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Wireless DAC, or Wireless USB solution?

Jose Hidalgo

Jose Hidalgo

Addicted to Fun and Learning
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Hi guys, title says almost all. I hope I'm not going crazy with this. :)

Here's my goal:
[PC] ---> [Wireless solution (see below)] ---> [Hi-Fi DAC] --> [Hi-Fi Amp]
[PC] ---> [Wireless solution (see below)] ---> [5.1 DAC (which I already have)] --> [Home Theater Amp]

This is due to the fact that my main PC (where all my local audio/video files are) is on a completely different floor, with no possibility for physical cabling to the living room.
I have ways to control my main PC remotely from my living room (video, keyboard, mouse).
But now I need to handle the audio part conveniently.

I see two ways to achieve this goal:
  1. Either a Wireless Hi-Fi DAC exists, and in that case I'm open to recommendations. I'm a Topping fan, but I didn't find such product on their catalogue.
  2. Or it doesn't, and then maybe we can use a regular DAC and a "Wireless USB" solution: [PC] ---> [Wireless USB (Tx)] ---> [Wireless USB (Rx)] ---> [Hi-Fi DAC] --> [Hi-Fi Amp]
    By "Wireless USB" I don't necessarily mean the old Wireless USB specification (WUSB), possibly deprecated, but any equivalent, modern and robust solution to achieve the same purpose.
I think I would prefer solution 2, because it would allow me to use any regular USB DAC for Hi-Fi, plus my existing 5.1 USB DAC for Home Theater. In that case, would you please advise on a decent "Wireless USB" solution ? I could have one transmitter on the PC, and two receivers (one connected to the Hi-Fi DAC and one connected to the Home Theater DAC).

What do you think? Thanks!
 
Streamer? NAS?
 
Could you please elaborate? I have created this topic because I don't know much about all that stuff.
What I know is that I want to keep using my customized apps, e.g. my heavily customized foobar2000 as audio player.

Besides the solutions you just mentioned, my main goal would be the aforementioned "Wireless USB" route, so if somebody can help with it, that would be really great. Wireless HDMI is possible nowadays, so I hope that Wireless USB is possible too. :)
 
I have used foo_upnp to stream to random AVRs before, to good effect. While this plugin is older and 32-bit only, for what you need foo_out_upnp (32/64 bit) ought to be perfectly sufficient. All you need is something to serve as a UPnP media renderer + DAC then. Since there is quite a bit of choice among media renderers, this something could basically be most anything computer-like just as long as it's on WiFi and you can connect a DAC to it, from a discarded laptop over an Android TV box of sorts to even a Raspberry Pi. Or a whole dedicated streamer (e.g. WiiM something or other), of course.

If you have wired networking going to upstairs already, I would obviously prefer that.
 
Oh boy. That sounds really nice, but... isn't there something a bit more... plug & play? ;) Honestly I'm a bit tired of tinkering with tools and tools...
 
A Bluesound system should be able to access your music files if your PC is on the same network, if you can configure the drive on which your files are located as a NAS.
 
There are systems like dlna or even eisa. Depends on gear....
 
MaxBuck said:
A Bluesound system should be able to access your music files if your PC is on the same network, if you can configure the drive on which your files are located as a NAS.
Click to expand...
But like I said...
Jose Hidalgo said:
What I know is that I want to keep using my customized apps, e.g. my heavily customized foobar2000 as audio player.
Click to expand...
I don't want an integrated solution that will force me to use their own player/OS/etc.
I want to keep using my heavily customized foobar2000, which runs on my main Windows 11 PC.
Which brings us back to the 2 solutions of my OP. I hope we can remain within that scope.

Chrispy said:
There are systems like dlna or even eisa. Depends on gear....
Click to expand...
If you're suggesting things, please make your answer useful by elaborating more, providing concrete links, etc."dlna" or "eisa" are like chinese to me. Talk to me like I'm 8 or 10 years old. Thank you.
 
Jose Hidalgo said:
But like I said...

I don't want an integrated solution that will force me to use their own player/OS/etc.
I want to keep using my heavily customized foobar2000, which runs on my main Windows 11 PC.
Which brings us back to the 2 solutions of my OP. I hope we can remain within that scope.


If you're suggesting things, please make your answer useful by elaborating more, providing concrete links, etc."dlna" or "eisa" are like chinese to me. Talk to me like I'm 8 or 10 years old. Thank you.
Click to expand...
I guess you could buy a tablet PC, load your custom foobar on it, and file share on your home network. Just run digital out from the tablet PC into your DAC.
 
I have a 14" Android tablet, so I can't load my foobar on it. I can only access it remotely but my foobar will still be on my main PC where my music is.

However, I have just found two apps that can act as "Wireless USB" gateways:
These apps act as follows: [Main PC with app client] --> WiFi network --> [Secondary PC with app server] --> [USB devices]
The distant USB devices appear like they were local to the main PC.
The secondary PC can be anything, e.g. a small and cheap mini-PC. So I could get any Windows mini-PC with WiFi and two USB ports, connect both my USB DACs (Hi-Fi and Home Theater) to it, and use them like they were physically connected to my main PC. That would definitely solve my problem. :D

These two apps are paid, but there are other options.
 
