DAC & MP3s

[sudont]

Hi!

I'm an old hand at analog, but a bit of a newb when it comes to digital. What I often do when people are over, (or I'm feeling lazy), is plug my Mac, or iPod, into my preamp and let iTunes do the work. I'm not expecting hi-fi from this arrangement - it just frees me to attend to the grill, or just hang out.

But I thought, what if I added a DAC? The Macbook has an optical out, why not put it to use?

So here's my question:

I understand the benefits of a good DAC to a CD player, but are there any benefits for MP3s?

Most of my files are MP3s of varying bit rate and RIP quality. Should I expect any improvement over the analog output with a DAC?

 

[Audio_ELF]

Depending on the bit rate there will be a quality improvement playing MP3 with a DAC vs analogue direct, however I wouldn't spend an excessive amount... Re-ripping to a lossless format would give you a bigger improvement (though probably not noticeable unless you also get a DAC).

 

Eloise

 

[sudont]

Thanks for the response, Eloise!

No, I'm not gonna spend much. I was looking at the Entech Number Crunchers. Just wondering if it was worth spending anything.

I wasn't really sure how the Mac/iTunes handled MP3s in relation to the optical out.

 

[bikemig]

Emotiva is blowing out the xda-1 for $250; that's a pretty useful piece of gear if you want to add a dac to your system: http://www.emotiva.com/xda1.shtm

 

 

 

[sudont]

That's good call - thanks!