Cheap alternatives to Toslink TOTX / TORX173 modules?

[tronde]

I am looking for some cheap alternatives to the old TOTX / TORX173 modules. The chinese sell a lot of cheap optical splitters and converters so I guess the parts they use are available somewhere. The Toshiba 1350 / 1952 series cost more than I like.

I can of course butcher some of the chinese units, but I prefer parts if available. Any suggestions?

[Yansi]

Hi! Just have solved the same issue and stumbled upon this thread.

For those who may come across too and are interested in cheap TOSLINKs,  I'd suggest taking a look at the sortiment from CLIFF. They have a metric shit ton of them, very cheap (like almost buck a piece).

For example  CLIFF FCR6842031R (Receiver) and CLIFF FCR6842031T (Transmitter).

Other types listed here: https://www.tme.eu/cz/Document/5b20f7a8b70dbe2789d7248c1da56525/opticaljacks.pdf

[NiHaoMike]

The transmit side can be done with a really cheap red laser module in a 3D printed adapter. Long ago, I did something like that by hot gluing the laser out of a really cheap laser pointer to the open back of a 3.5mm jack on a sound card. (The laser must be the really cheap kind that's just a diode and resistor - fancy modules with regulation will not work.)

The receive side is considerably more complex and I can't think of anything that would work well while costing less than just buying modules. Many cheaper receivers don't have enough bandwidth to reliably receive 192kHz audio. As an alternative, I have found that transformers salvaged from Ethernet cards work well for isolating S/PDIF over coax or twisted pair.