RUNNING POWERED SPEAKERS FROM AN IMAC

+1 Lak. The use of an outboard DAC would make for a significant sonic improvement over the headphone jack output. At $129 new the AQ is one of the least expensive.

Ok, so did this and it does work BUT I am hearing quite a lot of static from the speakers. I did not hear this in my office where the speakers used to be, and there was a laptop between them.
Any suggestions audio wizards?
Thanks in advance.

Do you have a source other than the iMac, an mp3 player or laptop, with a headphone jack you can plug the cable into? That would tell you whether the static is coming from the iMac or the cable/speakers.

If the static is still there with a different source you might move that setup to a different location to see if there's interference from something else in your computer room.

The object is to isolate the variables one at a time until you discover the problem.

Thanks Sfar: When used with my iPad mini, the static is pretty much gone. When I take the cable out of the iMac I can really hear the static. When I plug it back into the iMac, the static is back especially when scrolling through different internet sites. Always a low static but crackly sounding when moving anything with the wireless mouse.

Is this something that would be resolved by using something like a usb dac (Audioquest v.2 Dragonfly) as it would be plugged via usb port? I read where this device can really cut down on noise?
Thanks again for your help.
Cathy

not sure if the outboard dac will fix your static issue but it might be worth a try and it will definitely improve the sound quality. if you have a high end dealer by you see if they'll let you try the dragonfly for a day or two, if not, see if they have a return policy, if not, buy one from audio advisor and return it if you don't like it :)

Im not savvy to computer audio... Is there a way to turn the volume up to the maximum level on the computer side and then use the speakers volume control to adjust the volume?