[FooMojo]

Hmmm... buying/building a converter for spdif to usb could get complicated and expensive.
 
For $139 (Amazon) you could buy a Fiio E17 which has an SPDIF input.  You wind up with a "spare" DAC which means sell it for some extra cash, or use it in another application.
 
 
My 0.02.

 

[Typhoon859]

  Hmmm... buying/building a converter for spdif to usb could get complicated and expensive.
 
For $139 (Amazon) you could buy a Fiio E17 which has an SPDIF input.  You wind up with a "spare" DAC which means sell it for some extra cash, or use it in another application.
 
 
My 0.02.

I have the E17 and I actually got it for much less.  What I want is to use the ODAC in the mentioned configuration.  It doesn't have an equal at anywhere near its price range.

 

[FooMojo]

Agree - ODAC is huge bang for the buck.  But the complexity of adding SPDIF capability would add significant size and cost.  You might be able to get away with less than $100 extra cost on parts and PCB design/redesign, but you likely also are going to have to program some firmware to support SPDIF.
 
Could get really gnarly in debug time...  I'm guessing NwAvGuy looked at this and decided the added cost and complexity was not worth it considering how well the end-product expected to perform with only USB.

 

[sterling1]

Yes, it will convert Optical S/PDIF to USB. Here's an example of how I use it: I record to DAT then convert EIC 958 to optical using M Audio CO2. From there to X-FI HD and on to computer with USB. I use Roxio LP to CD software to edit and publish to CD or iTunes library.

 

[Typhoon859]

  Yes, it will convert Optical S/PDIF to USB. Here's an example of how I use it: I record to DAT then convert EIC 958 to optical using M Audio CO2. From there to X-FI HD and on to computer with USB. I use Roxio LP to CD software to edit and publish to CD or iTunes library.

OH!..  Well it serves as a computer interface and like many, happens to have the ability to decode and receive a S/PDIF input.  It doesn't however convert the S/PDIF in to USB out which I can use to connect to my USB DAC of choice.  That's the specific application I'm looking for and that's what I think is entailed by any mentioned of S/PDIF-->USB.  What you're talking about is essentially S/PDIF-->receiving device which just happens to interface with the computer through USB.  If I'm not mistaken, you didn't mean to imply anything otherwise, correct?  In other words, if you get me clearly now, you still wouldn't be saying that you could use this device to connect it through USB to a DAC from a S/PDIF input source, right? 
 
In any case, thanks for your suggestion.

 

[Turrican2]

I've been half-looking for a way to connect my Squeezebox 3 (no USB but Coax and Optical out) to a USB-only DAC too.  Seems like it's just too hard?

 

[Typhoon859]

  I've been half-looking for a way to connect my Squeezebox 3 (no USB but Coax and Optical out) to a USB-only DAC too.  Seems like it's just too hard?

Not necessarily hard, just perhaps an unknown market for it and otherwise just nobody willing to do it for themselves who may also want this but then further also wish to share the solution with everyone else.

 

[FooMojo]

  Not necessarily hard, just perhaps an unknown market for it and otherwise just nobody willing to do it for themselves who may also want this but then further also wish to share the solution with everyone else.

 
Hate to rain on the party,  but I just don't think its gonna happen as a DIY project.  SPDIF as mentioned previously is not a straight-forward conversion for ODAC or other USB-only DACs...  need a completely new design or a drastic redesign to make it happen.  Now combine this with USB Host capability which would be required on the SPDIF to USB converter to allow USB DACs to connect and enumerate and you basically have a mini motherboard project on your hands.
 
Extremely high barriers to overcome... not impossible, but given the relatively low cost of many SPDIF capable external DACs it would be a pretty unique situation which would compel someone to undertake this as DIY.

 

[Typhoon859]

   
Hate to rain on the party,  but I just don't think its gonna happen as a DIY project.  SPDIF as mentioned previously is not a straight-forward conversion for ODAC or other USB-only DACs...  need a completely new design or a drastic redesign to make it happen.  Now combine this with USB Host capability which would be required on the SPDIF to USB converter to allow USB DACs to connect and enumerate and you basically have a mini motherboard project on your hands.
 
Extremely high barriers to overcome... not impossible, but given the relatively low cost of many SPDIF capable external DACs it would be a pretty unique situation which would compel someone to undertake this as DIY.

