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DAC and setup advice - Wireless Streaming

Hey everyone. I need some help/advice on a particular setup I'm trying to go for...

Right now I have a DJ booth in my apartment that is bascically two Technics, a Xone 92 mixer, and 2 Mackies. I also have a MacBook Pro that I keep all of my music on and is my main computer for school.

My goal is to be able to stream wirelessly the songs in my iTunes application over to the Mackies. Someone recommended I do the following (and I'm by no means an audio guru so please correct me/made recommendations if I'm wrong some place):

- Use an AirPort Express and plug it in close to the booth (I have an AirPort Extreme base station).
- Then use the mini optical port and feed that into a DAC.
- Have a DAC then convert the signal and run a balanced signal into the Xone 92 (not sure what kind of cabling that would be? Right now I'm using XLR to run the Mackies from my Xone 92).

Does that sound correct? If so, what DAC and cables do I need? What setting would I have to place my Xone on to have this work?

Thanks for reading,
Keith

i dont think you can do this without mad latency.

quote:

Originally posted by SPAWNmaster i dont think you can do this without mad latency.

latency as in the time i press play and the time i hear the song?

if that's the case, that's fine... i'm not trying to mix off this or anything... i just want to take advantage of my mackies and use them for my everyday listening pleasure as well.

Seems to be a really long way round. Why don't you just use analogue (copper) cables, rather than optical, DAC etc?

there are no balanced inputs on the xone, except for the mic inputs, which can't be used for line level signals (afaik at least).
other than that i really don't know what this equipment is that you're talking about, but if it does transfer audio wirelessly then just connect the one that sends the signal to your macbook and the one that receives the signal to some of the xone's inputs. it should be easy as that.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN Seems to be a really long way round. Why don't you just use analogue (copper) cables, rather than optical, DAC etc?

because the two aren't close to each other... and i'd rather have a wireless setup for later when i go desktop (rather than laptop).

quote:

Originally posted by keithos27 because the two aren't close to each other... and i'd rather have a wireless setup for later when i go desktop (rather than laptop).

Don't mean that - I mean to go from the airport to the mixer/speakers. Why all the hassle with the optical and the DAC once you have the airpot in the booth?

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN Don't mean that - I mean to go from the airport to the mixer/speakers. Why all the hassle with the optical and the DAC once you have the airpot in the booth?

oh. i guess wouldn't optical be a cleaner sound? or is digital to dac to analogue just a waste? this is going off a friend's recommendation who knows way more about audio equipment than i do.

quote:

Originally posted by keithos27 oh. i guess wouldn't optical be a cleaner sound? or is digital to dac to analogue just a waste? this is going off a friend's recommendation who knows way more about audio equipment than i do.

i can't understand where you'd need the optical cable if the airport thingy has rca (or even miniplug) outputs. just place the airport thingy near your mixer and connect it with normal rca cables.

just an extra tidbit...realize that no matter how clean your signal chain is, even if it's 90% digital, the analogue connections will render that redundant so it's kind of pointless.

Every time you convert a signal in to another format there is some loss of quality. You would have the airport converting it first to digital, then to optical then the DAC would convert the light to digital then to analogue for your speakers.

You will be much better off in terms of quality just going with analogue connections, and also save yourself $$$$$'s

Just get decent rca cables.

For furure reference, the most important two words in audio engineering are SIGNAL PATH. The shorter, and less connections/electronics/whatever the signal has to go through, the closer it will sound to the original source (i.e. better. )

okay thanks

now with respects to connecting from the airport to my mixer... aren't RCAs split L/R... the airport only has 1 connection... what do i use to make that work?

also, what's the best cable i can get (to help keep that signal path as good as possible)?

If the airport has a single minijack use a minijack to RCA adapter. I wouldn't worry too much about the signal degradation.

I'm just assuming you have a minijack not exactly sure here.

It has a 3.5mm mini-Audio jack for analog or optical digital sound.

http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/specs.html

PS. Found this cable... it should do the trick, no?

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...nMore=M9573LL/A


Will this setup "hurt" my Xone or Mackies in anyway? Again, I'm not very familiar with audio equipment... I don't know much about balanced audio/noise/etc.

Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by keithos27 It has a 3.5mm mini-Audio jack for analog or optical digital sound. http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/specs.html

You should just need one of these to go from your AirPort Express to your mixer, right?

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/prod...ales?sku=333055

quote:

Originally posted by keithos27 Will this setup "hurt" my Xone or Mackies in anyway? Again, I'm not very familiar with audio equipment... I don't know much about balanced audio/noise/etc.

Nah. As long as your gains are set correctly so there's no clipping, you should be safe.

Either of the above cables will do the job.

Since you will be playing mp3 files over wi-fi the monster cables really seem like overkill.

airport express + 3.5mm -> rca adapter. end of story.

In a similar situation here. I use the laptop to listen to net radio and play it through the home stereo for better base response. I looked into to the wireless thing, and decided to go with the $6 cable as opposed to the $180 apple thing. There are other options but all seem overpriced to me.

I have the cable plugged into the headphone out of the laptop, and then into an aux input. Problem is, the headphone impedance level is not consistent with the stereo, ie does not put out 'line level'. Result is that the stereo is cranked just to get a normal level for listening. This is only a problem for the times I swap to another input on the stereo. Have to remember to turn it down first.

The cable is a real pain in the ass (think trip, and unsightly) but far more cost effective.

yeah i know a cable would have been easier... but i'm trying to make a wireless setup...

i need to get that cable and try it out today.

-keith

okay i bought the mini optical to rca cable from apple today. do i need to do anything special on my xone besides just plug this in? do i need to assign it to a fader/toggle some switch/ etc? i don't really know how to use my hardware, haha.

thanks,
keith

Mini Optical to RCA? Don't you mean 3.5mm Streo Jack to RCA?

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN Mini Optical to RCA? Don't you mean 3.5mm Streo Jack to RCA?

correct.

i just assigned it to fader #2 via the line input and it seems to be working like a charm. such a cool upgrade from my shitty macbook pro speakers, hehe.

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