences?"
B: "What, after all that? You're out of your mind!-We've moved position and I didn't even hear this part of the song through the 30!"
---------
If the only interruption I had to deal with was the 2.74884672139 milliseconds of silence between switching sources, and the song remained exactly in time, that'd be great!
Since this is kind of a novelty device, I don't want to spend more than like $50. Am I asking the impossible?
Fine. $70!
But no more! It's a novelty device...
(but aren't they all lol)
(well not all of them...)
I'm also open to alternate methods if anyone has an idea, especially if it's free lol.
Oh, I almost forgot - the "coax" RCA cable for the SPDIF signal is supposed to be 75 ohms. I'm thinking of hooking up two coax cables to an RCA splitter, and using a standard shielded audio RCA cable to go from the signal source to the splitter. Should this work OK? I don't want to do it the other way around because the impedance of both units could differ and significantly affect the voltage each one gets, with one not getting a high enough voltage to lock onto. That's my thinking anyway - I'm sure they're supposed to be somewhat consistent, and as they're all recent and from the same manufacturer I wouldn't think they'd be too different. But I could be wrong! There's a pretty good possibility actually lol. Would this be the best way to split SPDIF over 75 ohm coaxial RCA cable to two DACs? If not what should I do? (ie. the least problematic way - I know there's not an ideal way to do something you're not supposed to do lol)