Yes, and you've already contributed on this point.  That's not new information.  This is apart from the ODAC.  That was just an example I brought up.  
 
In any case, you're slightly exaggerating on the whole "mini-motherboard" front but as I said, the point is understood.  There was no "party" going on nor therefore one to rain on.  You did something rather unnecessary frankly, for reasons one can only guess.  
 
Well anyway, you have the last thing backwards.  You mention that there are many low-cost DACs which support S/PDIF which is what takes out the motivation to undergo this relative project.  The whole point would be for exactly the opposite point though, which is to be able to pair an already existing high quality USB DAC which you may then be used with more sources.  I mean, in general this would add more flexibility in modular designs or otherwise can fit in people's currently existing setups where they in fact wouldn't now have to replace their things, including their DAC which would need to be replaced by an equally expensive one (or one to high standards at any rate).  Not sure why you felt the need to "rain" on anything, nor does it matter much.  I guess thank you for your contribution and lets leave it at that.

 

[FooMojo]

Well we can't have you guessing at my intentions, so I'll make them clear...
 

 Not necessarily hard....

 
What you are describing IS hard, which is what prompted me to repost.  If you don't believe that this type of project is difficult then please list the technical reasons why instead of making blank statements like "not necessarily hard"  otherwise guys like me will be motivated to chime in with additional comments which you may not find appealing.

 

[Typhoon859]

  Well we can't have you guessing at my intentions, so I'll make them clear...
 
 
What you are describing IS hard, which is what prompted me to repost.  If you don't believe that this type of project is difficult then please list the technical reasons why instead of making blank statements like "not necessarily hard"  otherwise guys like me will be motivated to chime in with additional comments which you may not find appealing.

Alright, well firstly don't flatter yourself too much there with the assumption that I'm beneath what you're insinuating guys like you are in knowledge of these matters or otherwise, but to respond to whatever else you've mentioned in your inditement, I wouldn't expect something like the difficulty of the task in question to be taken so personally.  That's just not a sensible reaction in my mind, especially because a word like "hard" in this case is so relativistic.  Yes, it may be difficult as a home project, but it wouldn't be for any group/manufacturer that produces similar things.  It may be slightly different from everything else, in ways which you've mentioned - perhaps a little new, but so would any endeavor be which isn't simply different implementations of literally exactly the same things.

 

[sterling1]

  OH!..  Well it serves as a computer interface and like many, happens to have the ability to decode and receive a S/PDIF input.  It doesn't however convert the S/PDIF in to USB out which I can use to connect to my USB DAC of choice.  That's the specific application I'm looking for and that's what I think is entailed by any mentioned of S/PDIF-->USB.  What you're talking about is essentially S/PDIF-->receiving device which just happens to interface with the computer through USB.  If I'm not mistaken, you didn't mean to imply anything otherwise, correct?  In other words, if you get me clearly now, you still wouldn't be saying that you could use this device to connect it through USB to a DAC from a S/PDIF input source, right? 
 
In any case, thanks for your suggestion.

I don't know why you could not take the USB to a USB DAC, but why not just run S/PDIF direct to DAC?

 

[Typhoon859]

 
I don't know why you could not take the USB to a USB DAC, but why not just run S/PDIF direct to DAC?

Well, that's exactly the problem that's being discussed here.  The DAC I want to use doesn't have a S/PDIF input.  The reason you probably wouldn't be able to connect something which otherwise plugs in through USB, like to a computer, is because they'd have no way to communicate with each other.  The sound card would have to function as the host rather than the other way around in order for it to work.

 

[sterling1]

I'm a little confused. If you want a USB DAC then is not the idea to get media off a computer? What is your source component which has USB output?

 

[Turrican2]

  I'm a little confused. If you want a USB DAC then is not the idea to get media off a computer? What is your source component which has USB output?

I think you are a little confused.  The point is that his source component does NOT have a USB output, rather it has S/PDIF, so therefore the need to connect S/PDIF to USB,
 
E.g.  I have a Squeezebox 3.  This outputs via Optical or Coax as digital outputs, NO usb.  However, I would like to be able to connect it to a DAC I have which only has USB in.
 
Hence this thread.