Best way to connect digital music to an AVR

moves

moves

Audioholic Chief
Hello - I have an SC 27 Pioneer AVR and a MC 302 power amp. I am wondering what would be the best way to connect the music on my computer to the AVR. Currently, I have a wire running from the back of my iMac's headphone jack into my AVR... but is this the best option? I am thinking not... but I could be wrong.

Thanks,

A
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
Hello - I have an SC 27 Pioneer AVR and a MC 302 power amp. I am wondering what would be the best way to connect the music on my computer to the AVR. Currently, I have a wire running from the back of my iMac's headphone jack into my AVR... but is this the best option? I am thinking not... but I could be wrong.

Thanks,

A
It is better to stream it via wifi or Ethernet.
 
moves

moves

Audioholic Chief
So just plug in a cat5 into my iMac and plug the other end of the cat5 into the AVR? What makes it better?
 
L

Locoweed

Audioholic Intern
Copy the music to a flash drive & plug it into your avr or bluray
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
So just plug in a cat5 into my iMac and plug the other end of the cat5 into the AVR? What makes it better?
The Pioneer will do the decoding and D to A conversion. I assume it can do a better job than the iMac. Same if you put the music files in a USB flash drive and plug it into the Pioneer's USB port.
 
moves

moves

Audioholic Chief
I went into an audio shop today and the man said that I should go optical connected with a tussling mini adapter into the iMac and then other optical end in to AVR.

He never mentioned the HDMI. Do you guys think the HDMI way is better?

He also suggested a Bluesound NODE for wireless streaming. He's got one for $450 CAD demo unit but that's a little more then I want to spend since I was initially only looking for a cable. You know how it go.
 
KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
The Node is tres chic, and works great. Save up and get one, shut the iMac off. :D

Is the one he's offering a Node or the newer Node 2?
 
moves

moves

Audioholic Chief
It's the older Node. I would leave the mac on so it could stream from it : )
 
KenM10759

KenM10759

Audioholic Samurai
Would you be streaming from files stored on the Mac if you could save up for it? I have the (original) Vault and it streams Tidal (and several other services) via Ethernet off a wireless router sitting near it. Of course being a Vault it has its own 1TB drive that has my own music files stored, while a Node can only access a separate NAS.
 
moves

moves

Audioholic Chief
Would you be streaming from files stored on the Mac if you could save up for it? I have the (original) Vault and it streams Tidal (and several other services) via Ethernet off a wireless router sitting near it. Of course being a Vault it has its own 1TB drive that has my own music files stored, while a Node can only access a separate NAS.
I would still be listening to my music as well as the internet feeds.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
I went into an audio shop today and the man said that I should go optical connected with a tussling mini adapter into the iMac and then other optical end in to AVR.

He never mentioned the HDMI. Do you guys think the HDMI way is better?

He also suggested a Bluesound NODE for wireless streaming. He's got one for $450 CAD demo unit but that's a little more then I want to spend since I was initially only looking for a cable. You know how it go.
Not "tussling", but TOSlink aka spdif. It's good, but my suggestion is more future proof
 
J

Jaybeez

Junior Audioholic
Your receiver has a Toslink port, so the guy in the store was onto something. What you can do is stream from your iMac to your receiver.
What I did was pickup and Airport Express (Refurb about $70). The mini port is both RCA and mini Toslink.
So I bought the cable below, and hooked it into my Yamaha Integrated Amp. I downloaded the free App called Remote.
Now I just open my iMac, set it on a table, and control everything with Remote. The Toslink cable can stream lossless so HDTracks sound amazing.
Not sure if this was what you were looking to do, but works well for me. About $120 all in.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006XC55ZY?keywords=mini to toslink&qid=1456678814&ref_=sr_1_1&refinements=p_89:Audioquest&sr=8-1
 
moves

moves

Audioholic Chief
Your receiver has a Toslink port, so the guy in the store was onto something. What you can do is stream from your iMac to your receiver.
What I did was pickup and Airport Express (Refurb about $70). The mini port is both RCA and mini Toslink.
So I bought the cable below, and hooked it into my Yamaha Integrated Amp. I downloaded the free App called Remote.
Now I just open my iMac, set it on a table, and control everything with Remote. The Toslink cable can stream lossless so HDTracks sound amazing.
Not sure if this was what you were looking to do, but works well for me. About $120 all in.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006XC55ZY?keywords=mini to toslink&qid=1456678814&ref_=sr_1_1&refinements=p_89:Audioquest&sr=8-1
This is also what I ended up doing and it seems to be working fine. I am wondering if the HDMI option mentioned above by admin is a better option. Thanks for your input though :)
 

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