Hi all, I’m hoping someone may have a creative solution here to a problem I’ve got.
I upgraded from a 2012 Mac mini to a 2023 Mac mini. The former had optical audio out, the latter does not.
I use Roon as my main streaming platform into my ND5XS2 in my main system. In may office system i directly connected the Mac mini optical to a UnitiLite so I could group systems in Roon.
Without the optical out on the Mac Mini 2023 I’ve got no way of sending digital audio to my UnitiLite.
Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I can overcome this on a budget. My office system is not one I’m keen to spend money on to upgrade. Analog audio out of the Mac mini is (as expected) terrible.
Hi, the simplest solution is probably a USB to SPDIF converter. There are quite a few on the market at various prices, I suspect a relativelycheap one would be fine.
Alternatively, there are various workarounds to get Roon to work on a 1st gen streamer. Another option would be to get an old Airport Express, hook it up to the Unitilite optical input and use Airplay within Roon.
Hi, there are 2 obvious solutions; both available 2nd hand.
First is the original meridian explorer usb dac- this has optical output on one of the 2 sockets.
The second is the black hiface (don’t buy the orange one).