I've been doing this to get my computers connected to a KVM to share speakers. Works pretty well, bought a Soundblaster for nostalgia sake.

This will use 10-15% CPU (intel and M1 Pro).

Be somewhat careful what USB audio device you buy. I've had multiple of these and some of them have tons of EM noise, which is very obnoxious.

> I've had multiple of these and some of them have tons of EM noise, which is very obnoxious.

Ah darn yup! If there's one thing I'd expect from these is to not be noisy! FWIW I'm using a CambridgeAudio DAC and, well, CambridgeAudio is supposed to be a good brand when it comes to audio stuff (amp is CambridgeAudio too).

> CambridgeAudio DAC

It looks like these start at $250? I'd expect them to work well. I'm more wary of this pricepoint:

> Apple sells $10 USB-C-to-3.5mmjack DAC

I've gotten a lot less EM noise with builtin soundcards than cheap USB DACs, but YMMV.

> cheap USB DACs

These numbers are several years old now, but Apple USB-C DACs do perform very well overall regardless of price point: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/r....

> It looks like these start at $250? I'd expect them to work well.

Price inflated, like the price of nearly everything. I paid mine 150 EUR back in the days (still not cheap but not either the 4 digits high-end audiophile stuff).

The thing is: you want thing to work fine from Linux's side and in my experience USB Audio on Linux just works.

I'm sure there are other brands/models at reasonable price points.

EM noise is something that someone would notice, so I'm sure Apple would have nuked it from orbit until it's completely imperceptible.

Yeah, to be clear I expect the Apple ones do fine. The ones I had issue with were not Apple.

I've been pretty happy with Dragonfly[0]. Tho they don't come cheap.

I have had the black and am currently on the Red, I noticed the difference so I think it's worth it. Have not tried the cobalt.

[0] - https://www.audioquest.com/dacs/dragonfly/dragonfly-cobalt