Would an External DAC Help My MacBook?

[peterfranks]

I've been reading thru and searching AK for a while now and reading up on DACs and their uses. While there is a lot of great information, the topics tend to wonder and I'm not sure if I have found my answer.

I have a MacBook that is a secondary source of music for me - mostly when I travel and when I am mobile. I have on it mostly AIFF music files, played thru iTunes and listened to with Shure SHR440 headphones.

So the question is simple - would an external DAC be of benefit and improve sound to the headphones? Occasionally I stream music wirelessly to an Airport Express then into a receiver.

Not looking to spend a ton of money but if $100 gives me a nice bump in sound quality then its a no brainer.

Anyone running this kind of set-up that has a recommendation?

Much appreciated! Thanks.

 

[whell]

It would likely be an upgrade. However, such investments are typically made when the set up is the primary listening set up. Having to tote around and set up a DAC with your MAC while on the road might add inconvenience that might offset any modest sonic gain.

Just my two cents anyway...

 

[peterfranks]

It would likely be an upgrade. However, such investments are typically made when the set up is the primary listening set up. Having to tote around and set up a DAC with your MAC while on the road might add inconvenience that might offset any modest sonic gain.

Just my two cents anyway...

thanks! Appreciate the feedback. I was looking at some of the smaller DACs - very portable - FiiO, Sabre USB DAC, Audioengine D1, etc. They would be no problem to set next to my Mac while I'm working and easy to take with - just wondering if the bump in performance would be noticeable ...

 

[LexDM3]

I picked up a used TubeDAC-11 on Barter Town a month ago and am using it with my MacBook Pro. I like it. I installed Audirvana Plus and that's another step up. I have a NuForce U192S USB-SPDIF converter arriving Monday and that should do it. Using a combo of MOG, Pandora One, and various music files played through Audirvana+iTunes, I'm a digital music convert but I'll still play LPs too.

 

[peterfranks]

I picked up a used TubeDAC-11 on Barter Town a month ago and am using it with my MacBook Pro. I like it. I installed Audirvana Plus and that's another step up. I have a NuForce U192S USB-SPDIF converter arriving Monday and that should do it. Using a combo of MOG, Pandora One, and various music files played through Audirvana+iTunes, I'm a digital music convert but I'll still play LPs too.

That's some nice hardware - I assume your MBP is your main, or one of your main sources of music?

 

[LexDM3]

That's some nice hardware - I assume your MBP is your main, or one of your main sources of music?

With the additions and improvements, it is now my main source of music. I like using MOG and Pandora to hear music I'm not familiar with. Since those streaming media sources now sound very good in my system, it's a win-win.

 

[Sanc]

For travel, the best DAC is the Dragonfly by Audiquest. It gets quite good reviews for how small it is. Pretty sure it has a Sabre chip which is very good. It's a tiny little USB stick that looks like a thumb drive with a 3.5mm headphone jack out.

To answer your question, like everyone has said, anything better than onboard computer audio is better.

 

[peterfranks]

For travel, the best DAC is the Dragonfly by Audiquest. It gets quite good reviews for how small it is. Pretty sure it has a Sabre chip which is very good. It's a tiny little USB stick that looks like a thumb drive with a 3.5mm headphone jack out.

To answer your question, like everyone has said, anything better than onboard computer audio is better.

Nice - I've seen the Dragonfly as well as others which would be great for travel. Computer sound cards are all generally dismissed as poor - didn't know if the Mac's was any better or not.

I've used Pandora in the past and just started using Spotify for searching out new music. Not as concerned with the quality of that - more so what I'm playing off my HD.

This thread has been helpful for me.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

I've read some of the Dragonfly literature. The set up looks very customizeable. It makes mention of opening a MIDI utility on a Mac to review and set sample rates. I don't have any such software in my new Macbook Pro. What is MIDI?

 

[Doc Rock]

MIDI is "musical instrument digital interface". Its an old standard used to allow synthesizers to talk to each other - for instance a keyboard or computer can output some digital data to a synth module to tell it what instrument sound to use to play what note for how long, etc.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

I found the MIDI Utility. I was looking for MIDI in my Mac, but the full name is Audio MIDI. Looks like it is an interface to adjust sample rates based on what the particular DAC was designed up to handle.