USB audio box with optical and stereo

craigyb · 01-14-2004, 03:38 PM

Just found this at the local Maplins store.....

Gives you L+R analogue mini jack output and Digital audio (TOS-LINK).

Not bad for £20.

starfox · 01-14-2004, 09:27 PM

Ah i have one of these in my car, bought it from Anyware computer accessories in Australia (they're a wholesaler).

Internally it has a USB to AC97 bridge, and a Via VT1612A Audio Codec IC in it (same as on the Via EPIA series motherboards). Audio quality is good! The only problem i have with it is that when windows or linux boots and initialises the device, the power to it drops off momentairily and it when it powers up again there's a rather loud thump that goes through the output jack. You could probably fix this by using some sort of speaker protector circuit.

They're good, i have a USB cable running from my car computer in the boot to this USB audio box which is right next to my amp.. hopefully this reduces the noise since USB's a balanced line ^^

http://www.via.com.tw/en/multimedia/vt1612a.jsp
If you want to look at the Audio Codec IC info

Only thing i wish is that the Line and Auxilary inputs were soldered in as well..

UweGuth · 03-13-2008, 05:29 AM

Hi there,

you wrote about some USB-to-AC97 converter chip. I am a hardware developer, and I am currently in need of exactly such a part. Can you tell me the part number or at least the manufacturer of the whole device?

Any information could be helpful.

Thank you very much in advance!

Best regards from germany,

Uwe