Hi all,
First time poster here.
My current setup is as follows:
I’m currently debating whether or not I should keep the sound source as the MBP, or to switch to a standalone streamer that I could control wirelessly from the MBP. I live in a studio apartment, so there isn’t really much need for the multi-room advantages of a streamer system in the foreseeable future. Although, in this round of tech upgrades, I was considering putting a Sonos One on my kitchen counter to have music while I cook and to double as an Amazon Alexa, but nearly the same functionality could come from a Bluesound speaker connected to their system and a standalone Amazon Echo or Alexa. I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to the Adams and the kitchen speaker to be in sync while playing music around the apartment.
All that being said, my main questions are surrounding gear. In terms of the Oppo, I would like to somewhat future-proof the setup for a little, and I mainly use Tidal as a source, but am relatively open to forgoing MQA (Don't hate). I occasionally use my IEMs at my desk if I’m working late at night to avoid disturbing the neighbors, so I would definitely get use from an internal headphone amp, but I could just continue using the Oppo in that situation. I also plan to connect the DAC to the Adams via XLR, and am open to your input as to whether or not this is the right choice. Because of that, as of right now, I have only considered DACs with XLR outs. To replace the Oppo as a permanent installment on the desk, I am looking at:
In terms of the source, I use the MBP to power the monitor that is on the desk, and I worry about interference bleeding into the audio from the computer and everything that I use to connect all of its peripherals. Switching to the streamer should help alleviate some of that, although I don’t really have a separate room that I can move the streamer to, in order to achieve some of the streamer setups that I see on here sometimes. My end goal for this desk at the end of this upgrade is to be able to sit down, plug in one USB-C cable to my MBP and have the whole workstation up and running, audio and all. I don’t use my speakers as the output for my MBP audio (except for music), although I do occasionally game, mix music, and watch movies on it and I use the speakers for that. I would be open to getting a receiver in the future, that would allow for the MBP to be one audio source and the streamer to be another, but I can’t do that at the moment. So for streaming devices, I really have only considered the Bluesound Node 2i, but am open to suggestions.
Thank you all so much for your input.
First time poster here.
My current setup is as follows:
- Adam A7X Speakers
- 2018 MacBook Pro (Source)
- Oppo HA-2 (DAC)
I’m currently debating whether or not I should keep the sound source as the MBP, or to switch to a standalone streamer that I could control wirelessly from the MBP. I live in a studio apartment, so there isn’t really much need for the multi-room advantages of a streamer system in the foreseeable future. Although, in this round of tech upgrades, I was considering putting a Sonos One on my kitchen counter to have music while I cook and to double as an Amazon Alexa, but nearly the same functionality could come from a Bluesound speaker connected to their system and a standalone Amazon Echo or Alexa. I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to the Adams and the kitchen speaker to be in sync while playing music around the apartment.
All that being said, my main questions are surrounding gear. In terms of the Oppo, I would like to somewhat future-proof the setup for a little, and I mainly use Tidal as a source, but am relatively open to forgoing MQA (Don't hate). I occasionally use my IEMs at my desk if I’m working late at night to avoid disturbing the neighbors, so I would definitely get use from an internal headphone amp, but I could just continue using the Oppo in that situation. I also plan to connect the DAC to the Adams via XLR, and am open to your input as to whether or not this is the right choice. Because of that, as of right now, I have only considered DACs with XLR outs. To replace the Oppo as a permanent installment on the desk, I am looking at:
- Mytek Brooklyn DAC+
- RME ADI-2
- Audiolab M-Dac+
- Benchmark DAC3 HGC
In terms of the source, I use the MBP to power the monitor that is on the desk, and I worry about interference bleeding into the audio from the computer and everything that I use to connect all of its peripherals. Switching to the streamer should help alleviate some of that, although I don’t really have a separate room that I can move the streamer to, in order to achieve some of the streamer setups that I see on here sometimes. My end goal for this desk at the end of this upgrade is to be able to sit down, plug in one USB-C cable to my MBP and have the whole workstation up and running, audio and all. I don’t use my speakers as the output for my MBP audio (except for music), although I do occasionally game, mix music, and watch movies on it and I use the speakers for that. I would be open to getting a receiver in the future, that would allow for the MBP to be one audio source and the streamer to be another, but I can’t do that at the moment. So for streaming devices, I really have only considered the Bluesound Node 2i, but am open to suggestions.
Thank you all so much for your input.
