My speakers convert digital to analog. They have ethernet jacks in the back. Maybe you bought the wrong speakers?
Stepping back for a moment… you see digital interconnects in high-end pro audio gear, using systems like Dante. These systems are NOT simple. When you have multiple digital audio systems connected together, you have to worry about whether they are all running from the same clock, or whether you can convert from one clock to another. Systems like AES solved this by having “word clock” running on separate coax cables with BNC connectors.
If you look at consumer digital audio stuff, like Bluetooth speakers, you find all sorts of weird problems. It turns out that for cheap consumer gear, you get better quality audio from simple analog connections anyway.
If you want speakers with digital inputs, you also need to power those speakers. That uses up more power outlets.
Right and isn't it the case that good quality D/A-converters still cost much money. So if you want every speaker to have them, and you want many speakers to get an immersive sound then "digital loudspeakers" can become expensive?
There are a lot of different parts involved—D/A converters, crossover networks, and amplifiers. Back in the day, good D/A converters were expensive, but they have gotten really cheap. If you have amplifiers that are cheap enough, you can put them after the crossover network and save money on the crossover network. If you have D/A converters that are cheap enough, you can eliminate the crossover network entirely and do it in DSP.
At that point you are comparing the cost of one more channel of D/A against the cost of an electronic crossover. It’s super easy to just buy a D/A with more channels. If you get to completely eliminate an analog crossover network, maybe that’s a win in terms of BOM cost.
Stepping back for a moment… you see digital interconnects in high-end pro audio gear, using systems like Dante. These systems are NOT simple. When you have multiple digital audio systems connected together, you have to worry about whether they are all running from the same clock, or whether you can convert from one clock to another. Systems like AES solved this by having “word clock” running on separate coax cables with BNC connectors.
If you look at consumer digital audio stuff, like Bluetooth speakers, you find all sorts of weird problems. It turns out that for cheap consumer gear, you get better quality audio from simple analog connections anyway.
If you want speakers with digital inputs, you also need to power those speakers. That uses up more power outlets.