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Digital integration question - I've already got an audio interface

Shtig99

Shtig99

Persona Au Gratin
Subscriber
Hello all and thanks in advance for the help. I'm a technical dumbass; I know it. But I've got great taste in music.

The Sansui sounds great blasting out tape, vinyl, and CD. But my desktop PC holds my massive Itunes library which I play through my Scarlett Solo and Kali monitors. I want the digital stuff to stream through the Sansui.
I understand the Scarlett is sort of like a DAC but I've no idea how to use this in my pursuit.

What am I lacking? Is this a hardware issue or connections or both? I know folks are purchasing nice audio streamers, but that's not really an option for me.

Cheers
 
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Thank you for the response and suggestion. No success as of yet as I'm not sure how to get iTunes to do that. It will play whatever my system sound settings are. I will keep messing with it. :thumbsup:
 
I don't use itunes, but I suspect you probably have to edit Preferences, and look for an audio output setting.

I use MediaMonkey and MusicBee on PC, and they both have very simple selection of playback device.
 
Thanks again; I'll keep messing!

Are you happy with those apps and the quality of the sound? When I first set out on this, all opinions were a simple RCA cable from stereo to PC. It worked, but it didn't sound all that great.
 
Physical connections are just USB from computer to Scarlett, then twin rca cables from monitor output of Scarlett to a line level input on your Sansui.

Software settings are a bit more difficult to describe because they can be a bit differently labeled and found depending upon operating system and the drivers for your Scarlett. First, with the Scarlett connected and powered on, open its driver/software on your computer and check and see what it has set for its inputs (should be something that sounds related to your computer) and outputs. Also check the playback settings in the sound portion of your operating system and make sure the Scarlett is selected ss the active playback device.

That should do it.
 
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Shtig99 said:
Are you happy with those apps and the quality of the sound?
Click to expand...

Yes. Sound quality will depend on the source file, what processing is done in the PC audio chain, and the quality of the DAC.

My media is bit-true, lossless CD rips.

My music apps allow use of WASAPI exclusive mode, bypassing the PC's audio mixer chain, delivering the bit-true streams to the DAC.

I'm happy with my DAC.

Some people prefer to do some euphonic (to them) filtering of the audio file in their music app. That's an individual choice; 'sound quality' is subjective, and individual.

I don't know when you 'first set out', but external DACs have been suggested for a long time. I always suggest someone starting out should simply try the headphone output from their PC, as that's the cheapest, simplest solution, and PC audio quality varies, as does people's perception of required audio quality.
 
Shtig99 said:
I understand the Scarlett is sort of like a DAC
Click to expand...
The Scarlett is both a digital input interface (ADC) and digital output interface (DAC).
To connect the Scarlett to your Sansui amp the connection is exactly the same as it is for the connection to your Kali monitors - the only difference is the physical cable/connectors - for Scarlett-to-Kali it's 6.5mm jack-to-6.5mm jack (or 6.5mm jack-to-XLR) and for Scarlett-to-Sansui it's 6.5mm jack-to-RCA.
But there's a practical problem - your Scarlett has only one set of output connectors, so to switch back and forth between Kali's and Sansui you would be constantly re-plugging cables.

Since you are using iTunes, there's an alternative - buy an AirPort Express, connect it to the Sansui amp, and stream to it from iTunes. The AirPort Express is out of production, but they're still available all over eBay for $50 or so.
 
cpt_paranoia said:
I use MediaMonkey and MusicBee on PC, and they both have very simple selection of playback device.
Click to expand...

the random play or "music dj" in musicbee is the best i've ever used. 4T of flac files playing randomly and no repeats and yet it seems to play them in an order that melds styles very well
 
orsen said:
the random play or "music dj" in musicbee is the best i've ever used.
Click to expand...

I haven't noticed a significant difference between the Auto-DJ function of MB and the free version of MediaMonkey.

But I was actually talking about playback device selection (not selection of music), because that's what the OP was trying to do with itunes.
 
slofut said:
will airport express allow audio from a web browser?
Click to expand...
I don't have a Mac, myself, at this present time, but I understand that you can configure MacOS to output all audio to an AirPlay receiver - such as the AirPort Express. Refer to the bottom of this webpage -
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202809
If you don't see the AirPlay icon or if you want to stream audio from a different app:

1. On your Mac, select Control Center in the menu bar.
2. Click AirPlay under Sound.
3. Select a speaker that you want to play the current audio to.
Click to expand...

slofut said:
is Airport express not bluetooth?
Click to expand...
Hell no. It utilises AirPlay, which is losslessly-compressed PCM audio over wifi (or ethernet). A far more suitable product to integrate into a hifi system.
 
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Personally, I would get a WiiM Mini rather than an Airport Express. It has more features if you ever want to change to something else down the road (Airplay, DLNA, Bluetooth, etc). It was on sale for around $90 last time I checked.
 
slofut said:
how would the mac connect to the WiiM?
Click to expand...
Same deal - AirPlay.
Yes, it appears the WiiM Mini is a good modern equivalent of the AirPort Express, with additional features. It should be noted that the most recent version of the AirPort Express is 10 years old.
 
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