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Post by nightwatchman on Mar 3, 2016 12:32:37 GMT
I'm looking to stream Tidal from a macbook pro 2010 OSX 10.9 Maverics to my Cyrus 8 amp via a Caiman 2 DAC.
I'd be very interested to know what method of audio output other members use
to output from a macbook (pro) and what settings in midi setup they are using.
Many thanks.
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Post by Stratmangler on Mar 3, 2016 13:06:30 GMT
I don't have a Mac so I cannot make any comments about MIDI, but you may well find that the headphone output doubles as an optical output for DAC connnection.
Use that to connect to your Caiman 2 DAC.
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Post by MartinT on Mar 3, 2016 14:04:02 GMT
S/PDIF (optical) is always preferable, followed by USB.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2016 19:21:59 GMT
I'm looking to stream Tidal from a macbook pro 2010 OSX 10.9 Maverics to my Cyrus 8 amp via a Caiman 2 DAC. I'd be very interested to know what method of audio output other members use to output from a macbook (pro) and what settings in midi setup they are using. Many thanks. I have a Mac Mini 2010 running to an Audiolab Q-Dac so YMMV  I generally had good results with Mavericks using a relatively cheap (£12) optical cable from the digital audio output: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fisual-Hollywood-Digital-Optical-Cable-1m-/380191204655?hash=item588529652f:m:mHXfLlIl4_kmSjnA48n0cmQMore recently though I have been using USB out instead given that my Dac supports Asynch USB and I find this has the edge over SPDIF - not sure how this would be with Mavericks as I have since updated to El Capitan My midi is set to 96 2ch - 24 bit integer |
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Post by sq225917 on Mar 3, 2016 19:56:27 GMT
I run Audivarna+ over the top of itunes, so no issue with any settings in Midi, it ignores them. Whether USB or spdif sounds better will depend largely on the dac designer's priorities. I've run optical, usb to spdif via Hiface and usb straight out to various dacs. Best of the bunch was Firewire out to Weiss 202.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2016 1:51:55 GMT
I run Audivarna+ over the top of itunes, so no issue with any settings in Midi, it ignores them. Interesting; I also use Audivarna+ but my Q-Dac displays the track frequency as the one I set in Midi, not the one given in the Audivarna track listing. |
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Post by nightwatchman on Mar 4, 2016 16:02:52 GMT
Thanks for the advice, sound very good running optically into the Caiman 2 DAC.
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aniki
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Post by aniki on Mar 19, 2016 14:01:18 GMT
Hey,
I have a 2TB SSD RAID array in my MacBook so I store all my CD rips losslessly.
I stream these to an airport express which feeds via optical out to a Benchmark DAC.
To me, this surpasses the quality of anything I've heard using a mechanical transport.
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Post by sq225917 on Mar 20, 2016 23:15:39 GMT
I run Audivarna+ over the top of itunes, so no issue with any settings in Midi, it ignores them. Interesting; I also use Audivarna+ but my Q-Dac displays the track frequency as the one I set in Midi, not the one given in the Audivarna track listing. That's a bit weird, mine has always displayed the A+ settings. Are you using USb or optical out? |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2016 23:28:47 GMT
I don't have a Mac so I cannot make any comments about MIDI, but you may well find that the headphone output doubles as an optical output for DAC connnection. Use that to connect to your Caiman 2 DAC. I use this method on my second (office) system where I have a iMac connected via the headphone/digital output connected to my Bushmaster II DAC which I use for Spotify duties, and it's very nice too |
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Post by nightwatchman on Mar 21, 2016 21:36:18 GMT
I've been listening to the output fron the MBP to the DAC via USB instead of optical for the past few days and it's sounding ...can I say ....more harmonious? Why should that be I ask myself? Any mac experts out there?
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Post by AlanS on Mar 22, 2016 0:06:56 GMT
I've been listening to the output fron the MBP to the DAC via USB instead of optical for the past few days and it's sounding ...can I say ....more harmonious? Why should that be I ask myself? Any mac experts out there? Perhaps you enjoy a bit of distortion? The optical has no nasties passed, whereas wires can swap all sorts |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2016 0:07:39 GMT
I've been listening to the output fron the MBP to the DAC via USB instead of optical for the past few days and it's sounding ...can I say ....more harmonious? Why should that be I ask myself? Any mac experts out there? I've found USB preferable from my Mac (more fluid and lucid) - although I have no idea why it would be better than SPDIF |
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