Best way to connect my iPhone to my Amp

[Tim Smith]

Hi,

I have an iPhone 4S which I want to connect to my home AMP (Yamaha AX-2). What is the best way to connect them?

The easiest way to do this seems to be running through the headphone jack with a 3.5mm to RCA connection, but that brings the iPhone's internal DAC's into play which I wouldn't have though is optimal. Is there an iPhone Dock I can use to get the music out digitally and skip the iPhone's internal DACs?

Any advice very welcome!!

 

[Paul.]

You can buy a dock which will bypass the headphone amp and just give you a line level out from the dock connector, this is a noticeable improvement. You could buy a dock with a dac built in, but this would cost more than an airplay solution.

The best way to listen to an iPhone on an AV receiver is to connect an Airport express by optical or Apple TV by HDMI to your receiver, and then connect the phone via airplay. This gives you a wireless digital feed, bypassing the iPhones DAC and using your receivers dac instead.

 

[Andy Clough]

I use a Pure Digital i20 (£75) which has a built-in DAC and charges your phone too. Does the job for me. Clickety

 

[Tim Smith]

Thanks, Andy.

Your response with the Pure Digital i20 is a great suggestion. Along the same lines I see Arcam have just brought out a similar solution, drDOCK. I have always been an Arcam fan; any views on the drDOCK?

 

[Tim Smith]

Thanks, Paul.

I have an Apple TV (first version which had the hard drive built in) but I found that really unstable; kept crashing my network

The dock with line level out looks like a good way to go. I'm looking at the Arcam drDOCK. Any views on that?

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

Review coming up in July issue according to this - on sale 1st June

 

[Andy Clough]

Thanks, Andy.

Your response with the Pure Digital i20 is a great suggestion. Along the same lines I see Arcam have just brought out a similar solution, drDOCK. I have always been an Arcam fan; any views on the drDOCK?

Arcam drDock looks interesting as you'll see from the link to our news story above from RGD. Unfortunately the full review has been bumped from the July issue to August, on sale June 29th. Might have a word with the First Tests editor to see if we can post it online first.

 

[andrew_cawood]

I can recommend the teac dsh01, I have this connected via spdif to my dac/amp as well as an atv2 and prefer the teacs stability and I think it sounds clearer. If you only want a transport you could get the onkyo nds01.

 

[Juzzie Wuzzie]

Agree with Mr. Hobbs - or a Russ Andrews GQ24 for wired connection. Airplay is pretty handy though, and I would have thought fairly optimal from an all around perspective?

 

[Paul.]

Airplay does seem to be pretty demanding on a network, but its ace with a strong signal. Ive never used the original ATV though, only the 2.

 

[matsuura]

Hello, I was wondering if just using the apple lightning digital A/V adapter and a decent hdmi cable connected to the amp would do the trick, would that then use the amps DACs, bypassing the phones DACs?

iPhone 5 Thanks :dance:

 

[matsuura]

Hello, I was wondering if just using the apple lightning digital A/V adapter and a decent hdmi cable connected to the amp would do the trick, would that then use the amps DACs, bypassing the phones DACs?

iPhone 5 Thanks :dance:

 

[matsuura]

Hello, I was wondering if just using the apple lightning digital A/V adapter and a decent hdmi cable connected to the amp would do the trick, would that then use the amps DACs, bypassing the phones DACs?

iPhone 5 Thanks :dance:

 

[matsuura]

Hello, I was wondering if just using the apple lightning digital A/V adapter and a decent hdmi cable connected to the amp would do the trick, would that then use the amps DACs, bypassing the phones DACs?

iPhone 5 Thanks :dance:

 

[Stellatyler]

I think the most ideal approach to listen to an iphone on an AV beneficiary is to associate an Airport express by optical or Apple TV by HDMI to your collector, and after that unite the telephone through airplay. This provides for you a remote advanced food, bypassing the iphones DAC and utilizing your beneficiaries dac.

 

[uknowsit]

Hi, I've been searching for a way to connect my Iphone5s to my 10 year old Sherwood amp.

The airport express seems a good option, but can anyone confirm what audio output it contains? I have 1 optical and 2 coaxial ports on my amp, but only one free coaxial.

From what I have looked at, the airport express only outputs through a headphone jack - and therefore the sound passed to the amp is not digital. Can anyone provide further info?

 

[MajorFubar]

Hi, I've been searching for a way to connect my Iphone5s to my 10 year old Sherwood amp.

The airport express seems a good option, but can anyone confirm what audio output it contains? I have 1 optical and 2 coaxial ports on my amp, but only one free coaxial.

From what I have looked at, the airport express only outputs through a headphone jack - and therefore the sound passed to the amp is not digital. Can anyone provide further info?

The headphone jack is a combination jack: both analogue-out using the APX's DACS, and an optical out. The Apple website shows it here. You'd need something like this to plug it to a TOSSlink socket on your amp.

 

[Sliced Bread]

Air play is quite questionable IMO. I have an Iphone 5S , Apple TV and a Pioneer LX87 which has spotify connect on board & airplay. If I stream spotify via spotify connect on the Pioneer and use the iphone as a controller the sound is quite full. If I use the iphone and stream spotify via AirPlay to the amplifier (or via Apple TV) then the sound is very thin.

The EQ is not on in the spotify app. It is quite strange.

If I was you I'd buy online an Airport Express and a physical dock which goes into the lightning port (like Pure or Arcam) and see which one sounds best. You could then send the others back to the shop if your not satisfied.