When needs must.

[bigfish786]

After hurting myself at work a few days ago, ive been a bit immobile. So playing vinyl was off the menu.. (Too much work) lol.

ive been wanting to listen to some music ,so to save myself some effort, I I plugged the hdmi from my nowtv box and stuck it in my laptop. Now I'm playing iTunes through the telly, which has a stereo interconnect direct to my amp.

It sounds good enough to me. And not an external dac in sight.

so, what's doing the work? The laptop? The telly? I'm assuming the telly as the signal on the hdmi is digital.

 

[Leeps]

TV's can have excellent DACs. I used to used my current Panny plasma with RCA leads from its phono out into my Cambridge 640A amp. It used to sound terrific when watching "Later With Jools Holland" and the like.

I suppose it's down to cost, but very few new TV's have RCA outs anymore. Most seem to be restricted to optical outs now, which is a shame as it forces integrated owners to add DAC (or buy an amp with one included), or takes up yet another optical input which can restrict your options somewhat. Many DACs or amps with DACs still only have 1 optical input, but a lot of well-used products only have this option: TV's, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, most set-top boxes etc etc.

I wish amp or DAC manufacturers would have at least 3 optical inputs. To my knowledge Rotel, Quad and Pro-Ject (Box RS range anyway) have acknowledged the volume of products with optical outs, but few others have.

 

[bigfish786]

It has definitely surprised me how good it actually sounds.

for the ease and convenience it's just the job.