Jose Hidalgo said:
I have a 14" Android tablet, so I can't load my foobar on it. I can only access it remotely but my foobar will still be on my main PC where my music is.

However, I have just found two apps that can act as "Wireless USB" gateways:
These apps act as follows: [Main PC with app client] --> WiFi network --> [Secondary PC with app server] --> [USB devices]
The distant USB devices appear like they were local to the main PC.
The secondary PC can be anything, e.g. a small and cheap mini-PC. So I could get any Windows mini-PC with WiFi and two USB ports, connect both my USB DACs (Hi-Fi and Home Theater) to it, and use them like they were physically connected to my main PC. That would definitely solve my problem. :D

These two apps are paid, but there are other options.
Click to expand...
You can use a small form-factor PC, like these:
www.bee-link.com

Beelink mini PC-Connect to a wonderful life

Beelink is a passionate believer and a pursuer of technology innovation and revolution. Our pursues product innovation, owns 100+ patents in product designing, core technology. Over 300 employees in the world will supervise product quality and provide consult service with a sincere attitude.
www.bee-link.com www.bee-link.com

minisforum

minisforum
www.minisforum.com

Or, if you want an "enterprise-grade solution", there are some products that are used to provide access over network to various USB tokens in VM environment: https://www.digi.com/products/netwo...ment/usb-connectivity/usb-over-ip/anywhereusb

I can't say how they would work with USB audio devices, though. And I would avoid using software-based solutions due to various reasons.
 
there are two devices you may want to try, 1. USB extender over ethernet and 2 . ethernet over your ac power wires
it depends on the powerlines but it works well in most cases
1732771073366.png
1732771364290.png
 
boswell said:
there are two devices you may want to try, 1. USB extender over ethernet and 2 . ethernet over your ac power wires
it depends on the powerlines but it works well in most cases
View attachment 410109 View attachment 410112
Click to expand...
The OP wants a wireless solution. And the first product is not a "USB extender over ethernet". It's a USB extender over twisted pair cable; no networking involved here, and it will NOT work as you suggest, via the powerline adapters.
 
unpluggged said:
The OP wants a wireless solution. And the first product is not a "USB extender over ethernet". It's a USB extender over twisted pair cable; no networking involved here, and it will NOT work as you suggest, via the powerline adapters.
Click to expand...
The Op wants a solution, I assumed the USB data was put into an ethernet packet and then turned back
I personally would always go wired over wireless for data because of the extra steps involved, my solution has extra steps so not any better
it seems that my solution is possible with the right hardware I only provided cheap amazon examples for both stages
it is the first stage that requires more investigation, the latency of such exchange usb to internet packets is very low as I understand it ???
1732776212291.png
 
Thanks to both of you :) Well, I want a wireless solution, but only because I can't run any physical cables between different floors. But electrical outlets, they are already existing. So assuming they are physically connected across different floors, why not. Could this work?
[Main PC] ---> [USB to Ethernet #1] --->[Ethernet to AC (port 1)] --->[AC to Ethernet (port 1)] --->[Ethernet to USB #1] --->[USB DAC]
[Main PC] ---> [USB to Ethernet #2] --->[Ethernet to AC (port 2)] --->[AC to Ethernet (port 2)] --->[Ethernet to USB #2] --->[USB DAC]

So I'd need FOUR USB/Ethernet adapters, and TWO Ethernet/AC converters (with two RJ45 ports each). Am I right?
What I'm worried about, is that my AC outlets aren't on the same physical AC network, since they're on different floors. How could I test this without buying all the stuff?

----------

DIGI solutions are awfully expensive, I'm afraid. The smallest one is 500 €.

----------

One last thing to consider: I doubt it's possible, but IF somehow there was a way to run a hidden physical cable between floors (I need to consult a specialist on-site), then I could run an ACTIVE powered USB cable of about 10 meters (such as this one), and have something like this :

[Main PC] ---> [Active USB cable] ---> [USB Hub] ---> [2 USB DACs]

That would surely work. I just don't know if I can run such cable. We'll see.
 
What is about your "heavily customized foobar2000" that you like and want to keep? Sometimes you have to let things go in order to move forwards ...
 
Nice try, but we won't be opening that can of worms today, sorry :D I appreciate the intent, but I definitely will be keeping my fb2k. I have invested hundreds of hours (and I really mean hundreds of hours) in it, and nothing else even comes close.
 
boswell said:
The Op wants a solution, I assumed the USB data was put into an ethernet packet and then turned back
I personally would always go wired over wireless for data because of the extra steps involved, my solution has extra steps so not any better
it seems that my solution is possible with the right hardware I only provided cheap amazon examples for both stages
it is the first stage that requires more investigation, the latency of such exchange usb to internet packets is very low as I understand it ???
View attachment 410118
Click to expand...
The adapter you posted is not a USB to IP adapter. Period. It's just an active extender over twisted pair cable, almost the same twisted pair that is used in every standard passive USB cable.

And please stop appealing to chatbots, this practice will not get us anywhere.
 
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