Playing Hi Res music using an external DAC.

I'm using a Spotify Premium account at the moment for listening to music (synched to extreme quality), but I'm considering getting a Tidal account for better quality audio. As it stands, I'm under the impression that the iPhone 6 doesn't play Hi Res audio, so just listening to music with headphones connected to the phone's 3.5mm jack seems pointless as I won't be able to tell the difference between the MP3 from Spotify and the FLAC from Tidal. Is it worth investing in an external DAC to improve the quality? Another product I saw was the Amp case which is soon to be released, is that another alternative? Currently I'm using a set of V-Moda Crossfade LP headphones, but I'm considering getting a better set (e.g. Sennheiser Momentum). I'm not looking for the best music quality money can buy, but a way to utilise the better HiFi music on Tidal so that I actually notice the difference between it and MP3. Any suggestions on DACs to buy would also be appreciated.
Thanks.

Thanks for all of your help.
That was my worry. If I can't write to the EDD using the PC, and I have to reformat the EDD for the mac (which wipes the files), then what do I do? lol
Since I don't actually "DJ" using iTunes, I had planned to store the music files on my external hard drive and use the Virtual DJ software to play the songs.
My external hard drive is currently 128GB of music, though that may drop a bit as I plan on removing some songs that are duplicates or ones I don't use anymore.
My other question is, I notice on iPhone that some programs will periodically crash when opened (ie - Facebook and MixVibes). All of my software and OS are up to date. Does this occur on the MacBook and iPad as well?

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Using an external DAC with Apple TV

How is the sound quality using the Apple TV connected to a home audio system? Is anyone using an external DAC with the Apple TV to up-sample the audio?

The onboard AppleTV DAC will only be used to output analogue audio via the stereo jacks - HDMI or optical out will use the DACs in the TV/processor/receiver anuyway.
Stereo audio files are converted to a PCM bitstream (which will not use a DAC) for output via optical.
Personally I think even lossy MP3/AAC sounds great via optical from AppleTV. My Yamaha DSP won't upsample the PCM bitstream, but frankly upsampling audio isn't going to bring huge sonic benefits as it's only interpolating what isn't there isn't the first place. Granted opinions differ on whether upsampling makes things sound better or not, but you can't reproduce perfectly information you don't have , the interpolation will only be guesswork.
You may want to look at the 2 links here, which are along the lines of using AppleTV and Airport Express in hi-fi setups:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7330045&#7330045

Using an external DAC with my iTunes library

There are a lot of links on the web to people incorporating external DAC's in using their iTunes music library as a jutebox for your home stereo and I wanted to share my experience as I think it may help some of you in the decision making process. I spent several months researching different products and decided on April Music's Stello DA 100. The sound quality was a big part but so was the fact that they have two digital optical inputs, one coax input, and a USB input. Making it substantially more versatile than more expensive options without comprimising the sound quality. They have a U.S. based distributor/hub in Chicago which has provided me excellent service (help in using iTunes as my digital jutebox player). If you are currently connecting your computer or ipod directly to your stereo, you really should consider placing a DAC in the loop. It will make a big difference.

I noticed this is getting views so, I'm posting answers to myself if case it's helping someone else.
I turned the external drive off and started iTunes on purpose to see what it's reaction would be.
It does redirect itself to the original location, remake the iTunes Music folder on my internal drive, and start to download Podcasts.
Is it possible to stop this? Can the path to the iTunes Music folder be locked? I'd actually rather iTunes crashed than reset itself this way.

HT1660 Can I play movies and music from my external hard drive or do I have to re-instll them on my computer?

Can I play my movies and music from my external hard drive or do I have to reinstall it on my computer?

