Gaming USB or Thunderbolt to S/PDIF

[7om9i]

Hey guys! First of all this is my first post here on GBAtemp. Really excited to be a part of this massive community.

Anyways, I'm a freelance music producer and an audio engineer. I've been using Windows for practically my entire life and only recently moved to Mac, and I'm lovin' it! Now on my old windows setup, I had a cheap USB to S/PDIF (Digital) and then an S/PDIF running from that to my amp and then to my studio monitors. Now that I'm on Mac, this cheap external sound card doesn't work (it was like 16 US bucks) and no drivers are available for OSX. So I need a cheap solution to connect my Mac digitally to my amp through digital S/PDIF without spending loads on a fancy external sound card.

Is there a Thunderbolt to digital S/PDIF connection out there? And if not, can you guys suggest a cost-effective solution?



TL;DR: Need to connect Mac to speaker amp via digital S/PDIF for cheap.

 

[YayMii]

If you have a newer Mac (which you probably do), the headphone/mic ports double as optical audio ports as long as you have the adapter.

 

[7om9i]

If you have a newer Mac (which you probably do), the headphone/mic ports double as optical audio ports as long as you have the adapter.

Yeah, I do have the 2011 MacBook Pro. I know about the double audio ports., but I want to connect them digitally, as the AUX cable is unfortunately analogue. (Digital gives out less noise, more precise and crisp sounds and is absolutely lossless).

 

[YayMii]

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. There's a 3.5mm digital optical port within that 3.5mm analog port, and with the proper adapter it'll output digital audio through the standard TOSLINK cable.

Here's an example of such adapter if you don't believe me (click on it for an Amazon link):

 

[7om9i]

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. There's a 3.5mm digital optical port within that 3.5mm analog port, and with the proper adapter it'll output digital audio through the standard TOSLINK cable.

Here's an example of such adapter if you don't believe me (click on it for an Amazon link):

Mate, you're a lifesaver. Didn't know MacBook pros use the same port for digital too. Thanks loads!