Do I need a DAC from Iphone (IPOD) to Onkyo 905?

[admin_exported]

Hi, Can anyone help with some advice? I want to improve the quality of my music which is mainly stored on my iphone (ipod) which I then play through an iphone dock (DS-A2X)and fed into my Onkyo 905. Would purchasing a DAC be the way to go? I think I might also need to upgrade the dock as well? Thanks Mike

 

[True Blue]

It depends if your music is stored as MP3 or Apple lossless. Big jump up in quality (and file size using lossless).

If it is not stored in lossless then this would be what I would do first.

If it is then a DAC should improve things further.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok thanks for that.

 

[Andrew Everard]

The DS-A2X takes the sound from the iPod in analogue form. No point whatsoever in adding a DAC, as it won't be doing anything,

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Andrew - I'm going to buy the Onkyo ND-S1 for my ipod - in your opinion would a DAC further enhance the sound between the dock and my Onkyo 905 Amp or is this not needed?

 

[Messiah]

The Onkyo ND-S1 outputs the audio digitally so that it can be processed by a seperate DAC. It bypasses the DAC in the ipod.

I would get a seperate DAC (and I have) although you might want to try it directly first and see if you like the sound. The Beresford and DACmagic are highly recommended.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks - what kind of prices are those? I read from various sources that you can spend a great deal of cash on DACS....!

 

[Messiah]

michaelsaffron:Thanks - what kind of prices are those? I read from various sources that you can spend a great deal of cash on DACS....!

You could spend a lot, but then that is true of any component I suppose. The Beresford is £220 and the DACmagic is £230 according to this site.

I prefer the Beresford as it has a headphone output.

Do you have a budget in mind??