Direct Optical - Splitting and Volume

[booshtukka]

I'm interested in using direct optical to remove lag for parties and DJing. Obvious questions:

1) What is everyone using to split an optical signal into multiple signals?
2) What is everyone using to control volume?

Once I have it in direct optical mode, I can't use the Devialet remote anymore nor connect it to the app. So what do I need to make this set up make sense?

[ragwo]

1) An optical splitter is about $10 on eBay or similar site.
2) You would need a mixer/device with a variable digital output, preferably optical, but spdif/coax would be sufficient as an spdif to optical/toslink box is about $10 too. If you can't find a device with a variable digital output, you could use a mixer/device with analogue variable output and an A/D converter. A good A/D converter could be around $200 or more. I would recommend an used RME ADI-2.

[booshtukka]

Thank you! I'm going to try a coax > multiple optical adapter as a step one just to see this working. When I was going through my TV there was audible lag, but I think that's the TV introducing its own latency.

[booshtukka]

I bought this thing and everything is working brilliantly!

LiNKFOR Bi-Directional Toslink to Coaxial Converter 192 kHz Metal 1X2 Optical Toslink SPDIF Splitter Coaxial to Optical SPDIF Toslink Converter with Optical Coaxial Cables for HDTV PS4 SoundBar Etc https://amzn.eu/d/8dv5yJv

I have coax from the DJ kit so I can control the volume from there, and there’s a little switch to go back to the TV

Remaining issues are firstly for volume. I can’t get the remote to pair or even to make HTTP calls to the ipcontrol interface. That’s annoying. Secondly I have an Arch, and I don’t see any way to get the output from that to the phantoms. So I have to factory reset them when I’m not DJing which is super annoying. Any ideas?

[booshtukka]

The ADI-2 looks lovely, but I wouldn’t have a remote control which feels like a massive step backwards in terms of everyday TV viewing.

[ragwo]

All advanced software is disabled in the optical direct mode, so no accessories will work. You'll need a preamplifier with digital output, they're hard to find, or a preamplifier and an A/D converter to control the volume. An Yamaha WXC-50 would be a good contender, plus an ADC.

[njaiswal]

Have both the Yamaha WXC-50 and the Bluesound Node 2i. I found both to work extremely well with a nod to the bluesound because it has a better app than the Yamaha.

[ragwo]

I've found a preamplifier with digital output. Room correction is a bonus. Not the most expensive one either.
https://www.minidsp.com/products/opendrc...opendrc-di

[booshtukka]

I found an HTTP ipcontrol url that works for volume control in direct optical mode, eventually, and built an iOS shortcut to control the volume. This is working for now! Except for the Arch.

I can’t believe that making it support multiple sources etc adds 60ms or more of latency.

[ragwo]

Glad you found a solution! By the way, the Yamaha WXC-50 has a digital variable output.