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How to get sound from mac to stereo receiver?
- Thread starter rpg51
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Yes. Though it really depends. Some external solutions sound better than the internal DAC. So only you can determine which is better to your ears.
If airplay is what you want, you can use the AirPort Express optical/audio out to go into the Audioengine D1, then the D1 into your receiver.
The D1 features both USB and optical inputs. The AirPort Express has an optical output. Use a TOSLINK cable to connect the two.
UPDATE: Yea, just go with that. Won't cost you an arm and leg and it will sound good.
I know Bose makes a set, though they won't win any awards for price. I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of any off the top of my head.
No way to use one DAC for multiple Air Express speakers?
The speakers are down the road - budget is starting to run out on various apple stuff. In the last year I've purchased two MacBook Airs, one Thunderbolt Display, Time Capsule, iMac 21.5, SSD and Ram for iMac, etc. Need to get some money together for Christmas!!
The speakers are down the road - budget is starting to run out on various apple stuff. In the last year I've purchased two MacBook Airs, one Thunderbolt Display, Time Capsule, iMac 21.5, SSD and Ram for iMac, etc. Need to get some money together for Christmas!!
No. If you Want a wireless DAC, the Audioengine D2 will do that.Then you won't need the AirPort Express.
Don't understand this. The AE D2 is a USB DAC. No wireless involved I don't believe.
I see you play guitar. I play guitar - and mandolin badly. When you play music, your ear develops and you can't live without good music - hence all this work to get a good home sound system working.
EDIT - I see now - mine is the A1 - the A2 is another level. Not sure I am ready to put that much into this but I'll give it some thought.
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The D1 features both USB and optical inputs. The AirPort Express has an optical output. Use a TOSLINK cable to connect the two.
UPDATE: Yea, just go with that. Won't cost you an arm and leg and it will sound good.
r u sure re optical output on the Airport Express???
There is on course a DAC built into the Airport Express. I think it is a pretty decent one. You could find a better one. Would you hear the difference? Likely not because the weal link in your system s not the DAC built into the APX. It is most likely the speakers and room acoustics.
The APX has an optical output. You could connect that to a DAC that has an optical input. But like I said above, fix the weakest link first with is likely room acoustics
The D1 features both USB and optical inputs. The AirPort Express has an optical output. Use a TOSLINK cable to connect the two.
UPDATE: Yea, just go with that. Won't cost you an arm and leg and it will sound good.
The outboard DAC fixes a tiny almost non-existant problem. If you have limited funds you will get morebang per buck spending on other things.
And if the music is compressed, like ACC or MP3 or streaming then this is pointless.
One other question: Is it really impossible to pull cables? You are spending alot of money to avoid using a bit of wire. Just hire some one and I bet he can pull a wire for $100. If the house has a crawl space it is easy to pull wire or an attic in the single floor house.
Yes this is helpful.
The ability to send decent audio from a laptop (really any computer or iphone in the house) to my stereo receiver is really what is attractive to me. The rest of it could fall in the "fluff" category.
I did pull a wire from the receiver to my desktop in the next room and that is what I have been using for years so I could just keep on with that. But it is not 100% satisfactory and I like the idea that I can send music to the receiver from any of our family computers, including laptops.
If I understand all this correctly, I can accomplish this much for about $115, (refurb APX and Airfoil software). This makes sense to me. The DAC part of it I agree - expensive for not much benefit. I do have fairly good speakers in my main listening room and in my office - adequate to my ears. The compressed music thing is part of my life and I don't like it but not sure I am ready to go to the extent necessary to change it. We are listening to some CDs but a lot of it is streamed music - Rhapsody and streamed radio and such - and some mp3s as well.
I did not understand that the APX has a DAC built in but that does of course make sense and I agree probably not practical to spend on a DAC. I have a DAC in my basement office (needed to get audio out of a thunderbolt monitor so I spent $120 on a USB DAC) and I may just experiment with that to see if it makes a difference after I have the APX set up. As you say though, it is unlikely to change much.
