DAC and spdif digital output

Audio Gear DACs
1

Hi,

It is possible to have a dac board and a digital board at the same time?

I would like to build a player for music with this 2 options.

With this, it would be possible to use the “internal” dac sometimes and a “external” dac other times.

Anyone tried this? Possible regarding hardware? Possible regarding Volumio?

Thank you

2

No expert here by any means, but isn’t it possible to get DACs with spdif output as well as analogue? Also, there are USB to spdif adapters??

3

I have an Odroid C1+ with a Hifi Shield+ that has both analogue and digital(Toslink SPDIF) out that seemingly both work full time.

4

I need to have digital output but not in optical SPDIF. Must be in electrical SPDIF (rca).

5

I don’t think it can be done easily with a RPi setup, as I don’t think that anyone’s tackled the control of the signal path for such a thing. The RPi is very cheap/simple, it’s better to use it for a single use-case and replicate where needed. If you look at Volumio, you’d need a way to address different outputs from somewhere deep inside the thing, and I doubt @Michelangelo sees the need. If I did this, I’d set up 2 RPis, one for each interface, and then use a switch of some sort to select the appropriate one, switching also at the amp. FWIW, I sold my Musical Fidelity DAC and PSU after I heard the HiFiBerry DAC+, so it might be worth experimenting with the simplest use-case to see how it goes,

Chris M

6

I do not believe that anything would need to be changed in Volumio for concurrent digital and analog output… That is all controlled by the DAC board.

All Volumio needs to do is send the I2S to the DAC, and the DAC will do what it is designed to do. If the DAC splits the output to a SPDIF and analog, Volumio would have no idea, as it is only sending the I2S and does not control what the DAC board does.

As for coax SPDIF out, there are several USB–>SPDIF converters that should work just fine… If they comply with USB audio class it should work… I have half a dozen USB DACs and every one works with Volumio…

Peachtree makes a 24-192 USB->SPDIF/coax for $200US, the X1

HiFimeDIY makes several different ones starting under $100US

Some of these are SPDIF out only, some are both SPDIF and analog out…