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laptop to receiver (HK3490)??

post #1 of 18
12/28/11 at 8:59am
Thread Starter 
Hey folks,

What's the best way to get a digital signal from my laptop (usb and hdmi out, but no optical) to my HK3490 (optical and coax in)? The reason I want to do this is because I'd like to go straight to the HK3490's internal DAC.

If anyone could help, or point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it.

Much thanks,
andrew
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post #2 of 18
12/28/11 at 9:09am
You need USB to SPDIF adapter. There are many available varying widely by price and quality.
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post #3 of 18
12/28/11 at 9:48am
Any desire to do it wirelessly?
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post #4 of 18
12/28/11 at 10:01am
Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II USB Analog & Digital Audio Adapter is $25

M2TECH hiFace Hi-End S/SPDIF Output Interface $199

Musical Fidelity V-Link $99
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post #5 of 18
12/28/11 at 10:50am
Airport Express = $99 but can often be found on craigslist or ebay for less (just make sure you get the most current gen.)
mini-Toslink/Toslink cable = a few bucks

only caveat is that you'll be limited to 44.1kHz/16bit (downmixes anything higher rez to 44.1/16)
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post #6 of 18
12/29/11 at 5:31pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by sivadselim View Post

Any desire to do it wirelessly?

Thanks for the replies everyone. I am actually very interested in doing it wirelessly, but I haven't found any great options. The DAC in the receiver is 24 bit/96kHz, so I don't think the airport is a good option.

I'll look into some usb to optical unless anyone has any other good wireless suggestions.

andrew
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post #7 of 18
12/29/11 at 9:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zwartitude View Post

The DAC in the receiver is 24 bit/96kHz, so I don't think the airport is a good option.

Depends upon what you are passing to it.
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post #8 of 18
12/29/11 at 11:36pm
I use the Mapleshade version of the M2Tech adapter that Jinjuku mentioned and it's one of my favorite gadgets. I have about 170gb of apple lossless files that I play via iTunes, through the adapter, into my TDAC, and then into my preamp. To make it wireless, I use the (free) "remote" app on my iPhone...this not only sounds better than the Squeezebox Duet set-up I had previously, but it's much more stable and reliable. I love having the ability to just sit on my couch in the dark controlling my music with my iPhone...I have no desire to change a thing
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post #9 of 18
12/30/11 at 9:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Summa View Post

I use the Mapleshade version of the M2Tech adapter that Jinjuku mentioned and it's one of my favorite gadgets. I have about 170gb of apple lossless files that I play via iTunes, through the adapter, into my TDAC, and then into my preamp. To make it wireless, I use the (free) "remote" app on my iPhone...this not only sounds better than the Squeezebox Duet set-up I had previously, but it's much more stable and reliable. I love having the ability to just sit on my couch in the dark controlling my music with my iPhone...I have no desire to change a thing

How is that wireless?
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post #10 of 18
12/30/11 at 9:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sivadselim View Post

How is that wireless?

It isn't. But look at the wood (on the hiFace, not the audiophile touching it). Beautiful, isn't it?



cheers,

AJ
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post #11 of 18
12/30/11 at 9:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sivadselim View Post

How is that wireless?

My control of the system is wireless. I operate the iTunes library wirelessly by using my iPhone.

My squeezebox Duet had receiver + remote, so in this case I just use the laptop as the receiver The iPhone app is much better than the Duet controller was...that thing worked great for a year, and then it became a huge headache.
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post #12 of 18
12/30/11 at 10:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Summa View Post

My control of the system is wireless. I operate the iTunes library wirelessly by using my iPhone.

Yeah, I knew what you meant. Not really any more "wireless" than a CD player with a remote control, though. Still gotta be wired to your setup. But you CAN pass 192kHz/24bit stuff.

I pass my Apple Lossless stuff wirelessly from my desktop computer upstairs to two different Airport Expresses that are located downstairs; one that's in my bedroom (analog) and one that's in my main system (digital). I can pass to one Express or the other or both at the same time. And with some of the same files on my laptop computer, I can pass two different sources to each Express, separately. I can control it all with my phone, too. I can also control my upstairs desktop with some software that's on my laptop. All through wifi.

Yes, I am limited to 44.1kHz/16bit but the vast majority of my 420GB of stuff is ripped from my CD collection so that's not an issue. I did go ahead and rip a lot of my higher resolution stuff that I didn't also own on CD to Apple Lossless, though, knowing that I may have some other way of passing it that supports the higher resolution in the future. As best I can tell that stuff gets downmixed to 44.1kHz and either 16bit or 24bit (not sure which, really) by the Airport Express, now.
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post #13 of 18
12/30/11 at 10:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by AJinFLA View Post

It isn't. But look at the wood (on the hiFace, not the audiophile touching it). Beautiful, isn't it?



cheers,

AJ

Funny thing was that I learned of the hi-face model after I already bought this one. I started reading all the great reviews on the hiface, and all of a sudden I was like, "dang, I should have gone with THAT one!". So I called Pierre at Mapleshade to see if I could return it, and that's when he told me it WAS in fact the same piece. Mapleshade uses the identical circuitry and puts it in a different casing. All you do is download the drivers and *bam*...music!
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post #14 of 18
12/30/11 at 10:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sivadselim View Post

Yeah, I knew what you meant. Not really any more "wireless" than a CD player with a remote control, though. Still gotta be wired to your setup. But you CAN pass 192kHz/24bit stuff.