So for $115 I can gain an awful lot of convenience. Make sense? Am I missing something?
Also, I should add that I do have speaker wire running from the stereo receiver to the speakers in the main listening room and one other room (kitchen). But the speakers in the kitchen are bad - need to find some decent and small speakers for that room. I may someday go with some wireless speakers in other locations - not now.
The ability to send decent audio from a laptop (really any computer or iphone in the house) to my stereo receiver is really what is attractive to me. The rest of it could fall in the "fluff" category.
I did pull a wire from the receiver to my desktop in the next room and that is what I have been using for years so I could just keep on with that. But it is not 100% satisfactory and I like the idea that I can send music to the receiver from any of our family computers, including laptops.
If I understand all this correctly, I can accomplish this much for about $115, (refurb APX and Airfoil software). This makes sense to me. The DAC part of it I agree - expensive for not much benefit. I do have fairly good speakers in my main listening room and in my office - adequate to my ears. The compressed music thing is part of my life and I don't like it but not sure I am ready to go to the extent necessary to change it. We are listening to some CDs but a lot of it is streamed music - Rhapsody and streamed radio and such - and some mp3s as well.
I did not understand that the APX has a DAC built in but that does of course make sense and I agree probably not practical to spend on a DAC. I have a DAC in my basement office (needed to get audio out of a thunderbolt monitor so I spent $120 on a USB DAC) and I may just experiment with that to see if it makes a difference after I have the APX set up. As you say though, it is unlikely to change much.
So for $115 I can gain an awful lot of convenience. Make sense? Am I missing something?
Also, I should add that I do have speaker wire running from the stereo receiver to the speakers in the main listening room and one other room (kitchen). But the speakers in the kitchen are bad - need to find some decent and small speakers for that room. I may someday go with some wireless speakers in other locations - not now.
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Infinity RS 425 (old and recently rehab'd with new good woofers) in living room with lots of soft surfaces in room.
Swan M200 Mk ii in basement office sitting on desk and used only for nearfield listening.
In the kitchen I'm not sure - small cheap speakers - around $50 for the two of them.
We listen to a wide range of music - Jazz, Folk, Americana, Progressive Bluegrass, Traditional, Country, some tame rock, some classical - in that order.
Swan M200 Mk ii in basement office sitting on desk and used only for nearfield listening.
In the kitchen I'm not sure - small cheap speakers - around $50 for the two of them.
We listen to a wide range of music - Jazz, Folk, Americana, Progressive Bluegrass, Traditional, Country, some tame rock, some classical - in that order.
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Update -
I set up an airport express near my stereo receiver. Took 5 minutes and the set up is a breeze. It is working very well. Great sound. I am able to push any audio I can play on my laptop to the stereo receiver. But the surprise is how well this all works with my iPhone. I can push my ipod content, my Pandora app, my Rhapsody app, and my public radio app to the receiver from anywhere in my house. It works extremely well. I am very happy with this and I want to thank all of you for explaining how it all works. The airport express dac seem absolutely fine to me. I see no need to another dac. This is great stuff and it all works very very well.
I set up an airport express near my stereo receiver. Took 5 minutes and the set up is a breeze. It is working very well. Great sound. I am able to push any audio I can play on my laptop to the stereo receiver. But the surprise is how well this all works with my iPhone. I can push my ipod content, my Pandora app, my Rhapsody app, and my public radio app to the receiver from anywhere in my house. It works extremely well. I am very happy with this and I want to thank all of you for explaining how it all works. The airport express dac seem absolutely fine to me. I see no need to another dac. This is great stuff and it all works very very well.
I'm looking for a cool gift for my brothers housewarming party. He's into like techy stuff and gadgets. He had that planetarium on his ceiling as a kid so thought this would be pretty awesome but i've never bought anything from indiegogo, is it reliable and do you think it's appropriate to give since they'll have to wait to receive it? Anyone see something like this before?