I've been using a Bluetooth receiver 1Mii which has ess dac with my fone and laptop but I plugged my laptop into my preamp tuner and it sounds much better than the Bluetooth..My question is would a dac sound better than a laptop plugged into a a stereo? My setup is a McIntosh Mx113 preamp tuner McIntosh Mc152 power amp and Wharfadales diamonds 11.4
Definitely would be a nice improvement to add a DAC between your laptop and your preamp. Bluetooth music is very compressed. Are you using Tidal or Qobuz or a streaming service for music? If so you can look into the Bluesound Node, it’ll allow you to use your phone as a remote.
Laptop DAC is not made for hifi, they will use what is decent. Hifi DACs strive to be the best they can for the price. Bluesound Node is a good unit to start with.
I'm using apple music also use Amazon hd the laptop sounds pretty good but it sounds like a dac is the way to go