Hello B3NN13,
If you would like to add the music from your external hard drive to iTunes without copying it to the iTunes Library on your internal hard drive, you may find the following article helpful:
Add files to your library without adding them to your iTunes folder
When you add an item already on your computer to your iTunes library, iTunes places a copy of the file in your iTunes folder. The original file remains in its current location.
You can change this setting so that files are added to your iTunes library without being added to the iTunes folder. You might want to do this, for example, if you prefer to store video files on an external disk but still want to view them in iTunes.
Choose iTunes > Preferences, and click Advanced.
Deselect the checkbox next to “Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library.”
From now on, when you drag a file to your library or choose File > Add to Library, the item appears in iTunes, but the actual file isn’t copied or moved.
Tip: You can temporarily reverse this setting by holding down the Option key while you drag files to the iTunes window.
iTunes 12 for Mac: Change where your iTunes files are stored
Sincerely,
- Brenden

I've update my music using an external disk; now I uploaded agin the music but it doesn't appear in Itunes. How can I synchronize the music folder with Itunes?

I've managed my music downloading and uploading it from an external disk; I put the music into the Finder MUSIC folder and copyed it into Itubìnes but it does't appear. What Do I have to do? How can I synchronize the Musice Folder with Itunes?

Chris, thanks for the reply.
That's what I'm confused about. I did exactly what you said. I copied the entire music folder from the old computer and put it in the music folder on the new computer. I've tried that two or three times now. And, I've checked, and all of the files are there (that's what I meant by 'clicking on Itunes Media'--when I click on the iTunes media folder in music/itunes in Finder, all of the files are there). But, when I open iTunes, nothing shows up--no movies, no music, no tv shows. It seems like it should be so simple, but it won't work for me.
Any ideas?
Thanks so much.

Is this true ? Ipod can not play hi res music !!!!!

I just read this on the Wadia Forum. Is this accurate?
"The iPod .....cannot play back anything higher than 16/48k. iTunes will stop anything above that from loading into the iPod."

I have discovered that I am able to import 24/96 .wav files into iTunes and convert them to Apple Lossless format at that same resolution. However, I cannot sync them to my ipod. But I can downconvert them to 24/48 .wav files, then convert to Apple Lossless and sync to my ipod fine.

Using an External Library only

My start-up disk is full. Can I dump all my itunes media unto a separate hard drive (or ipod for example) and NOT store them on my computer? Then, can I still use itunes for playing my media BY USING THE EXTERNAL AS THE LIBRARY itself and not have to reload them to my computer itself. I have already bought more memory from Apple and my computer is at its maximum capability. I want to use itunes but do not want to store the library on my computer. Is this posible?

Followed your instructions and worked like a charm; all of my itunes music is now on my external hard drive. I dumped the MUSIC file and freed up a lot of space on my computer.
BUT... I still want to use itunes as my music player. Now when I click on itunes the library is empty - so I go to the external. Everything is there but a major pain to find a song. So now do I have to import the whole library each time I want to use itunes? The original plan was to use itunes but have an EXTERNAL LIBRARY. It does not seem like this is possible unless I want to import everything each day and dump it again when I finish with itunes. Is this the only solution?? Or am I confusing or missing something? (it takes over 20 mins to import and fills up my computer again so I have no space left!!)
Its looking like if I want free space I can't use itunes at all. Maybe i'm not explaining this well.

Wine external DAC issues

Whenever I play sound through WINE on my external DAC, the sound sounds all crackly. Problem does not occur when I play the sound on my built-in audio, but there are reasons why I don't want to use that.
My DAC is an American Audio Audio Genie Pro.

Try different nrpacks values or set a higher buffer/period size for the device in alsa configuration.

External DAC for ATV?

Who's using an external DAC with their Apple TV? What make and what difference did you notice?
For stereo audio.

What will you be plugging an external DAC into?
I just run optical to an old Yamaha DSP processor for stereo (PCM) conversion and DD 5.1 decoding, this then feeds the stereo for general audio and L/R front for surround, the processor powering rear/center surround speakers.
I can't remember even trying the analogue audio out, but most say it's poor quality, though one or two comments I recall said it was very good.
I'm more than happy with my old setup for use with AppleTv so if you already have some form of home theatre setup try it with that, though if you have a stereo amp without optical input you may well want an external DA/processor.
Bear in mind AppleTV generally cannot output better than 16 bit 44.1kHz PCM to a DAC for stereo.

