Best way to play music from iPhone (DAC/Express/Dock?) (1 Viewer)

[jksman]

Hey guys, here for some advice.

In simple, looking for the best way to play music from an iphone/ipad. I've tried doing my own research online, however seems to be a number of ways. So looking for some advise.

Up until just recently, I thought plugging a 3.5mm into the headphone jack and using the RCA connection to connect to the amplifier would do the trick. However, I've just purchased my first pair of decent floor speakers (Monitor Audio - Silver 6 Series) and I'm comparing amplifiers (Yamaha RS300 vs NAD 326 BEE).

I have a lot of music on both my iPhone and macbook, of varying quality (some less and others FLAC). And I'm also looking at doing a trial of the Premium TIDAL service (seems to have a good selection of music, and it would save me in having to upgrade my laptop library to higher quality).

I've seen you can get iPod/iPhone docks and there's a line out on the back of them and that this out be an upgrade to using the headphone jack. I guess the alternative would be the airport express would give me the capability to use airplay.

Then there's using an external DAC. Is this option I wonder worth it? or would this be overkill for someone just entering this audio world. I like the idea of using wireless to stream audio from my phone, however plugging my phone in is also not the end of the world. I've also been looking at the SONOS:Connect, but unsure about that as well...

If anyone has any experience with this, or can comment on quality between any of this it would be much appreciated. At the end of the day, if there's going to be minimal difference then the cheaper route would be desirable.

 

[Phil A]

There's positives and negatives to each scenario. Some receivers may be iPhone compatible which means they have functions that work with it. A DAC for 2-channel bypasses the circuitry in the receiver which typically drags the signal through more stuff. A DAC can handle higher resolution than CD quality (e.g. TIDAL, SONOS). If you have a Mac laptop you also can do JRIver ($50) and use it with a DAC. I use JRiver in a few systems with WIndows computers and have an iPad for one system and a cheap Android for another. With the tablet, you buy a cheap App, JRemote and with your computer/music connected to the network and your iPad//iPhone as well it reads what is in JRiver (including album artwork - http://www.jremote.net/). I love the interface. Everyone who comes over is amazed. It is not difficult to set up. DACs can be had for under $200 and up. Depends on your budget and preferences (more HT vs. Music).

 

[Phil A]

PS - here's a bit on JRiver - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JRiver_Media_Center

 

[Phil A]

Here's a shot of what it looks like on one of my secondary systems (using Gizmo a free App for Android)


View attachment 18859

 

[Phil A]

Here's another shot from my PC of how the interface looks for albums/artists (and JRemote will mimic this on your iPad/iPhone)


View attachment JRiver2.JPG

 

[jksman]

There's positives and negatives to each scenario. Some receivers may be iPhone compatible which means they have functions that work with it. A DAC for 2-channel bypasses the circuitry in the receiver which typically drags the signal through more stuff. A DAC can handle higher resolution than CD quality (e.g. TIDAL, SONOS). If you have a Mac laptop you also can do JRIver ($50) and use it with a DAC. I use JRiver in a few systems with WIndows computers and have an iPad for one system and a cheap Android for another. With the tablet, you buy a cheap App, JRemote and with your computer/music connected to the network and your iPad//iPhone as well it reads what is in JRiver (including album artwork - http://www.jremote.net/). I love the interface. Everyone who comes over is amazed. It is not difficult to set up. DACs can be had for under $200 and up. Depends on your budget and preferences (more HT vs. Music).

Thanks. I am curious however, why would I just JRiver? It seems like a media player essentially correct, with the ability to network to a server.


Could I not just use iTunes to play my music? Also if i were to subscribe to TIDAL what would JRiver offer?


I'm not against JRiver, maybe I'm missing a key feature of it? I can't see how it will really help my scenerio.

 

[Phil A]

JRiver would be your player and your music library would include the iTunes (which compared to jRIver is not much of a player and I have it and it is fine for the iPod for the car) music library. JRiver has a forum (https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/ and there's a whole section for Mac) and I am not up on or have interest in Tidal. Basically anything on your computer music library gets imported into JRiver. Album art is easily obtained via the internet in most cases. JRiver can do much higher resolution than CD (if that is of interest to you), including DSD. For example, you can go to sites like HDTracks and the Pono store. HDTracks let's one download the format of their choice. The easiest and best way to do it is to connect your computer to the network and output it to a DAC (you could use a receiver with USB too) and then you connect your iPhone or iPad and download the JRemote App. You then would use JRemote which can pull up music by artist, album, genre, recent albums, individual media files, etc..


