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How do I play YouTube music from my IMac thru my Conrad-Johnson amps?

Hi guys and gals... How do I make this work?  I’m asking you knowledgeable people here rather than going to my local Hi-Fi shop where they will try to sell me more expensive gear to make this work.  I invested more than $20,000 on my system about 15 ago and I really don’t want to spend $1000’s more if I don’t have to.  I just want to be able to play all the great music from YouTube thru my great amps and speakers.  I’m tired of most of my CD’s and my Sim Audio CD player quit working several years ago and they tell me it needs a new transport so my expensive system has been sitting idol for years and is just taking up space in my tiny downtown apartment. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance :). Gordon
128x128doug714
reubent
6,935 posts
 
Doug,

Most people say Qobuz has the best sound quality. Spotify HiFi is not out yet. Their current service is not CD quality bit rate. When Spotify HiFi comes out later this year, it will be CD quality bit rate.

My opinion is that Spotify has the best user interface, search algorithm and largest catalog. Once they get CD quality bit rate, it should be top notch. Until then, Qobuz would be my choice. It will probably also be the same price as their current Spotify Premium offering, which is $10/month.

I've used Spotify Premium  for the last few years. I love the service. Really looking forward to their HiFi tier when it comes out. I signed up for a one year promo deal with Tidal. It does have CD Quality bit rate and sounds good. However, I don't like the user experience as well as I like Spotify.
doug714's avatar
doug714 OP
53 posts
 
Gotcha.  As always, thanks for your advise.   I think I will sign up for qobuz when I get back to SF in a couple of weeks.  In the meantime I will keep researching DAC’s to determine which would be the best for my room and my setup.  Cheers!
jb1
96 posts
 
A couple simple ideas that are cheap:
3.5 mm to rca direct from the computer to the preamp. Depending on the cable its a $15 to $50 investment:

Best Buy sells an affordable but decent bluetooth adapter for $60.

You can use the headphone adaptor and use the phones audio out: $10 for the usb-c or lightning to headphone and a 3.5 mm to rca for the preamp: Then you can experiment to see if the quality is any good. If you purchase from Best Buy, you have 2 weeks to experiment. If the quality isn't good just return and shell out the big bucks for a higher end option like a blue sound node which supports Tidal or Qobuz both which give you a hi rez option vs u-tubes low rez option.

doug714's avatar
doug714 OP
53 posts
 
Hi jb1. Thanks for the ideas. But I have Bose wireless headphones. I’m looking at either the MODI3 DAC or the NAD DAC2. What do you think/recommend?  My amps and audio rack are about 15 feet from my IMac computer. Thanks for your advice. Gordon
doug714's avatar
doug714 OP
53 posts
 
@reubent Hey I did exactly what you recommended and added a BlueSound Node 2i and chose Qobuz for hi-rez music, plus I added the REL T/5i sub to my Focal Micro Utopia Be speakers and voila... I am back in the game and I could not be happier with the results. Now instead of 150 CDs I have tens of thousands to choose from. Thank you, thank you, thank you !!!
Gordon
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