USB to SPDIF
Read Dave Clark of Positive Feedback impressions of this little guy.
We are proud to introduce the Pop Pulse PC Link II, a well made and inexpensive digital converter. The circuitry is housed in a very small, but nicely made, metal box. The build quality is quite good, especially in light of the price.
This little gem has a USB, an optical and a coaxial input. When a USB signal is input (24-48khz), it offers your choice of an I2S, BNC, optical, coaxial or balanced (XLR) digital output. When an SPDIF signal is input (24-96khz), it can output a coaxial, optical, BNC or a balanced (XLR) digital output.
The unit can be powered either by the USB bus (only when if used to convert USB to SPDIF), or via the included "wall wart" power supply if you wish to use it as a SPDIF to digital converter.
Here are a few manufacturer supplied specifications:
- SPDIF input and output 24-96 KHz
- USB 2.0 input support 16 bit 48 kHz
- Runs with 12V battery (not included) or power supply (included)
- CM-108 USB audio I/O controller
- 74VHC04 CMOS inverter for low noise and high speed (one for each channel)
- Pulse PE-65612 isolation transformer for improved transmitter/receiver circuitry balance, and reduced common mode noise and EMI
- Plug & play with Mac 9.x up, Mac OSX, Windows 2000, XP and Vista (no Windows 95 or 98).
Plug this into a USB port on your computer (use this cryo'd USB cable if you don't have one), a digital cable from one of the outs into an outboard DAC and be happy! On a Mac, iTunes using AIFF yields very fine playback quality. On PC, using EAC to rip your CD's to your HD using FLAC and playing back using FOOBAR2000 is a sonic treat as well.
According to the manufacturer, this unit will work with Mac 9.x up, Windows 2000 and XP, but will NOT work with Windows 95 or 98. We have tested this unit with Mac OSX, Windows XP and Vista, in all cases it recognized the USB device right away, loaded the drivers automatically, and it worked great. However, please be aware at this price, we are NOT offering tech support. So, if you are not somewhat computer savvy,
please don't buy this.
1 year manufacturer warranty. I know that you modders out there are drooling to mod this unit with a higher quality coax out jack and better internal wiring, but please be aware, if the seal if broken, the warranty is void.
This is a "no-frills" product. To keep the price down, no manual, no fancy packaging, or any extras will be sent--just the unit.
$129.95/each. In stock!
