Multiple output digital amp/dac

[Enderman]

28 minutes ago, TheNimbleOne said:

I could be wrong, but I believe there are some higher end Focusrite interfaces with similar functionality to an RME interface.

At on point I had a friend give me a tour of his and I was surprised by how versatile it was, definitely had ADAT on it, can’t remember the model though.

Will have to investigate sometime, I’ve never had anything other than the 2i2 from Focusrite. 

Both the scarlett and clarertt line use the same software but only provide one 'system audio' output, the others are only assignable through DAW

If you figure out a way lmk

[Zizico2]

12 hours ago, TheNimbleOne said:

Just about every interface by RME gives you multiple distinctly controllable output devices outside of a DAW. Whether you want to route different digital outputs to multiple physical outputs, or the same digital output to multiple physical outputs.

For example, the RME Fireface UC. All 16 optical & 16 analog outputs show as distinct output devices in windows:


On top of that RMEs digital mixer "Totalmix" (which actually controls the interface on a hardware level), lets you route any digital output to any physical output. Whether that be analog or ADAT / optical, and whether you want a stereo or mono output. Every individual physical output channel can be toggled between stereo / mono, and act as their own sub-mix:


OP while you could use something like the RME 802 to get 10+ mono analog outputs on "one" interface, they cost a whopping $2000. And the 802 has multiple mic inputs / pre amps which do nothing to suit your case. I believe the "dream" device you're looking for is the RME Digiface USB, with an Aphex Model 141 ADAT expansion, not that it would be astronomically cheaper ($900). Basically the Digiface sends digital outputs over the ADAT / optical connector(s) to the Aphex Model 141, which converts the digital signal into 8 mono or 4 stereo outputs. The digiface already has 2 mono or 1 stereo analog output(s) via the headphone jack, so with one Digiface and one Aphex Model 141 you'd have 10 mono outputs. And since the the Digiface has 4 ADAT / Optical outputs, that gives you up to 32 mono, or 16 stereo outputs via ADAT / optical if you ever wanted to expand. The Digiface would show in your operating system as 16 separate output devices, similar to how I explained with the Fireface above. And the Digiface can be used with Totalmix (RME's mixer) just like the Fireface, meaning you can basically accomplish any routing that you want.

That being said, I don't believe any of RME's newer interfaces support Linux, as you've alluded you might be using it. Maybe you could just run Ubuntu on-top of windows using WSL or WSL2.

Short video explaining basics of totalmix:

 

Wow thanks!! Good to know, but it's out of my budget right now, I'll probably use this in the future though (in a new house). For now I'll probably just go with multiple dacs as I mentioned. And then with multiple amps as well. Or multiple usb amp/dac combos. Or multiple usb dacs and a multi zone amp (if I can found a reasonably priced one). 

[ShearMe]

Spoiler

 

I dug a little deeper into some Dante stuff. $30 gets you a permanent license for the Dante Virtual soundcard (mac and windows) which can get you 16 channels of output over ethernet (8 stereo, individually assigned channels in windows). This would of course then require you to purchase a Dante-enabled DSP system to route and output to each zone.

 

But this is probably irrelevant for this use case next to the RME devices introduced by @TheNimbleOne

[Enderman]

So I just found out that there is a beta driver for Focusrite Scarlett interfaces that allows you use to all the inputs and outputs from windows

 

Just what you and I were looking for.

 

Just fyi though, the outputs on most scarlett interfaces are balanced TRS, not just simple rca.

[Derkoli]

On 3/5/2020 at 1:29 AM, Zizico2 said:

Hi guys. Basically what I want to achieve is: have a device that I digitally connect to my computer, be it usb, Ethernet, PCIe, wtv, that has multiple analog audio outputs, that I can individually address inside windows, in the volume mixer (or inside whichever OS I decide to run). I thought I was looking for a dac or an amp/dac combo. But I can't find anything that does this. Any thoughts? My final resort would be to just buy multiple cheap sound cards...

Honestly the "cleanest" way to do this would be something like a Focusrite 18i20, or another model.

 

The way I mix with multiple individually addressable channels is with a HDMI Audio Processor, Specifically a Bryston SP4, but this is very out of your price range, about 22,000 dollars, But this gives me 16 channels of balanced output.

 

For cheap, like others said, a powered USB hub plus a bunch of cheap soundcards would be the cheapest way to do this. Just make sure the hub is powered.