The Spider Posted May 6, 2017 Posted May 6, 2017 Evening folks, my children have reached the age where they can understand not to destroy my special yet fragile things (unfortunately my self respect, sex life and speaker drivers didn't quite make it to this part of the journey). So I started to rebuild my stereo after having it stored for a few years - in those years I'd sold the CD player and given my mother the amp...repaired the speakers! Bought a nice little Rega amp and turntable to explore the vinyl side of things...and an Audiolab M-Dac to explore streaming - am planning on connecting to the Apple express router in the dining room and then streaming from iTunes in the library Am I doing this wrong? I was using AX with an analog cable going straight into a pair of RCA (into the amp) I was going to go with an optical cable (3.5mm mini-jack into toslink) into the AX - the limitations of the Apple Express will limit file quality to 16bit 44.1khz (is this really a limitation as trying to source higher spec music at present is very difficult) Is it possible to use the Ethernet port in the AX and put that into the USB into the DAC? (then DAC usb will then limit quality to 24/96) Do I want to forget the AX and start thinking about POE and connecting them - but then will iTunes have an issue? Thank you...the vinyl side was easy, just put on a new mat and a little white silicon belt onto the Rega TT and...presto....'upgrade' but am struggling a little with how I get music from the mac into the stereo with better quality than the analog cable from the express.
powerav Posted May 6, 2017 Posted May 6, 2017 I find turntables to difficult so I won't touch, after have a lot of streaming devices over the years by far the best, simplistic and best sounding is the Aries Mini that I just purchased. Would go well with your M-Dac 2
mloutfie Posted May 7, 2017 Posted May 7, 2017 14 hours ago, spider™ said: Is it possible to use the Ethernet port in the AX and put that into the USB into the DAC? (then DAC usb will then limit quality to 24/96) No you can't USB and ethernet don't work with each other 14 hours ago, spider™ said: Do I want to forget the AX and start thinking about POE and connecting them - but then will iTunes have an issue? POE doesn't have a place in this since it's basically just ethernet with power running through it. No difference with normal ethernet. There is a lot of option depending your price bracket. Cheapest would be rasbperry pi if you have some DIY spirit. second would be used squezebox touch. New retail release will start around $500 getting SOTM SMS200 or the aries mini (with aries mini which BTW on sale for $389 in addicted audio at the moment which is a great bargain) If you can give more indication on the price bracket we can probably help you more 1
betty boop Posted May 7, 2017 Posted May 7, 2017 15 hours ago, spider™ said: Bought a nice little Rega amp and turntable to explore the vinyl side of things...and an Audiolab M-Dac to explore streaming - am planning on connecting to the Apple express router in the dining room and then streaming from iTunes in the library be surprised if this doesnt work. its a pretty tried true method people been using for yonks. but yeah limited to CD quality. hires (and I would suggest a lot of hi-res is pretty debatable) heck i can rip a cd into any form of "hi-res" if you want these days am just using a blue sound node 2. seems to work pretty well. and yeah will pick up iTunes and such no bother. 1
The Spider Posted May 7, 2017 Author Posted May 7, 2017 Thank you everyone, lots of thoughts....yeah....$500 would be my price range! Over at Addicted to Audio now... and thank you for correcting my silly ideas@mloutfie
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