mac mini music and movies

[admin_exported]

HI, I have plugged my mac mini into a cyrus avmaster amp via its optical toslink. The 5.1 sound is is great for movies, but stereo is not brilliant. The macmini only has only one optical out, so my thoughts were either to get and airport express and stream in to a dacmagic, or get a better av amp that can do (relatively) decent stereo out. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

J

-Cyrus 8x cdp, Cyrus 8Vs2 amp, Cyrus Av Master 8, Dynaudio 140, mac mini

 

[Messiah]

When I tried the AV Master for stereo with my PS3 I found that it sounded much better on Stereo Bypass rather than using it's own DACs.

Not sure why as on paper the Cyrus should have wiped the floor with it.....

Give it a go and see...

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Messiah,

does anybody else have any ideas?

cheers.

 

[Messiah]

Did you try it???

 

[Anonymous]

Not yet Messiah - The mac mini only has one combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack) the same as an airport express. Unless I am mistaken, in order to get stereo bypass I would have to use the mac mini's or an airport express's sound card as a dac which is even worse.

I think I definately need another dac such as dacmagic or even upgrade my Cyrus 8vs2 to a 8xpd (not sure if 8xpd is worth £600 more though).

Researching the other route of getting a better AV amp for better stereo, from what I read in other forums, even good ones (such as a Pioneer LX81 or a Yamaha Z7) would still be bested by a dacmagic into a decent stereo amp such as my 8vs2.

I would love to hear any other theories or thoughts.

Thanks

J

 

[Anonymous]

Not yet Messiah - The mac mini only has one combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack) the same as an airport express. Unless I am mistaken, in order to get stereo bypass I would have to use the mac mini's or an airport express's sound card as a dac which is even worse.

I think I definately need another dac such as dacmagic or even upgrade my Cyrus 8vs2 to a 8xpd (not sure if 8xpd is worth £600 more though).

Researching the other route of getting a better AV amp for better stereo, from what I read in other forums, even good ones (such as a Pioneer LX81 or a Yamaha Z7) would still be bested by a dacmagic into a decent stereo amp such as my 8vs2.

I would love to hear any other theories or thoughts.

Thanks

 

[Messiah]

js@davidlelay.co.uk:
Not yet Messiah - The mac mini only has one combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack) the same as an airport express. Unless I am mistaken, in order to get stereo bypass I would have to use the mac mini's or an airport express's sound card as a dac which is even worse.

Yes you would utilise the onboard DAC. That's the strange thing. When I tried this with the PS3 it sounded much better.....