need help selecting the right preamp

Using the headphone jack output on an iMac into the analog inputs of a preamp isn't going to sound very good, as you've discovered. Doing that means you're getting a signal that has already passed through the low-quality digital to analog converter and amplifier inside the iMac.

The simplest way to improve the quality is to get a decent digital to analog converter (DAC) with an optical/Toslink input. Connect that input to the iMac headphone jack with an optical cable with a Toslink connector at the DAC end and a mini-Toslink connector at the iMac end. Then connect the analog outputs of the DAC to one of the analog inputs of your Outlaw preamp.

The above post is good. Another alternative is to get a good USB to SPDIF converter (Audiophilleo 2 is good) and a DAC with S/PDIF in. Some knowledgeable people claim the clock in the USB/SPDIF converter has more impact on sound than the DAC itself, but you will still need a DAC.

Yet another alternative is getting a DAC with asynchronous USB input, and go from iMac to DAC without the above-mentioned converter. Some examples: wavelength, Wyred4Sound, Ayre, Empirical Audio.

Thanks for your input. I found a good solution after speaking with Apple tech support. The headphone jack line out from the imac actually doubles as a fiberoptic output. Toslink makes an optical cable with an adapter to make it fit into that headphone jack. I was able to hook up the other end directly into the optical input on the preamp. Good music :)

I would agree with the above, get an DAC for between your computer and Pre-amp.

My question is why three channels? Which three channels are you running?

I see you have a three channel amp but what speakes are you using?

With out knowing exactly what your goal and budget is, I would buy a good DAC, even maybe something like the Marantz music Network player, or pioneers has something similar. And then run that in to a good tube Pre-amp, find a good used Audio Reseach LS-16 or if you have the money there are quit a few good Pre-amps out there.

Then I would hook I up via 2 channel and do you best to setup the speakers correctly and you should have a great sounding system. But remember, I am not there and I don't know what your exact desires are when it comes to the end result so no guarantees are given.

I hope this helps a little.

I have a pair of Polk LSI25 floor speakers, and a center channel LSI C. The room doubles as a TV/theatre room as well, hence the center speaker. Most of my music is mp3 format 320 bitrate, so I'm not sure if a high end DAC would add to the fidelity. I'm essentially using my pre/pro built in DAC with my current setup, since my connection is now fiberoptic from imac to pre/pro? Tube units maybe a little too fragile for my setting, because I have 3 little kids that like to sneak into the room, and a housekeeper that likes to bang the vacuum cleaner against the rack.