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monojet

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 19, 2016
11
1
So I've been totally happy with my 2017 MBP connected to dual LG Ultrafine 4k monitors. Since I have the MBP without touchbar, I only have two USB-C ports. These 2 ports have been occupied by the two thunderbolt cables running from the monitors. I didn't mind not having a 3rd/4th port, as my mouse and keyboard are both connected via Bluetooth and I save my files on Icloud or Dropbox.

I've recently purchased a dac/amplifier for my headphones that only have a USB/Optical/Coaxial input. The included cable is a USB-A to USB-A cable. I've tried connecting the dac/amp to the LG ultrafine 4k monitor via a USB-A to USB-C converter, and the sound gets degraded. The current chain is MBP-->LG UFine 4k via thunderbolt cable-->USBA to C dongle-->USB cable to the dac/amp combo.

This kind of limits me, as I don't know what the best way would be to connect my new headphone dac/amp, along with the two 4k monitors to my computer. The only thing I could think of is purchasing a thunderbolt dock. Even then, I got to worry about how much resolution those docks could support. As you can tell, I'm a total newbie with all of this. I'm just concerned about compatibility, and what would allow me to 1. play my music from my new dac/amp without the sound getting degraded, and 2. allow me to connect my 2 Ultrafine 4k monitors without loss of resolution(?)

Given the situation, what is the best solution to my problem?
I was looking into the Caldigit TS3 plus but it is pricey. Would the older TS3 work? Helllpppp
 
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