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[trash116]

Hi Everyone.

Hopefully this is in the right forum section, and apologies in advance for some obvious questions -- but my understanding is limited and i've got myself abit confused from reading up.

I use JRiver in this way:

I have a NUC with JRiver connected to my TV, attached to the NUC is an external HD with all my music files
I have an Android Samsung Galaxy s7 with JRemote

I listen to music two ways:

(1) I use JRemote to play my music files via my home internet, and listen through my Sony h.ear go (SRS-HG1) portable speaker which is connected to my home internet and set up as a zone in JRiver

(2) I use JRemote to play music via my home internet, and connect my Android phone to my Hifi Amp via the headphone socket on the phone.


I'm abit confused where in both of those processes the digital to audio conversion takes place.  Could someone help educate me...

Also I was wondering would an external DAC improve the sound?  Would investing in one of these make an improvement even when listening on a cheap portable speaker like my sony?  or is it not worth it with a speaker like that.

Hope you can help me improve my understanding
thanks

[BigSpider]

If you are sending audio via dlna from a media server on which you have set up your dsp requirements then in both case 1 and 2 the conversion work is being done by JRiver MC on you computer server. I doubt if a dac would greatly improve the sound from your speaker, but it always nice to plan for improvements to your system.

[RoderickGI]

If I understand case (2) correctly, you are connecting JRemote to MC on the NUC via Wi-Fi, and then playing to "This Device" in JRemote, but outputting that via the headphone socket on the phone to input to your Hifi Amp.

In that case, I believe you are using the built-in DAC on your phone, and outputting analogue audio to input to the Hifi Amp analogue inputs. So you could probably get better sound if you had one of those DACs that work with a phone, using the USB connection from the phone to the external DAC, which you then input to the Hifi Amp analogue inputs. Although people usually only do that when they are using the phone away from home, and playing to a set of headphones.

Some phones, with the right drivers or software, can output digital audio via USB, to be input to a USB connection on a DAC, Receiver, or whatever, so that the Digital To Analogue Conversion is done on the most capable piece of equipment.

My question is, are the NUC and the Hifi Amp too far away to connect them by wires? Also, is the Hifi Amp just an Amp, or is it a Receiver with a built-in DAC? Because if they can be connected, you could either use the DAC in the NUC, or add an external DAC to the NUC, and send analogue audio to the Hifi Amp, or if you actually have a Receiver with a built-in DAC, you could send digital audio from the NUC to the Reciever, and use the DAC in there.

Any of the above might give you better audio, depending on what speakers you have connected to your Hifi Amp, and what the Hifi Amp actually is. But the question is, does the music sound fine the way you are playing it now, and if so, will you really notice an improvement?

[wer]

I wouldn't buy a DAC to use with the phone or the speaker. It's a waste.

If you want the best sound, output directly from the HDMI or optical output on your NUC to your receiver.  Even if you have to pass the audio through the TV, you can still probably pass uncompressed PCM that way to your amp.