BEST Audiophile imac rig - ideas please?

[the_eleven]

Originally Posted by parhelictriangle

Plus, serious austerity points, amirite?

Lots of great ideas here, but truly, that is a clean setup you have!

Who makes that laptop stand?

[davidhunternyc]

Originally Posted by FZR1k

Here's my new setup ::

for DVD or Game : iMac -> TOSLINK -> iBasso D1 -> Headphile BlackSilver Mini to RCA cable -> audioengine 2 -> Monster Cable Z2 Reference
When I watch movies at night, I need to use headphones. D1 have a headphone jack. It's a headphone amp w/DAC, of course.

for iTunes : iMac -> USB cable -> SUPER Pro DAC707-USB -> TARA-Labs Prism 3 RCA cables -> WooAudio 6 -> Grado SR-225 Headphile Zebrawood Mod with BlackMax cable

Now that is an awesome set-up!

[_j_]

Apogee Duet FTW!!!

Instant WOW factor...

[shallbehealed]

Originally Posted by Currawong

For the OP, see my sig for my current set-up. I'm liking the ZERO DAC and LittleDot MKV combo, using the optical digital out from my MacBook Pro.

What does the little dot add to the zero dac?

Or are you using it to drive speakers. I'm looking at the zero dac to support my infrequent laptop use at home.

I'd bring it in to work, except i like having diy boxes that look like they could electrocute thieves. People tend to leave my desk alone then.

[Hopstretch]

For desktop systems, I'm a fan of computer --> dac --> tube headamp/preamp --> active monitors. You can see what I'm running now in my sig and I think it'd be hard to do too much better for the same money.

That said, I'm itching to go fully balanced and I think the next level (while remaining somewhat in the realms of fiscal sanity) would be something like: iMac --> Apogee Mini-Dac --> Little Dot Mk VI --> balanced headphones of choice --> Adam A7/Dynaudio BM5/Mackie 624.

[parhelictriangle]

Originally Posted by the_eleven

Lots of great ideas here, but truly, that is a clean setup you have!

Who makes that laptop stand?

Thanks! The stand is a Logitech Alto Connect.