Hello,
I have a goal to have a full music system set up for both speakers and headphones based out of a Mac Mini by the end of August, and I'm starting to do some research. I have a couple questions about the audio out of a Mac Mini and the nature of some audio interfaces in general that I am not accustomed to.
My headphones that will be used most are DT770s, and I will probably end up with two large floorstanding speakers plugged into a harman kardon receiver, so there will be no surround sound needs of any kind for my system.
1. The Mac Mini has Digital Optical Audio out through an adapter, giving me toslink access to plug into a receiver. If I set it up this way, what am I gaining over a general setup with 1/8 -> RCA? It seems like a more advanced technology, but most stereo receivers do not even have a toslink-in port. Am I gathering correctly that these plugs are more designed for surroundsound setups and don't improve upon stereo audio quality?
2. To improve audio quality if the Digital Optical port isn't useful to me, can you suggest a USB DAC to me that would feed Mini > USB DAC > Receiver > Headphones/Speakers?
Thanks for your help. I learn probably 50 new things a day on this site about audio and really appreciate it as a resource. My wallet is also feeling rather thin as a result of all this "learning" though....
Mac Mini Audio-to-receiver options
Linear Mode
