I have been using my old MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, early 2013) exclusively for listening to music streamed from iTunes. I hooked up a 3.5 mm stereo aux cable from the headphone jack of my MacBook, which is directly connected to the Audioengine's A5+ wireless speakers using the RCA inputs. I compared it with bluetooth connection, but the direct connection sounded louder (i.e., more power as a lower volume) and slightly more clear to my ears. It may have to do with the much larger sampling rate with the headphone out, i.e., 32-bit 96kHz vs 24-bit 48kHz (bluetooth), which can be adjusted on the Audio MIDI Setup.
I have been thinking of adding an external DAC (with a mini-to-Toslink cable) to my chain, primarily motivated by the information found here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202730.
So, do you think I can get significant improvement in switching to the external DAC route instead of using the MacBook's built-in DAC? I am very much interested in the RME's ADI-2 DAC.
Thank you.
NoobMD
I have been thinking of adding an external DAC (with a mini-to-Toslink cable) to my chain, primarily motivated by the information found here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202730.
So, do you think I can get significant improvement in switching to the external DAC route instead of using the MacBook's built-in DAC? I am very much interested in the RME's ADI-2 DAC.
Thank you.
NoobMD