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Getting lossless Apple Music to my dac

I got sick of Amazon raising prices, so I tried Apple Music and actually think it sounds better. But for now, that's just via headphones or in the car. My question is how to get lossless from either a pc laptop or an ipad to the dac in my McIntosh MA5300. From what I've read, something like a Bluesound Node would only work via Airplay 2 from the ipad, which does not handle lossless. If I go from a usb A out on my laptop to usb B in on the McIntosh, I still don't know if the pc is sending it out as lossless or not. Any input from someone actually trying to get Apple Music to work lossless with an external dac, assuming I do not have a mac computer?

sdv0983
yakbob
465 posts
 

According to the 5200's DAC1 specs, the USB input handles PCM-based digital music files up to 32-bit/384kHz and DSD files up to 11.2 MHz.

What are the details on your lossless files, and what about your laptop's capabilities lead you to believe it would choke the output when hard wired?

sdv0983 OP
11 posts
 

It's just a very basic HP laptop that I kept as an extra. I guess that's one of the things I'm trying to figure out. When you stream Apple music on a pc, there are no settings, so you don't really know if it's sending out lossless or not. Saw a video of John Darko saying to go from an ipad, out via a lightning to female usb A, and then I can go usb A to the usb B of the McIntosh. If that works, it sounds like I could make it work wired.

But does anyone know if it's possible to get lossless where the ipad or pc is not tethered? As I mentioned in my first post, I can't confirm if something like a Bluesound Node will work or not. Was hoping someone may have experience with that.

fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,582 posts
 

Rotso RuckI thought I saw Darko say fohgeddaboudit.

 

mr_bill
347 posts
 

Hook an Ipad directly to Dac via USB C output on the Ipad (newer model)

Stream high res from Apple Music

 

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