Toslink to 3.5mm Mini Toslink Adaptor | Optical Audio Socket to Plug

Product Overview

A mini Toslink adaptor that lets an ordinary full-size optical cable plug into a 3.5mm optical port. Plenty of gear takes its digital audio out through a 3.5mm socket rather than the big square Toslink connector — Mac minis, MacBook Pros, iMacs and Mac Pros from about 2010 to 2015, AirPort Express, Chromecast Audio, a lot of sound cards and headset mix amps. This puts a full-size Toslink socket on the end of that port, so the optical lead you already own goes straight in.

One end is a full-size Toslink (EIAJ) socket that takes the standard square optical plug. The other is a 3.5mm mini Toslink plug on a short rigid stem, which pushes into the device the same way a headphone plug would. A clear cap is supplied over the tip and simply pulls off — keep it on the shelf and put it back when the adaptor is not in use, because the exposed optical face is what carries the signal.

It is a completely passive part. There is no power, no switch, no driver and nothing to set up — the S/PDIF signal passes straight through, carrying stereo PCM and encoded surround formats such as Dolby Digital and DTS exactly as the source sends them. Because every optical join costs a little signal, we would suggest keeping the total cable run sensible rather than chaining adaptors.

Two things worth checking before you order. First, this is digital optical only. It looks like a 3.5mm plug, but it is not an analogue adaptor — it will not carry headphone or aux audio, and it will not turn an analogue socket into an optical one. Second, the direction matters: this is a Toslink socket going to a 3.5mm plug. The opposite part, a 3.5mm socket going to a full-size Toslink plug, looks similar in a photograph and is a different adaptor — if your cable has the small round plug and your device has the big square port, you need that one instead of this one.