Connecting IPhone (Lightning) to amplifier’s digital inputs

[Elkgrovelaker]

I’d like to get the best possible audio quality from Amazon Unlimited or Tidal from my iPhone 7 to the digital inputs on an Onkyo A-9050. It has both optical and coax digital inputs. The Onkyo is supposed to have a good DAC so I want a digital connection. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Don’t know if it is the best, but I used to use AirPlay to an airport express. I used the rca connections to an Onkyo txnr808. Always sounded good to me. Now I just AirPlay to my Marantz 6012. Cds are handled by ps3 or x700, but they will stream too.
Anyway, I like AirPlay.

 

[sterling shoote]

I’d like to get the best possible audio quality from Amazon Unlimited or Tidal from my iPhone 7 to the digital inputs on an Onkyo A-9050. It has both optical and coax digital inputs. The Onkyo is supposed to have a good DAC so I want a digital connection. Any ideas? Thanks.

I'm not familiar with your amp. For a wire connection to your amp's DAC, your amp needs a usb input. If your amp does not have a usb port, you can play wirelessly from your iPhone if the amp supports Airplay. If the amp does not support Airplay, you can buy a used Airport Express and connect it's optical S/PDIF output to your amp. Airport Express will output at 16/44.1 no matter what the resolution of the music file in your iTunes Library. Now, of course, you stated you use Tidal, not iTunes or Apple Music, so if your amp does not support Tidal and you have no interest in switching streaming service to Apple Music/iTunes you will need another interface such as Universal Player which supports Tidal.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I'm not familiar with your amp. For a wire connection to your amp's DAC, your amp needs a usb input. If your amp does not have a usb port, you can play wirelessly from your iPhone if the amp supports Airplay. If the amp does not support Airplay, you can buy a used Airport Express and connect it's optical S/PDIF output to your amp. Airport Express will output at 16/44.1 no matter what the resolution of the music file in your iTunes Library. Now, of course, you stated you use Tidal, not iTunes or Apple Music, so if your amp does not support Tidal and you have no interest in switching streaming service to Apple Music/iTunes you will need another interface such as Universal Player which supports Tidal.

I don’t have tidal, but do have Spotify. If he goes the AE option, he can AirPlay to that. I assume tidal would be the same.

 

[sterling shoote]

I don’t have tidal, but do have Spotify. If he goes the AE option, he can AirPlay to that. I assume tidal would be the same.

OK, that would be good news for the OP. So, if I understand you correctly, Spotify app on PC will transmit music files and streams to Airport Express, is that right? And does the app need to be set for 16/44.1 output?

 

[PENG]

The wolfshon WM8718 DAC isn't really that good compared to even what Onkyo put in their mid range AV receiver, but should still be better than not using it with the iP7.

There may be some lightning adapters to get around the missing mini jack issue, but I would have to search and may be do some trials.