A DAC will offer much higher quality analogue input to the speakers than your current inbuilt Mac Pro Laptop analogue inputs.

I'd suggest the very good value for money and small "Devilsound DAC" for about $250 USD.

There's a review at: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Devilsound-DAC-Product-Review

And also: http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue41/ramblings_devilsound_virtue.htm

Among other places...

Just plugs into the USB port... presto!

If buying a decent DAC is a bit too much purely just for your laptop, then wouldn't you say a pair of ~£2.5k speakers is far too much? 😕 If you really want to make the speakers sound like their price tag would suggest, you need to drive them with a decent source, which is what a decent DAC will give you, as long as you're listening to good-quality content.

Hi,

How can I control the volume when using a external DAC? Still with MAC volume on keyboard or with apple Remote?

Thanks,

Heribert

would you be able to connect a DAC like this to an Apple TV (USB port) - given it doesn't have a system preference screen i don't think so but you never know....

I presume not.

In Apple TV's standard configuration, the USB-Port is reserved for service access and has no function to the end user.

If you install a functional enhancement like ATV Flash, the USB port is being freed, but only for the use as an external storage medium