S/PDIF: Custom Lengths

Thrill Kille

Active Member
Is there a vendor, or company that makes Custom Length s/pdif cables? I have tried to find. But, no luck. Along with the custom length. I'd like them to look nice too. With custom sleeving, nice connectors, etc. I'm having a custom shelving made to hold my system. So all of the interconnects will be custom length too.

Any help or links will be appreciated.
 
I looked at their site. But, they don't do 3.5 mm Optical to S/PDIF Male. Which is what I need for my MacBook Pro (3.5 mm optical Out) to my DAC (Male S/PDIF In).
 
Huh ? o_O:confused:

Are you trying to go from 3.5mm optical to spdif male coaxial ??
No cable will do that,you would need a toslink (optical) to coax (electrical) conversion box.
Just because both are considered SPDIF connections does'nt mean they're directly compatible w/each other.

SPDIF is just the format/protocol used for data transmission (Sony / Philips Digital Interface Format).
But each of those (toslink vs. coax) use different transmission methods (optical vs. electrical).

So that might explain why a cable like that would be hard to find...

Otherwise I'm having trouble understanding what the problem is here ?

BTW when asking questions like this it helps to be specific about what gear is being used as it helps others understand what's what.
For instance can you tell us just what DAC are you trying to connect to that macbook pro ???

Anyhow I'm sure this can be sorted out no problemo.

Bret P.
 
For Sure.

I have a 15" Macbook Pro w/3.5 mm Optical Out in the HP Jack. I want to connect it to my Schiit Bifrost DAC thru its Optical S/PDIF Input.

I have found Optical cables with 3.5 mm hp jack on one end and a standard optical spdif male connector on the other end.. But, they're all a minimum of 3 ft. long. Which I don't want. Hence, my wanting a custom length made. I'm sure there's some shop, or someone who does this. The reason for the custom length is that I'm having a custom component stand made. And custom made/length interconnects too. As where each component will sit and how far apart is already mapped out. So I want cables that are just the right length with no overhang. Or having to bend at a sharp right angle coming out of the connector. Each shelf, made of wood, will have little clips on the back, rear edge, of the shelf for the various cables to connect to. So they'll be out of sight for the most part. Unless one looks behind my set up.
 
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I looked at their site. But, they don't do 3.5 mm Optical to S/PDIF Male. Which is what I need for my MacBook Pro (3.5 mm optical Out) to my DAC (Male S/PDIF In).

For $2 they will sell you a nice standard to mini toslink adapter. You just slide it over the end that goes into the Mac. Works great. Or just get a generic cable of the length you want and such an adapter from elsewhere.
 
But, they're all a minimum of 3 ft. long. Which I don't want.
There are shorter length pre-made optical cables out there,but as you've found they are'nt mini-tos (3.5mm) to std. tos.
Usually one can find 'em in 1.5' (18") lengths from a couple of places (Parts Express -or- Monoprice for sure) with std. tos ends.
The catch there as was mentioned above usually one needs to use one of those adapters w/those "generic" short optical cables.

Hence, my wanting a custom length made. I'm sure there's some shop, or someone who does this.
Absolutely there are companies that make custom length optical cables,there have been threads here about that in the past.
Lifatec is the company I see mentioned most often >>>> http://lifatec.com/
And indeed they can build them with a mini-tos to tos configuration no problemo.

And custom made/length interconnects too.
This one is easy,lots of companies doing this,lots of threads here 'bout those too.
I usually recommend Redco >>>> https://www.redco.com/ -or- Marketek >>>> https://www.markertek.com/ for this sorta thing.
Undoubtedly there are countless others out there that do this as well.

Now the reason these are'nt more common is most folks would argue that USB -or- coax are the better transfer conduits vs. optical.
So as a result the market demand is'nt very high for optical cables like this,thus why custom cables are the only way to get something like that.
Even your DAC maker (Schiit) is'nt all that hot on using optical with their DAC's these days.

Me,I've had pretty good luck using toslink (optical) thus far,but I dont do hi-res @ all as I'm strictly 16/44.1.

Hope that helps.

Bret P.
 
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