Same DAC for PC and Mac?

[TheGamingGeneral]

Hello, I am trying to declutter my set-up, I recently bought a mac mini but will be keeping my gaming PC.

Old set up was:

Speakers connected to DAC and DAC connected to PC via USB (and optical cable).

I want to connect the mac mini to this set up, so I bought a USBC splitter thinking I could provide power to the DAC via the mac or PC depending on what I am using at the time but it doesn't work. The DAC will switch on but I can't select it on the mac for audio. I do switch the DAC to optical for the PC (just so it's easier to remember, USB mac, optical PC), but no matter what I use it doesn't work.

Current splitter:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CQY65B3H?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

I think I've now realised that only one of the USBC female connections is powered and one appears to be for data, I assume that's the problem.

Can anyone recommend a splitter that would work for what I want to do, or is my solution unworkable? If so, any suggestions (that keeps my desk as clear as possible) are appreciated!

Thanks

 

[iostream]

Bit of a late reply, did you manage to solve this?

I think I have a solution for you. Keep your existing splitter - as you mentioned, one of the female connections is for power. Feed this with a USB charger (old phone charger perhaps), the DAC will always be on this way.

Use the second female USB connection to pull audio from your Mac.
Use the optical to pull audio from your PC.
Hopefully that works!

What DAC do you have out of curiosity?