DAC for streaming?

PackmanJim

Active Member
I have a Marantz 1060 in my bedroom and I stream XM radio on it from my IPhone. I just have it plugged in with RCA cables. Would it help the quality if I hooked up a DAC? How do I hook it up? I've never used a DAC before so I appreciate the help.
 
I have a Marantz 1060 in my bedroom and I stream XM radio on it from my IPhone. I just have it plugged in with RCA cables. Would it help the quality if I hooked up a DAC? How do I hook it up? I've never used a DAC before so I appreciate the help.

A DAC is a pretty straight-forward device that converts a digital signal to analog. How exactly you hook it up depends on what you intend to use as a source, and if that source has a conventional digital output or not (almost no phones do).

Are you looking to still use your phone as the source, or are you looking to stream your XM radio from something else instead? You would need a device that can link to your phone, via Bluetooth or otherwise, or a device that can do XM on it's own. Those features have nothing to do with what a DAC does, so at that point you would either be looking for a device that has bluetooth (or can stream XM on it's own) as well as an integrated DAC, or a device that has bluetooth (or can stream XM on it's own) as well as a digital output that you can connect to a separate DAC.

One example would be; many TVs can connect to a phone via Bluetooth and many of those same TVs also offer digital output. So you could connect your Phone to your TV, then have the digital signal go from your TV to an external DAC. Then, of course, from the DAC into your Marantz.
 
I have a Marantz 1060 in my bedroom and I stream XM radio on it from my IPhone. I just have it plugged in with RCA cables. Would it help the quality if I hooked up a DAC? How do I hook it up? I've never used a DAC before so I appreciate the help.


What Chris said and check out the (Sonica DAC by oppo)
 
I have a Marantz 1060 in my bedroom and I stream XM radio on it from my IPhone. I just have it plugged in with RCA cables. Would it help the quality if I hooked up a DAC? How do I hook it up? I've never used a DAC before so I appreciate the help.

I would just hook up a Airport express to the 1060 and stream from the Iphone. Quality and wireless.

Eric
 
I don't have any outboard DAC's so I'm certainly no expert. I use a Roku to get XM into a couple different rooms. One uses HDMI into an AVR. The other is outputting in analog via RCA cables. Both work fine and the devices are pretty cheap. Apple TV would probably work in much the same way. No phone needed. More intuitive connections for this semi-oldtimer, too.
I love XM for the content but I've found it's ultimate fidelity to be somewhat limited. Not sure it will be up to critical listening no matter what DAC you send it through. Doesn't sound bad. Very listenable, but it's not FLAC by any means. I wouldn't sink a bunch of money on a DAC for XM alone. Lots of things I'll eventually need one for, though.
 
Thanks for the replies but I am more confused than ever now. I thought that a DAC improved the signal quality from a computer, my IPhone, to an amp. I can bluetooth from my phone to my 1060 using a Bluetooth adapter plugged into my dubbing jack in the front. I also have a cord with a mini jack that plugs into my phone and two RCA plugs on the other side to plug into aux on the 1060. I thought if I could hook up a DAC in between the phone and the 1060 I could get a better signal. Is this not true? Does a DAC hook up with RCA cables? Thanks from a DAC dummy.
 
I am more confused than ever now

The only way you can hook up a DAC is to a digital stream. Your phone has a DAC built into it already...it has to have one so you can listen in analog. If the phone had a 'digital out' you could hook up a better DAC to that and improve on the built in one. You phone does not have a digital out. Hope that helped.
 
A good quality outboard DAC will improve the sound of a clean digital source to an good analog player (like an amp or receiver). In your situation, there are 2 reasons you don't need a DAC.

1. As already mentioned, your iPhone already has one onboard, and it's actually a pretty darn good one.
2. You're not listening to a clean digital source. XM is not a very high quality source by its very nature. As a test just listen to a song on XM, then listen to the same song on CD. You'll notice the XM is far muddier. It's just a limitation in the technology. It's never been a high sound quality source. Doesn't mean it's not worth listening to. It just means that no DAC is going to be able to clean it up.

If you want to improve the sound quality of your system, you could consider ditching XM and getting a subscription to Spotify for $10 a month, or better yet, get CD quality from Tidal for $20 a month. And this way you get to choose everything you play. They each have a radio function built in too, if you want someone else to choose.
 
The only way you can hook up a DAC is to a digital stream. Your phone has a DAC built into it already...it has to have one so you can listen in analog. If the phone had a 'digital out' you could hook up a better DAC to that and improve on the built in one. You phone does not have a digital out. Hope that helped.

Thanks, nix on a DAC for the phone.

Just want to mention that with the "Camera Connection Kit" or "Lightning to USB3" adapter (depending on year of the iPhone), you can get a digital signal from the iPhone via USB. The only issue is that many DACs require more power than the iPhone is allowed to put out, so it can be hit or miss with portable USB Dacs. I have information about it in the link in my signature and I also have a video on Youtube showing how it works with the Dragonfly DAC (which needs a workaround because it requires too much power..as I mentioned above).

I think the better option is to use Airplay. You can buy an Airport Express or one of the knock offs and be able to stream over wifi to the Marantz. The Airport Express has a port that works with analog or digital.
Google Yamaha WXC-50 ......