I recently reset my computer and copy my music from an external hard drive to my itunes library. When I click on a song to play i get an error message that says " the song could not be used because the original file could not be found". need help

I recently reset my computer and copy my music from an external hard drive to my itunes library. When I click on a song to play i get an error message that says " the song could not be used because the original file could not be found". But when I have my external hard drive plug in the song will play with no problem. What do I need to do to play my music without having the external harddrive plug in ???????? Please help

Because the location for each song in your library is on your hard drive. If the hard drive isn't there, how can iTunes play it?
You'll have to move/copy the music from your hard drive to your computer's hard drive.
Basically, EASIEST way to do all this, if you don't care about your play counts, etc...
-Delete EVERYTHING from iTunes, so that your library is now empty.
-Go to "Advanced" inside of the "Preferences" window, found in the "Edit" drop-down. You can also access Preferences by pressing Ctrl+, (Press Ctrl and the comma key)
-Change your iTunes Media Folder Location to something simple, but on your computer. I use C:/iTunes. Make sure "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized" and "Copy files to...." are both checked. You can close Preferences now.
-Now, drag and drop your music from your hard drive into your iTunes library. iTunes will automatically add the music to your library, as you would expect, and also creates a copy of each file to place into that iTunes Media Folder you just created.
Shouldn't have any more problems...

How do I use one external HD for two Macs to play music files?

I have an External HD linked to my iMac with all my music files. I want to use that same portable Ext HD to use with my MacBook.
Changing the location from MacBook/iTunes Preferences doesn't work, nor does File>Library>Organize Library. The music files don't show up in iTunes. I'm on iTunes 10.6.1.

On each computer:
Open iTunes. Select Preferences from the iTunes menu and click on the Advanced icon in the toolbar. At the top you will see a box showing the path to your iTunes library. Click on the Change button, navigate to the location for the library on your external drive, select it and click on the Open button. Note this permanently changes the library's location on that computer. That means you cannot access your music unless the external drive is connected.
If you don't want a permanent change, then press the OPTION key and hold it down while you launch iTunes. iTunes will then prompt you to select the library you wish to open for that session.

Playng music from computer with an external DAC

Hi to all,
I'm a new enter of this forum and I'm happy for this.
I'm not very expert on computer and I use it only for work, but in this period I'm in troble because I am not able to play computer music with my HiFi equipment passing throw an external DAC, recently acquired.
For this purpose I've bought:
1) Digitalpclink (USB to Optical&SPDIF converter)
2) Emagic 6/2m
in both cases the istruments worked fine on windows systems but failed to work on my Mac.
Have someone something to tell me at this regard?
Thanks to Everyone who spent His time in answering.

Easiest way is to continue to use the external drive for your main library. And then create and maintain a much smaller library on your internal drive for when you are away from the computer's external hard drive. Here is the instructions for creating and/or opening alternate libraries...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
Before you leave on a trip, set the laptop to use the internal drive library. Then while the external hard drive is still hooked up you can use the File -> Add to Library... to add tracks (songs, videos, etc.) to the library by pointing to the files on the external drive which will then be added to the library and copied to the internal drive. You can also delete stuff out of the internal to make room you don't need on that trip knowing everything is safely on the external drive.
Patrick

My songs have all been duplicated. All my music is on external hard drive and I want it to stay there. Am using a new computer and thought I'd done all the required things for my library to show on iTunes 11.

I'm using a new computer. All my music is on an external hard drive and I want it to stay there. Before installing iTunes on the new computer, I followed turingtest2's instructions as to the layout of all the iTunes folders (Itunes folder, Itunes Media, Music, etc...). I also followed his instructions as to get all my music in iTunes on the new computer (but keeping all the media on the external drive). Now my songs are all duplicated in my library (I normally have about 15,000 of them). They all play when I click onto them. Also, I've lost all my playlists, and all the songs in the library are now ticked. I've already spent hours trying to sort this out, but can't seem to find a solution. Help please!

