How do I play iTunes through my HiFi system ?

Question

I'm new to Apple support communities having just bought my first Macbook Pro (a 17" 2.5GHz i7 model) and this is my very first iTunes post.
I’m a bit of a Hi-Fi enthusiast, so, with my new MacBook Pro I've taken the opportunity of completely reloading my iTunes library to disk in high quality Apple Lossless format. Took a while but now I've completed the task I’m really pleased I've done it.
My question is, what is the best way to connect a Macbook Pro to a high quality Hi-Fi preamp so I can play iTunes through my high quality Lounge HiFi system ? . . .  my Hi-fi system is by Musical Fidelity, and the pre amp a Musical fidelity A5cr, this is a very expensive and good quality pre-amp, which has superb audio quality, but, only has analogue RCA phono inputs.
I'm guessing one option must be to use the MBP headphone output, either as an analogue or digital source, but I suspect its analogue headphone output will be totally incompatible with the RIAA requirement of the pre amp phono input ?
I’ve also read some comments about using digital connection – USB DAC’s appear to be an option but I don’t know anything about these or which models (available in the UK) are recommended – anyone got any experience ?
I've also read in an archived post here that MBP's have an optical output so maybe that could be used as the input to a DAC ? . .again any advice on which is the best way to go much appreciated ?
Apologies if this question has been asked lots of times before but I've looked through some previous posts and can't find any answers in simple and straightforward language concentrating on the issue of connecting a MacBook Pro to an analogue phono pre amp input ?
Thanks in anticipation of some advice.

Answer 1

Apple TV is the right solution for this.   I'm also a hifi fan who now has a giant itunes library in the cloud... and I wanted to play it through my hifi. 
Get Apple TV for $99, and make sure you have an optical cable (avail at Walmart for maybe $10 I bet).  You also need to buy an HDMI cable but it is beside the point for the hifi purpose.
Now my setup is Apple TV with optical out to my very decent (not ultra high end) AV receiver Denon 2802 - which gives me DA conversion AND bass managment.   This goes out to my high end integrated amp using RCA cables from the receiver to the integrated amp.    Now just calibrate the subwoofer using the AV receiver's bass management and I am VERY much in business.  It sounds GREAT.
The receiver acts like a preamp (I keep my integrated with the dial at 12:00 most of the time... sort of like a stand alone power amp with a little gain left over... for TV this powers my fronts and the receiver powers the rest - works very fine).
Now if I want to be a little more purist about the whole thing, I might buy a separate outboard DAC to go between apple TV and my Integrated amp - cutting out the receiver.   I would cut down the signal path a bit.   But I would lose some bass management - I'd have to work harder to integrate my subwoofer using the subwoofer's dials which is tough...or else abandon the sub and play my speakers on large (which in my experience is never best... psychologically it seems best but it does not sound better if you are pretty good at dialing in your sub).
Anyway I probably lost you by talking on too long ... but in short - the Apple TV is perfect for this purpose - at least in my setup.   One of the best $99 I have ever spent.   My CD's are all ripped to itunes and are now nothing more than coasters.  I sit in my chair - toggle to the assigned input on my receiver with the remote, use the receiver's remote for volume control, my macbook pro/iphone/ipad) to choose playlists, and enjoy pretty good hifi with my expensive integrated amp, sub and speakers.
Most of the time, my Apple TV has nothing to do with my TV... ironically.  If I knew ATV would work this well for me I'd have been wiling to pay $250 for it.
Good luck.