Bk
I have one of these and it is awesome. However, the price tag may run some folks away.
 
As Frank Sol mentioned, you could buy a cheap analog to digital converter off of Amazon if you really wanted to use a DAC. However, trying to improve sound quality on (Sirius) XM is like trying to polish a turd.
 
Thanks for the replies but I am more confused than ever now. I thought that a DAC improved the signal quality from a computer, my IPhone, to an amp.

A DAC is just a Digital to Analog converter; a chip, not an entire device. The naming in terms of computer DACs has made things a bit confusing. Computer Soundcards all have DACs on them, but in recent years "external DACs" have become popular. This is because being located outside of the computer, they are less likely to be subjected to electrical interference (resulting in background hiss, etc). Unfortunately many people have abbreviated "external DAC" as simply "DAC", which confuses the issue considerably. That's like calling your entire car an "engine", then having people ask if they should upgrade their "engine" when they are really asking if they should get a new car.
 
I have a Marantz 1060 in my bedroom and I stream XM radio on it from my IPhone.
Although I also enjoy XM (listening to it now), understand that the bitrate is limited. At its best, it is about 128 kbps.

Your iPhone's internal DAC is more than sufficient given source and system.
 
A good quality outboard DAC will improve the sound of a clean digital source to an good analog player (like an amp or receiver). In your situation, there are 2 reasons you don't need a DAC.

1. As already mentioned, your iPhone already has one onboard, and it's actually a pretty darn good one.
2. You're not listening to a clean digital source. XM is not a very high quality source by its very nature. As a test just listen to a song on XM, then listen to the same song on CD. You'll notice the XM is far muddier. It's just a limitation in the technology. It's never been a high sound quality source. Doesn't mean it's not worth listening to. It just means that no DAC is going to be able to clean it up.

If you want to improve the sound quality of your system, you could consider ditching XM and getting a subscription to Spotify for $10 a month, or better yet, get CD quality from Tidal for $20 a month. And this way you get to choose everything you play. They each have a radio function built in too, if you want someone else to choose.

I have never heard the signal from Spotify or Tidal but I have used Pandora. Is it comparable to Pandora and can it be used in the truck or car? I realize XM radio is a low quality signal but I listen to it in my truck and car so it is free on the web when I am inside. Being a Realtor I am in my car a lot for a lot of short trips, so I listen to XM radio. I only listen to XM in the house while I am working in my office or in the bedroom on my 1060. I have a music room downstairs for my primary listening space with 800+ albums and half that many CD's. I just hear everybody saying "get a DAC and improve your sound quality from your computer" so I thought I would try and hook one up in the bedroom. I guess I will just stick with what I have. Thanks for the help! I love this site!
 
I have never heard the signal from Spotify or Tidal but I have used Pandora. Is it comparable to Pandora and can it be used in the truck or car? I realize XM radio is a low quality signal but I listen to it in my truck and car so it is free on the web when I am inside. Being a Realtor I am in my car a lot for a lot of short trips, so I listen to XM radio. I only listen to XM in the house while I am working in my office or in the bedroom on my 1060. I have a music room downstairs for my primary listening space with 800+ albums and half that many CD's. I just hear everybody saying "get a DAC and improve your sound quality from your computer" so I thought I would try and hook one up in the bedroom. I guess I will just stick with what I have. Thanks for the help! I love this site!

Spotify is a higher quality signal than Pandora, and for an extra $10 a month, Tidal is very similar to Spotify, and has an option to get an even higher quality signal than (CD quality and hi-res) for an extra $10 a month, although you need a very good system to really hear the difference. For most people, Spotify or the normal Tidal is just fine. Yes, they can be used anywhere, although it uses data just like Pandora does. When you're connected to wifi, it's no problem, but when you're on the road, it uses your cellular data. That's not a problem for some people who have a good data plan on their cell phone. Others who have limited data might not want to use it a lot. That's where XM might be better.

Either way, you definitely don't need an external DAC for your purposes. If you don't like having to plug your phone into a wire, there are wireless options, but that's a whole different can of worms.
 
Spotify is a higher quality signal than Pandora, and for an extra $10 a month, Tidal is very similar to Spotify, and has an option to get an even higher quality signal than (CD quality and hi-res) for an extra $10 a month, although you need a very good system to really hear the difference. For most people, Spotify or the normal Tidal is just fine. Yes, they can be used anywhere, although it uses data just like Pandora does. When you're connected to wifi, it's no problem, but when you're on the road, it uses your cellular data. That's not a problem for some people who have a good data plan on their cell phone. Others who have limited data might not want to use it a lot. That's where XM might be better.

Either way, you definitely don't need an external DAC for your purposes. If you don't like having to plug your phone into a wire, there are wireless options, but that's a whole different can of worms.

With Spotify Premium you can download music and play it offline.
https://support.spotify.com/us/using_spotify/search_play/listen-offline/

Eric
 
Also wireless streaming from a phone these days is simple.

Really no can of worms at all, more like:
95f2e857e6bc52d1a089fb682a168e21.jpg


Eric
 
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