Hi turingtest2,
Thank you for replying. I've been looking at your posts about setting up iTunes using an external drive. A bit of background info. My old computer broke down, so I got a new one from work. I've always kept my music files on my external drive (I have around 170GB of music). I didn't follow the suggestions in the "migrate iTunes library" post because my old computer died on me. However, I've looked at your posts about lay out of the iTunes folders. Before connecting to iTunes on the new computer, I had reorganized my iTunes folder on my E: external drive, and created an iTunes folder which contains an iTunes Media subfolder. The music files are in a Music folder, which is in the iTunes Media folder. I've also put the following files in my iTunes folder: iTunes Library.itl, iTunes Library Extras.itdb, iTunes Library Genius.itdb, iTunes Music Library.xml, as well as sentinel. I then followed the advice you gave bmw99 on 2 Nov 2013 at 9.58 (sorry, can't copy the exact answer).
Just to clarify: I'd like to keep all my music media on the E: external hard drive (the computer hard drive is too small), and I'm aware i might never have my playlists back, and that all the songs in my library might be ticked. However, I don't want my library to be duplicated.
I'm at work at the moment, but will be back home in about 10 hours, so I can be more specific about folders / files names.
I'm glad you picked up my message and greatly appreciate your help.
Patrice

I'm trying to transfer music from iTunes on an old PC that uses an external storage device to a new PC (Windows 7) that will use that same external storage device. I am also dealing with new iTunes 11. How do I do this?? What folder does iTunes use?

I'm trying to transfer music from iTunes on an old PC (Windows Vista Home Basic) that uses an external storage device to store the files to a new PC (Windows 7 Starter) that will use that same external storage device. I am also dealing with the new iTunes 11. How can I accomplish this successfully? What folder does iTunes use to store the data in? I've tried several things. Home Sharing caused duplicates but not all songs or apps transfered. It is a large library! I've tried just setting the path in the Advanced Tab of iTunes preferences of the new computer with the external drive connected the same as the path when the external drive is connected to the old computer. This was the best solution so far but still a few artists missing and some apps. Any suggestions?

Here are typical layouts for the iTunes folders:
With iTunes 11 you might also have a Home Videos folder inside iTunes Media.
In the simplest cases you copy the entire iTunes folder from <User's Music> on the source computer to <User's Music> on the target machine, install iTunes, and it "just works"TM.
If the media folder (inside the red outline) has been split out to a separate location then you can copy the library folder (outside the red outline) as before and connect the drive holding the media so that it has exactly the same path as before. If the drive appears as D: on one system and E: on the other then the library won't be able to find the media.
The crucial file is iTunes Library.itl - this contains a record of the tracks that have been added to the library, ratings, play counts, playlists etc.
See also: Make a split library portable.
tt2

Using an external hard drive for music

Hi. I'm quite sure the answer to this question is obvious--I just don't know a lot about external hard drives.
I have a MBP, but I'm running low on memory. The majority is being used on my huge music collection. If I were to purchase an external hard drive and put all my music files on it, would I still be able to access them in the same way?
In other words, as long as the external hard drive is hooked up to my computer, will I be able to play them in iTunes?
I just want to remove all the music from my computer's hard drive, and place them on an external hard drive. But, I'm not quite sure if this is possible.
Thanks!

I use an external firewire drive to store my iTunes library on. One thing to be aware of...
You need to go into your iTunes preferences, then to "Advanced", then select the location where you want to store your iTunes Music folder. In my case it is in a folder titled "Music" on my external firewire drive. The iTunes "Library" file is stored on your internal hard drive.
The thing that can cause you problems it that....if you forget to turn on the external drive before you boot up your Mac, the iTunes library file will look for your music folder and won't be able to find it. So a new iTunes Music folder will be created on your internal hard drive, with nothing in it. You'll see all of your songs listed in your iTunes program...but if you try to double click on any of the songs to play them, you'll get an exclamation mark saying "cannot find file".
If this happens, you need to delete the new iTunes Music folder on your internal drive (but not the iTunes Library file!), then quit iTunes, turn on the external drive, then relaunch iTunes....and it will find the original music folder.
It's a hassle that I have had to go though many times, I keep forgetting to turn on that drive before launching iTunes.
Oh, one other thing....about the way you worded your post. You aren't running short on "memory", you are running short on "storage"....they are two different things. Hard drives are storage, RAM chips are "memory" that run your programs.

Playing Hi Res music using an external DAC.

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