OK, so I am by no means an audiophile, but I have a pair of M-Audio BX5a's on my desk connected (using a mini-stereo to unbalanced TRS connection) to my MacBook pro. I have been looking around for some time for a DAC that can input USB or optical (since these are the outputs the MBP offers) and output balanced XLR to the BX5a's. This seems to punch that ticket.
My question though is what is the amplifier for? Is it strictly for the headphone jack, or is it somehow amplifying the line-out (which seems like a contradiction to me - again, not an audiophile)? If the latter, what happens when I send an amplified XLR line out to the pair of self-powered monitors? Any clarification you all can provide is greatly appreciated.
Any time you apply gain to a signal it's amplification. The signal from the DAC chip itself would not be powerful enough, unless it has built-in opamps (some do).
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My question though is what is the amplifier for? Is it strictly for the headphone jack, or is it somehow amplifying the line-out (which seems like a contradiction to me - again, not an audiophile)? If the latter, what happens when I send an amplified XLR line out to the pair of self-powered monitors? Any clarification you all can provide is greatly appreciated.