[TomHartley]

How do I connect my Mac to stereo equipment so that the sound is not travelling through the Mac's amplifier, but through my stereo equipment's amplifier?

[bunnyma357]

Depending on the Mac, it may have an optical Toslink connector (either Std. Toslink or shared with the analog headphone jack), just connect that to a Toslink in on the AVR. If you only have analog in on your stereo, or your Mac doesn't have a digital output, you can use something like a USB DAC. I use a really cheap ADS Tech Instant Music DAC, but there are tons of higher quality ones available, depending on what you want to spend.

What Mac do you have?


Jim C

[TomHartley]

An old iMac G3. I want to connect it to a Behringer headphone amplifier.

[Crimson]

An old iMac G3. I want to connect it to a Behringer headphone amplifier.

In that case, get an 1/8" stereo male to dual RCA male like this. You'll be using the headphone output of your mac.

[TomHartley]

I tried that. It doesn't bypass the Mac's own amplifier. The sound is no better than what I get by plugging headphones into the Mac's headphone jack.

[low.pfile]

I tried that. It doesn't bypass the Mac's own amplifier. The sound is no better than what I get by plugging headphones into the Mac's headphone jack.

Oh you are talking about the old CRT tube jellybean iMac. no real upgrades to audio on this puppy. you could try (what OS are you running?) using the USB to go to a USB converter like the iMic USB Audio Interface ($40?). I've heard one in use with computer speakers but nothing else-might not have the quality you are looking for. A USB DAC converter could work depending on needed connector type to your headphone amp. Doesn't Trends make some converter amp?

[bunnyma357]

I tried that. It doesn't bypass the Mac's own amplifier. The sound is no better than what I get by plugging headphones into the Mac's headphone jack.

Then you probably want a USB DAC to give you line outs. Here's the cheap one I use ($51), which is also an ADC, plus it also converts USB to Optical Digital both in & out. It has worked well for me, but like I said there are tons of options, many of much higher quality or that allow higher than CD quality, it all depends on what you're looking for.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829998002&nm_mc=OTC-Channel&cm_mmc=OTC-channel-_-Accessories+-+Sound+Cards-_-ADS+Technologies-_-29998002&srccode=cii_6570588&cpncode=20-899879&DEPA=0&refer=channel&CMP=OTC-


Jim C

[dB Cooper]

I tried that. It doesn't bypass the Mac's own amplifier. The sound is no better than what I get by plugging headphones into the Mac's headphone jack.

Oh you are talking about the old CRT tube jellybean iMac. no real upgrades to audio on this puppy. you could try (what OS are you running?) using the USB to go to a USB converter like the iMic USB Audio Interface ($40?). I've heard one in use with computer speakers but nothing else-might not have the quality you are looking for. A USB DAC converter could work depending on needed connector type to your headphone amp. Doesn't Trends make some converter amp?

Don't know if USB1, which is what would be on the CRT imac, would support a modern USB sound card- at least with fully satisfactory results.

BTW, I have heard that the Behringer UCA 202 USB sound card has a decent 16 bit (not "1-bit") DAC. It can be had for about $40 IIRC.

[bunnyma357]

Don't know if USB1, which is what would be on the CRT imac, would support a modern USB sound card- at least with fully satisfactory results.

BTW, I have heard that the Behringer UCA 202 USB sound card has a decent 16 bit (not "1-bit") DAC. It can be had for about $40 IIRC.

You're probably right, I just checked the system requirements for the ADS Tech that I use, and it says G4 processor or above. A pro-audio firewire DAC/ADC would probably work, but I think those are around $300 and up.

Another possibility might be to try streaming to an Airport Express, not sure if that would work.

Jim C

[TomHartley]

Then you probably want a USB DAC to give you line outs. Here's the cheap one I use ($51), which is also an ADC, plus it also converts USB to Optical Digital both in & out. It has worked well for me, but like I said there are tons of options, many of much higher quality or that allow higher than CD quality, it all depends on what you're looking for.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829998002&nm_mc=OTC-Channel&cm_mmc=OTC-channel-_-Accessories+-+Sound+Cards-_-ADS+Technologies-_-29998002&srccode=cii_6570588&cpncode=20-899879&DEPA=0&refer=channel&CMP=OTC-

This might be what I want. The system requirement is OS 10.3.9, which is what my old G3 jellybean is running on. And $51 is about the most I can afford right now. It's advertised as something that copies LPs and cassettes onto CDs, which means it would have INputs so that a signal would go from the stereo equipment to the computer. But you're saying it also has audio OUTputs, so sound goes the other way, from the computer to the stereo equipment? If it does what I want, if it bypasses the computer's amp, then I should be able to turn the computer's sound all the way down and control the volume with my headphone amp.

[Crimson]

I tried that. It doesn't bypass the Mac's own amplifier. The sound is no better than what I get by plugging headphones into the Mac's headphone jack.

Oh you are talking about the old CRT tube jellybean iMac. no real upgrades to audio on this puppy. you could try (what OS are you running?) using the USB to go to a USB converter like the iMic USB Audio Interface ($40?). I've heard one in use with computer speakers but nothing else-might not have the quality you are looking for. A USB DAC converter could work depending on needed connector type to your headphone amp. Doesn't Trends make some converter amp?

Don't know if USB1, which is what would be on the CRT imac, would support a modern USB sound card- at least with fully satisfactory results.

BTW, I have heard that the Behringer UCA 202 USB sound card has a decent 16 bit (not "1-bit") DAC. It can be had for about $40 IIRC.

As a matter of fact, it probably will work because no current PnP USB dac utilizes the USB 2.0 spec (thus the current 24/96 limitation).