I need to get a small amp/Dac to go from my iMac to some micca speakers for my office. I guess if I use usb I can bypass the iMac DAC, right? What about Topping? Other ideas? Thanks!
I just bought Toppings A90/D90 for a headphone setup.
For desktop amp, there’s this review -
I also have Schiit amps and DACs. I’d buy Topping again before Schiit. FWIW.
BTW - Don’t know if it matters to you, but Schiit DACs don’t do DSD or MQA.
You might want to build another RPi4 with RoPieee and go ethernet (or WIFI) to RPi4 then USB to new amp.
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Of course, everything depends on your needs/budget/environment, but, here are a couple of ideas for dac/amp combo units:
iFi Hip dac/amp has been getting good reviews, though I have not personally used one.
Schiit Jotunheim is a great combo amp/dac/preamp with a really compact footprint for a couple hundred more.
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Wow, that’s really neat, thanks for sharing that!
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The hip looks cool but is headphone only.
Interesting. Never thought of adding a new endpoint.
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My apologies!
In any case, what speakers have you got? Are they the Micca MB42X bookshelf? What’s your budget for the setup? Are you looking for a dac/amp combo unit or do you prefer individual components?
The more info you’re willing to provide on your priorities, the easier it will be to help narrow down your options
Yes, those are the speakers. I want a small dac/amp combo to feed from my Mac usb to the external dac for high res sound. Don’t need much power. Just near field use. Budget is 200 or less if possible.
Your main concern here is that your speakers don’t appear to have any line-level rca inputs, from what I can tell. The majority of these small footprint desktop units (even the ones flexible enough to be used with both headphones & speakers) are more than likely going to use rca outputs.
For passive bookshelf speakers, you could use a small amp such as this with a separate small DAC :
OR, you could get something like this, which has a usb dac, a number of flexible inputs, and actually has speaker outputs!
Hope this helps
I like this little Pyle amp. Any ideas for a dac that gets 192 with usb in?
Do you need/want MQA?
No need for mqa. I do want 192/24 via usb, from my iMac. Apple stopped including an optical out. Grrr.
Guys what about the topping D10 as a dac, and the Pyle amp?
Or USB from RPi4 for $77.
Rethinking. What about Audioengine a2+, fed via usb?
Edit: apparently, the DAC is only 48k. :-/
Don’t have direct experience w/ that particular model, though I did have a pair of the first A5s many years ago and found them to be a pleasant experience overall.
The a2+ certainly appear to check every box for you and seem quite versatile, though I can’t say how they’d compare to the Micca speakers you currently have.
A further word of advice: placing dac/amp/speakers in one enclosure is the ultimate in desktop convenience, with the internal amp/digital crossovers able to be perfectly tuned to match the speaker, BUT, you’re in the poo a bit if you don’t care for the sound.
My unsolicited advice? Buy them direct from Audioengine to take advantage of their 30-day return policy & hang on to your current speakers for now, just in case. Live with them for a bit & see how you feel.
EDIT: Daggummit, I wrote that for nothing! LOL