audiophile question about USB adapters

[Spiff]

Greetings all to the new forum! So far, pretty slick!

I have a conundrum of audio proportions. I have an amplifier/DAC from Schiit Audio. I bought it used from eBay from a seller with a good rep.  The input for the DAC is USB B, such as those on the back of printers (the square-ish plugs).  I have tried getting an adapter that goes from USB B female to USB A female from Bezosville.  My thought was to hook up my iPod 7th gen or my iPhone to the DAC and listen in the sunroom to music, uninterrupted. 

Well, that did not work. No sound.  When I hook the phone or iPod up to the analog inputs (from the 3.5mm headphone jack or adapter), there is sound - but it's flat and uninteresting. Going through the DAC opens up the music considerably.  

The experts at Schiit Audio were of no help as they did not have recommendations for adapters.  Does anyone know of QUALITY adapters that will go from USB female to USB A female? For audio purposes? 



I could buy an upgraded card, but that would be an extra $200 that I'm trying not to spend right now. 

Thanks!

[Gareth]

Not sure what all the "female" adapters are for. It seems like you'd only need a Lightning to USB adapter (the Apple Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter says it supports audio) and a normal USB-A (male) to USB-B (male) cable. https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MX5J3...ra-adapter

[Spiff]

Not sure what all the "female" adapters are for.  It seems like you'd only need a Lightning to USB adapter (the Apple Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter says it supports audio) and a normal USB-A (male) to USB-B (male) cable.  https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MX5J3...ra-adapter

Huh. That actually makes a lot of sense. I will look into this! Thank you!  

So this will work for the iPhone. I wonder how I can use this to hook up the ipod (30 pin cable) to the DAC.

And! I was getting myself mixed up big time. In the original post, I was trying to figure out how to change the USB B port to a USB A port, and support music.  If I could do that, that would be the easiest solution.  SO in reality, I was wrong above and would need an adapter that had a USB B plug, that terminated in a USB A port. And support music. Apparently a lot of these adapters will support data transfer, but not music.

[Gareth]

Ah, you have an iPod Classic (I assumed it was a Touch).  It seems like the best you can do with the iPod Classic is get a 30-pin to line-out adapter, which might be a little cleaner than the headphone out, but still analog.  It looks like the product needed (Wadia Digital 170iTransport digital iPod dock, https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253...5773724022) to get digital audio out of an iPod Classic was $379 back in 2009 and is probably long discontinued, but maybe you could find a used one for cheap... (there's one for sale for $200 on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/177162581649 - one sold for as cheap as $74 shipped w/o remote, but it seems like $150-175 is the going rate). Ah, there's also an "updated" version, Wadia 171iTransport, that added toslink out (in addition to coax, but lost S-Video) to broaden the used search, but looks like there are less common. Maybe there are other, similar products, but that's all I could find in a quick search (and given how most people believed there was no way to do it, it seems possible there weren't very many options).

Oh, so what you wanted to do originally, was plug the iPhone's lightning charging cable's USB-A end directly into the amp/DAC via a USB-B male to USB-A female adapter?  Although, I guess, logically, it might seem like that would work, but that would skirt around Apple's ability to sell overpriced adapters, so of course it won't work!

[Gareth]

Here's a couple of other iPod Classic options, although neither looks significantly any cheaper:

Cambridge Audio iD100 Digital iPod Dock (smaller, "simpler" since it just has a mini-jack video out - has a USB port, but that's probably for data syncing with a computer, I doubt a USB-B to USB-B cable would work for audio to your DAC).

Peachtree Audio iDecco Class A Tube Amplifier DAC with Pure Digital iPod Dock (looks to generally be more expensive than the other options since it has a tube amp built in).

[special]

Did that old iPod (30 pin adapter) support Digital Out via USB?