USB Audio Cable Length and CD player question.

[PeterMac]

I have a CA Azur 651a in one corner of my lounge/dining area. In the hall, I have a desk with my iMac. It's not possible to move them any closer to each other. I would love to be able to connect the iMac to my 651a using a decent USB Audio cable, but have been told that longer cables pose quality problems. Is this true? The Mac and amp are about 5 metres of cable apart (unfortunately including two doorways).

I am yet to purchase a CD player as the amp was originally bought to power my turntable. I have a sizeable CD collection, which is all backed up onto the iMac and also shared on my phone and iPad. I currently connect these to the amp using a phono to RCA cable.

Would something like the Marantz CD6005 give noticeably better sound using it's front USB input over the photo to RCA cable. Otherwise, i'd just go ahead and get the CA Azur 651c CD player.

Any help is much appreciated... i'm new at this and have a lot to learn!

 

[daveh75]

USB has a limitation of 5M.

You can buy 'active' USB cables that have a repeater (effectively a 2 port hub) in them that will go longer, Corning also make optical USB cables in various lengths upto 50m, but they're quite expensive

Don't buy 'Audio' USB cables, those are manufactured and sold buy charlatans...

Personally in your situation I'd just buy an Airport Express. More convenient and neater than trailing cables across/around doorways

 

[iMark]

Personally in your situation I'd just buy an Airport Express. More convenient and neater than trailing cables across/around doorways

I agree that the Airport Express is a neat solution. But this could be a viable altnernative:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Konig-USB-Range-Extender-Cat5/dp/B0037XJYSG/ref=pd_sim_147_6?ie=UTF8&dpID=41sIfbAjR-L&dpSrc="sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=16MEXQNR7YTAPXC4A0XJ"

You link both USB adapters with a regular ethernet cable. This apparently works up to 50m.

 

[macdiddy]

limitation of 5 metres then how come I've just found this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BlueRigger-Active-Extension-Repeater-Female/dp/B005LJKEXS/ref=pd_cp_23_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1VBK37EPK2YENY0P7XXX

*unknw*

 

[daveh75]

limitation of 5 metres then how come I've just found this:

Er, you clearly missed the 'USB Active Repeater cable' in the description...

 

[Vladimir]

Wasn't the front USB input on the CD6005 just for USB sticks and not a proper USB DAC where you can connect a PC? *scratch_one-s_head*

BTW. USB is limited to 5m if it's of thicker AWG. If it's the thinner one, 3m is max before some dropouts begin. Using a power hub or a repeater solves this without any issues and it's cheap.

 

[PeterMac]

Thanks for the replies... all very helpful.

Airport looks a good option. Do i just connect the airport to the Amp using the USB cable and connect it to the WiFi in the house?

This would be great as would mean I can just get the CA Azur CD player as well.

 

[iMark]

Airport looks a good option. Do i just connect the airport to the Amp using the USB cable and connect it to the WiFi in the house?

The Airport Express has a combo output, both minijack analogue as well as a Mini Toslink. So you can use a minijack to RCA cable to connect to an amp.

If your amp or CD player has an optical input, you would need a cable like this one to connect the Airport Express to either the amp or the CD player. The DAC in an amp or a CD player will most likely be better than the Airport Express. But you could of course just try the analogue connection first to try the Airport Express. (The USB port of the Airport Express only works for sharing a USB printer.)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/FosPower®-Plated-Toslink-Digital-Optical/dp/B00T8HWUVS/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1453243192&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=mini+touslink+toslink

We have been using this connection for over 5 years (Airport Express to Cambridge Audio DACMagic) and it's excellent.

With the Airport utility I have set up our Express to join the wireless network. This is the best setting if you want to stream from another device on the same network. We have the CD library on an external drive connected to a Mac Mini with an iPad as the remote control but we also stream Spotify from an iPad.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Wasn't the front USB input on the CD6005 just for USB sticks and not a proper USB DAC where you can connect a PC? *scratch_one-s_head*

Err, yep, I believe you are correct Vlad. The PM6005 has an optical in on the rear.