Extremely Confused About Coaxial & Optical Cable Inputs On An iMac

[Austin Morrow]

So. I'm trying to understand the whole DAC inputs and things of that nature. I have a few USB DAC's that work totally fine with a MAC. You known nice and simple. USB to DAC, then RCA out to RCA in on my headphone amp. But what about other connections? Let's say that I have a DAC that doesn't have a USB input, only optical and coaxial.
 
1. How do I get the signal out of my iMac through a coaxial cable. Do I have to get a USB to coaxial converter or do they make USB cables that automatically terminate in coaxial connectors?
2. Same with optical, does the iMac have a line out for optical and coaxial.
 
Confused. I'm trying to get a setup like this. iMac - Non USB Coaxial & Optical Input DAC - Headphone Amp - Headphones.

 

[Roseval]

The headphone out of a Mac doubles as a Toslink (SPDIF over optical) out.
You need a mini-Toslink to Toslink optical cable to connect a Mac to the Toslink input of a DAC

 

[wuwhere]

A HiFace converts from USB to S/PDIF coax or BNC.
 

 
 

 

[barleyguy]

Quote:

The headphone out of a Mac doubles as a Toslink (SPDIF over optical) out.
You need a mini-Toslink to Toslink optical cable to connect a Mac to the Toslink input of a DAC

 
Agreed.  The solution Roseval suggested is the right one.  If you use an 3mm optical to TOSLINK cable, and then use an optical DAC, you can get the sound quality of optical while still maintaining 100% software compatibility.
 
My recommendation for an optical DAC is the iBasso D12.  I chose the D10 after hearing a couple of dozen different DACs at meets.  My overall favorite is the Lavry DA11, but the D10 is on the same tier as far as sound, and is also a lot cheaper and portable.
 

 

[Austin Morrow]

Quote:

 
Agreed.  The solution Roseval suggested is the right one.  If you use an 3mm optical to TOSLINK cable, and then use an optical DAC, you can get the sound quality of optical while still maintaining 100% software compatibility.
 
My recommendation for an optical DAC is the iBasso D12.  I chose the D10 after hearing a couple of dozen different DACs at meets.  My overall favorite is the Lavry DA11, but the D10 is on the same tier as far as sound, and is also a lot cheaper and portable.
 

Thanks all, I have some optical DAC's coming and just needed to know how to hook everything up.