Optical to USB or AES on Mac Mini?

[joshea]

Hello

 

New guy with a question. I have Spotify Premium on my Mac Mini along with Audirvana. The latter which I use for audio serving, etc. Audirvana and Spotify don't play together so I have to use the built-in Optical out on the Mac Mini to listen to Spotify. Unfortunately that output sounds poor in comparison to the Mini running Audirvana via USB into my DAC.  I also looked at getting Spotify to see my DAC directly but no luck on that one at all. Thoughts on what I can do short of hoping that Spotify will work with Audirvana? I guess I could also try Tidal or Deezer both of which are supported by Audirvana. But the wife has a liking for Spotify and everything setup there so best to stay with that if possible.

 

Thank you

Jon O.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Jon - What other inputs are available on your DAC?

 

You should stick with Spotify if that’s what works for your family. Granted it isn’t lossless, but there are ways to make it sound as good as possible. 

[joshea]

1 x USB, AES, COAX and Optical. COAX is being used for my CD transport while the USB port is from the Mini to the Dac as mentioned. The sticking point is not being able to route Spotify through Audirvana and / or directly out via USB.  It only works via the built-in / optical out. I also checked to see if JRiver or another media software would work but coming up zippo for now. Thanks for replying back!