admin_exported

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I'm, as a pensioner, not in the league of you experts on here but am trying to understand the best means to listen to my cheap system. I store my music on an ipod which is MP3 format I believe. I have a device which connects at the ipod charger connection end (Not earphone connection) and goes to RCA ? At the other end (red and white connections) I have an amplifier to connect to from there. My question is: Do I need a DAC and if so where would it fit in to my simple 'Circuit' Which would connect to which and which DAC recommended (Would the Cambridge Audio suit) ? In simple terms please. Am simply trying to get the best from a poor basis. Thanks.
 

John Duncan

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Hi powerful

Firstly, a DAC is not necessary (nor feasible) in your system - the only way (at last count) of getting a signal out of an iPod that can be fed to a DAC is to get a Wadia iTransport dock, which costs somewhere around £250. So all you can do currently is plug your iPod into the dock you have and plug it into the amplifier.

Note that the files on your iPod may be mp3, but are probably not unless you've changed the settings on your iPod - but this is irrelevant really, unless you want to get the very best possible sound quality out of your iPod, in which case you should pay attention to both the format and quality you're using to burn CDs into iTunes. However, all of this may be moot depeniding on the rest of your system, as t may be perfectly acceptable as it is - what kind of amp and speakers are you using?

If you do want to go down the road of ripping lossless files onto your PC and playing them at best quality through your stereo, then there are other ways of going about it using wireless streamers and DACs, but you might prefer the plug-and-go convenience that your iPod offers/
 

davydmx

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Hi there.

To best of my knowledge, you can't use an external dac in conjunction with an ipod, unless you use a pricey Wadia ipod dock. Or an even pricier Krell one!

On the plus side, sounds like you currently have your ipod connected in the right way(because it bypasses the ipods volume control, which is a good thing)

You can however(if you're that way inclined) use a dac, such as the Dacmagic, with your pc/mac...
 
A

Anonymous

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Having had a re-think. The amp is a oldish Arcam 7R. Works well. Speakers a couple of KEF from a set of five surround sound rig. Could purchase a better pair. Computer is a Mac. Tracks are in MP3. Looks like it will be better to buy a CD player and and not use the ipod. Do all CD players have a built in DAC ? Assuming my rig warrants one to gain any benefit. I guess there is no way of really improving that which has been compressed and the ends chopped off as in MP3 ?
 

davydmx

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Actually, all devices which can play digital audio files(mobile phones, cd players, laptops, etc), have dacs(digital to analogue converters) built in. It's just that the quality of these dacs(and therefore the sound of these devices) vary hugely!

About your question, 'Do all cd players have a built in DAC?' Are you asking in respect of plugging your mac into the cd player, thereby utilizing the cd players dac for your mp3 files?? IF that's what you're implying, I'm aware of some cd players that have digital inputs to allow such a thing. But it's not common and is generally found on pricer machines!

You're right about not being able to improve mp3s! If possible, those albums/songs will need to be re-ripped using a lossless codec.

Or you could just go ahead and buy a cd player!
 

Craig M.

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you may find that the biggest improvement to sound could come from sticking with the ipod and instead replacing your speakers? obviously depending on the quality of your current speakers.
 

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