Supposedly it works, but has anyone got this working? And if so, how?
After reading this, I’ve just bought a late 2014 Mac mini (i5 2.6GHz 8Gb running Monterey) to experiment with feeding Roon and Apple Music into my DAC using an optical cable, but I’ve not been able to make it work properly:
Firstly the optical link works but only runs at a fixed sample rate which doesn’t change if either Roon or Apple Music play something at a different rate: the mini simply resamples everything to the fixed rate.
Secondly, the default rate is 44.1kHz. I can change this using the Audio MIDI Setup utility, but if I set it to anything above 96kHz then I get no output at all.
Unless I can sort both issues then I will abandon the TOSLINK output and use USB instead. But being a bit stubborn, I’d like to know if it really is possible or not. Thanks
I seem to remember that toslink often maxes out at 24/96. My Cambridge CXNV2 streamer does support 24/192 using toslink. Cambridge however recommends using coaxial digital output instead.
A max of 24/96 is often the case, but not in this case according to Apple on the webpage I linked above. Hence the question.
I’m also aware of concerns with jitter on optical, other connection options, and lots more besides, but this is a very specific question addressed to anyone who has succeeded with this particular issue - or tried and failed! Thanks
Not sure if this helps or obfuscates but I have a DDC connected via USB to my MacBook which feeds my DAC via Optical.
It supports 24/192.
So toslink isn’t limited to 24/96 as a protocol.
It’s hardware dependent (apparently)
Your MM 2014 can do 192/24 if your DAC supports it, to get true lossless playback I recommend HQPlayer / NAA or you can run Roon Core or Bridge on your MM with exclusive mode on.
There is plenty of discussions on Roon / HQPlayer / NAA in this forum.