I travel with my job and don't have time to rip a bunch more cds onto something different. I have tons of music already in lossless on my laptop. I just want an easy way to play my laptop over my stereo using the Wyred 4 Sound Dac. I want to be home and enjoy my music when friends are over or just for non critical listening. Simplicity is my goal whether using a usb cable or Bluetooth to dac. Want the best quality of those two options. Thanks for the advice and if I had time to do what you are saying I might do it but right now I just want to enjoy what I have.
USB or Bluetooth from Mac laptop to Wyred 4 Sound Dac? Advice
I have a Wyred 4 Sound DAC 2. I want to play music from my laptop through my Dac hooked to my home audio system. It will require a USB cable to be 35+ feet if around door casing (we have tile floors) or approximately 20 feet if I can run the cable under a oriental wool rug. I see there are a couple of flat USB cables on the market and wondered if I would be better off running a USB cable or using a Bluetooth receiver like the Audioengine B1 Bluetooth and just stream the music. Might be using Jriver and playing 24 bit music or maybe just iTunes in lossless. This is my last hurdle to complete my system. At least for now. Any advice? Thanks.
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Couple of other simple and relatively inexpensive solutions. I have a similar problem with my desk/computer removed from my stereo rack. My DAC is a Cambridge Audio DAC plus. I tried Chromecast audio which sells for $35 and would plug in to your DAC thru a mini-Toslink to Toslink (optical) cable ($15). If you set up Chrome browser on your Mac or any other device it will "cast" music to the Chromecast audio and then to the DAC. I did seem to have some reception issues with the Chromecast audio intermittently and was very unhappy that it did not support airplay. So I switched to an Airport Express ($99) using the same cable connection and am able to stream my music from iTunes. I also have quite a bit of high res music on my Mac and I understand that if I install J-River software I will be able to stream that to my DAC thru the Airport although I have not yet tried. BTW I also have set up a Mac mini to connect directly to my DAC via USB as theoretically this should be better quality sound. (I use remote software from my iPAD and placed the mini on my stereo rack next to the DAC) With the mini next to the DAC and a direct USM connection I was able to play my high res files using VOX. So there may be some cheap methods for experimentation! Joe |
Make sure you use an actual repeater, as opposed to just an extender. Also make sure we’re talking USB 2.0 for that length. Here is an example: http://amzn.to/2cBEoKl The repeater uses the USB power to increase the distance the signals can travel. At the end consider a USB isolator. Not always needed, but depending on the quality of isolation at the DAC end can be useful: http://amzn.to/2c67sXl You could also build your own Linux based music streamer for $600 and use iPhone or Android phone apps to control it. Also has iTunes integration. This would let you put your music server next to your DAC. Lastly of course is the PS Audio $600 unit, which does what your cable and isolator would do. http://www.psaudio.com/products/lanrover-usb-transporter/ My least favorite for it's outrageous cost. Seriously, I can build a 2TB music server for that much! Best, Erik |
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