I pass my Apple Lossless stuff wirelessly from my desktop computer upstairs to two different Airport Expresses that are located downstairs; one that's in my bedroom (analog) and one that's in my main system (digital). I can pass to one Express or the other or both at the same time. And with some of the same files on my laptop computer, I can pass two different sources to each Express, separately. I can control it all with my phone, too. I can also control my upstairs desktop with some software that's on my laptop. All through wifi.

Yes, I am limited to 44.1kHz/16bit but the vast majority of my 420GB of stuff is ripped from my CD collection so that's not an issue. I did go ahead and rip a lot of my higher resolution stuff that I didn't also own on CD to Apple Lossless, though, knowing that I may have some other way of passing it that supports the higher resolution in the future. As best I can tell that stuff gets downmixed to 44.1kHz and either 16bit or 24bit (not sure which, really) by the Airport Express, now.

Ah, I see what you're saying. I will likely follow suit with what you're doing soon, as well. I plan to add at least one apple express or apple TV to the mix for when I get my headphone set-up. That way I'll have a way to control the music (with the iPhone) when listening to that, as well, since my headphone amp won't have a remote. Are you pretty happy with the Airport Express? And are you as enamored with the "remote" app on the iPhone as I am? You just have no idea how frustrated I was gettign with that stupid Duet controller...when I first heard about this app and then began using it, it was such a great feeling! The thing hasn't dropped the connection or failed to identify my library a single time, and I've used it quite a lot. It's just so much better than flipping discs into a player all the time.
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post #15 of 18
12/30/11 at 11:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Summa View Post

Are you pretty happy with the Airport Express?

For what they cost me (I bought the second used on craigslist for $60) and for the capability they added, yes, very happy. Even the one that's connected via analog to my little bedroom stereo receiver and speakers sounds good to me. I do wish I could pass the higher resolution files, though. iTunes will rip and play them back, fine, but the Express won't support them. It downmixes them on-the-fly fine, though.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Summa View Post

And are you as enamored with the "remote" app on the iPhone as I am?

Oh, yeah. I have an Android phone but the app was ported over from the iPhone app. I actually have two different remote apps on my phone so I can control each of my computer's libraries easily without having to actually switch libraries within the app. Talk about lazy!


Quote:
Originally Posted by Summa View Post

It's just so much better than flipping discs into a player all the time.

Yep. I haven't really played a CD on my player at all since I got them all ripped.
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post #16 of 18
12/30/11 at 11:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sivadselim View Post

For what they cost me (I bought the second used on craigslist for $60) and for the capability they added, yes, very happy. Even the one that's connected via analog to my little bedroom stereo receiver and speakers sounds good to me. I do wish I could pass the higher resolution files, though. iTunes will rip and play them back, fine, but the Express won't support them. It downmixes them on-the-fly fine, though.


Oh, yeah. I have an Android phone but the app was ported over from the iPhone app. I actually have two different remote apps on my phone so I can control each of my computer's libraries easily without having to actually switch libraries within the app. Talk about lazy!


Yep. I haven't really played a CD on my player at all since I got them all ripped.


Same here...I just rip the CD and then it goes into a box in the closet lol. I have listened to music FAR more often since ditching the CD player. It's just so much more convenient. Thanks for the info about the express. I keep forgetting that the express has an internal DAC, but AppleTV doesn't. That will probably factor into which one I buy. That's a pretty big music collection you have there (that's what SHE said!)...mine has doubled over the past year or so, and now I've surpassed the capacity of my iPod. Thankfully iTunes makes it easy to change the sync settings, though...anyway, I digress. I just love all these gadgets I'm not an Apple fanboy by any means (have two Windows laptops, afterall), but that company has really given me a lot of enjoyment with regard to my music!
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post #17 of 18
12/30/11 at 12:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Summa View Post

I'm not an Apple fanboy by any means (have two Windows laptops, afterall), but that company has really given me a lot of enjoyment with regard to my music!

Yeah, I mulled over whether I really wanted to do it with iTunes for a while; after all, it was quite a commitment to rip all that to ALAC. The AExpress and the remote phone app was the easiest way to implement what I needed so finally I just went for it. No regrets. I know I'll be able to convert over to FLAC (or whatever) in the future if need be. I embed the artwork in the ALAC files instead of letting iTunes handle it externally. And whenever I rip higher resolution stuff (DVD-A, 2-channel), now, I go ahead and make both a FLAC and ALAC copy.
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post #18 of 18
12/30/11 at 12:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sivadselim View Post

Yeah, I mulled over whether I really wanted to do it with iTunes for a while; after all, it was quite a commitment to rip all that to ALAC. The AExpress was the easiest way to implement what I needed so finally I just went for it. No regrets. I know I'll be able to convert over to FLAC (or whatever) in the future if need be. I embed the artwork in the ALAC files instead of letting iTunes handle it externally. And whenever I rip higher resolution stuff (DVD-A, 2-channel), now, I go ahead and make both a FLAC and ALAC copy.

I'm a huge fan of iTunes, and I love having my entire collection in ALAC. There was some really cool software I found a few weeks ago that facilitates the transfer of your iTunes library from one device to another, helps you maintain an ongoing back-up of the library, etc. It has a ton of functionality that I haven't even looked into yet, but it made it very easy to move my entire library (with playlists, play counts, art work, etc) to my external drive and then to my new laptop. I really don't understand why so many people seem to be anti-itunes...I don't know what else it would need to do that it doesn't do already. As you said, the ALAC files are lossless, so all the data is there....if and when it's ever necessary to change the format of the file, I'm sure there will be plenty of software options to provide for that. In the meantime, though, I have no desire to use anything else and don't see that changing anytime soon. This is the first time in a good while where I've just been able to enjoy my music and not have to worry about troubleshooting this or that every time I sit down.
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