[Flashman]

I relocated from the U.S. to France last year and purchased a Harman/Kardon unit (MAS 110) that included their "Bridge" dock for connecting Apple products.  I have read all the material on the "Bridge" but still do not know whether it overrides the internal DAC of Apple products.  Though my main audio rig is in storage till I return to the U.S., I still want the best sound I can get, even out of a fairly mundane set-up.  So I am wondering whether I might improve the sound with an outboard DAC inserted into the system. 

Harman/Kardon is not really helpful regarding whether the "Bridge" feeds the H/K internal DAC.  All I can tell you is that the "Bridge" connects to the H/K controller which is connected to the H/K amp.  The only description that is somewhat helpful: "The MAS system does not convert digital sources to the analog domain for recording purposes."  I am not concerned with recording, only playback. 

So, does anyone have any ideas about whether the "Bridge" connects to an H/K DAC?

Thanks, Michael

[BrianAbington]

I'm not personally familiar with this product but the recording thing sounds like it's their way of indirectly protecting digital copyright stuff...as a way to get around any protection encoded in a digital file

Does the HK unit show any thing about the bit rate of the incoming signal? Any thing about a dac in the bridge itself?

[Flashman]

I don't think there is a DAC in the "Bridge" but my guess is that the output from the "Bridge" is going through the H/K DAC.  It's only a guess as the sound is way better than I would have expected from MP3s on this system.