Again if HT is more of a priority than music or just CD quality or lower is of interest to you then one might consider other alternatives. JRiver in short with JRemote is a great organizer, great sounding player that does hi-rez and let's one hook their music source to a compatible USB device (DAC, Receiver) and play music easily. Some things like Blu-Ray players and receivers also have the ability to play hi-rez files attached via a USB thumb or hard drive. Typically those interfaces just read the album folders in a list that looks like what you would have on your computer music library. They are simple in nature. So it depends on your goals and priorities. I had one of those simple player interfaces (and still have them on other systems) on my main back-up music system (pic below) and could only live with it for a little bit before I got a music server (small low power Windows 8.1 PC) and put JRiver on it. To me besides good sound a good interface that is easy to use is important. Sonos would be good if you want their (hardware) stuff and have hardware in multiple rooms and are mainly interested in CD quality only. There is no right product for everyone.

 

[Phil A]

Note that the Yamaha noted in your original post has provisions to work with an iPod as I noted earlier - http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/yamrs300bl/yamaha-r-s300-natural-sound-stereo-receiver/1.html?gclid=CMvz4ujBqMUCFWgV7Aod7hcAoA

 

[Phil A]

Also note there are integrated amps (a bit more money usually) that have DACs built in - http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/marpm6005/marantz-pm6005-integrated-amplifier/1.html


To use something like the above with a laptop you would need a USB to coax digital converter.

 

[Phil A]

Here's an example of another integrated amp with a DAC - http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/yamas301bl/yamaha-a-s301-stereo-integrated-amplifier-with-built-in-dac/1.html


or products like http://www.nuprimeaudio.com/index.php/product/dac-headphone-amps/portable-dacs/udsd which is a DAC made to connect your computer to your audio system.


So there's plenty of choices. You can even use the above with iTunes and connect your computer to the DAC and the DAC to your integrated amp.


JRiver makes hardware - e.g. - http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=89084.0 and some people just buy a small cheap Windows 8.1 PC (e.g. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=PPSSRODNBCCUUJ&icid=312366) or use an old laptop with JRiver.

 

[jksman]

Perfect, I'll look into some of these options. Thanks Phil

 

[Phil A]

Perfect, I'll look into some of these options. Thanks Phil

As of late there are a ton of these small portable DACs and many rave about the sound from some of them (like the iFi DACs)


http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Nano-iDSD-Portable-Decoder-384kHz/dp/B00R5HO426/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1430835611&sr=8-4&keywords=ifi+dac


http://www.amazon.com/AUDIOQUEST-DRAGONFLY-V1-2-USB-DAC/dp/B00H00VLZQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430835665&sr=8-1&keywords=dragonfly+dac


http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E10K-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B00LP3AMC2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1430835665&sr=8-4&keywords=dragonfly+dac


For 2-channel music, I'm a big fan of DACs. Have had them in my systems for years. Once one hears a good recording in hi-rez over a decent system it's hard to go back. In my third system right now I have no DAC but an Oppo 103D with a hard drive attached with both regular CD quality FLAC files as well as hi-rez, including DSD and multi-channel DSD. I'm sure at one point sometime down the road I'll upgrade something and end up rotating a DAC to the system.

 

[Phil A]

PS - the power on this is limited - probably good for a desk top or efficient speakers in a room that is not too large - http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/teacah01-p/teac-ah-01-stereo-amplifier-with-digital-to-analog-converter/1.html


I have stand alone Teac DAC (UD-501) in my secondary system for about 18 months. Teac has a US-301 now that looks really nice for the money


http://www.amazon.com/Teac-UD-301-BK-Monaural-Digital-Converter/dp/B00L9HZ5QW


As far as capability/specs the 501 will do higher PCM rates (up to 384kHz). There's a site - https://justlisten.nativedsd.com/


where if sign up for their newsletter they have a free sampler for download of various resolutions (and also multi-channel tracks) and about once a week they have an additional free sample to download. I was amazed listening to DXD (sampled at 352.8kHz) on the Teac 501.