Hi,
I’ve read some people asking about the sample rate and output on iPads, but … I think this might be a bit different, because …
Setup:
Roon Rock on NUC 7th gen i3
iPad 9th gen set to HiRes Lossless output
Output 3.5mm headphone jack - yes they added headphone jacks to help during lockdown - to RCA SE inputs on
Topping MX5
Q Acoustic 3020i
I’m stumped by the down sampling which didn’t happen on my iPad Pro in the same setup. Of course it didn’t have a headphone jack and I had USB C to USB B directly into the Topping - digital not analogue signal:
Is this just because the signal is going in via the RCA input? As headphone output is analogue, I doubt a 3.5mm to USB A plug would help, or could I still plug that into the USB?
This might just be Roon messing with my head. If I don’t get those shiny white stars, I get very frustrated. Green blobs make me sad.
Any wisdom on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
I’ve never done it, but I believe with ios devices it is best to use an apple usb camera adapter and plug the DAC into the USB port of the adapter, and then you can charge with the lightning port of the adapter.
I’m not sure if it matters if the camera adapter is there, or if you can just go straight from the ipad to the dac like you are.???
This will give you the best output the possible from an ipad to your dac.
In the case with the topping, ios was just passing the data through. If you use headphones, ipad ios is the dac and is limited to 48 output, thus resample.
Thank you all. @ffk, @stephen_shervill I had tried to use the lightning port hooked up to the Topping via USB with no joy. I’ll try the USB adapter you suggest and see if I get a better result. Thank you @Rugby I hadn’t been able to find that info about the iPad DAC. That clarifies things.I’ll let you know how it goes.
I looking at what you’ve tried, I don’t think the adapter will help, it will only get the same result but you’ll be able to charge the iPad at the same time.
Happily I can report the adapter does work. I got the Amazon one for $15.99 rather than the Apple one for $49. Problem solved. Shiny white lights are Go!
