chopsticky

Seeing as your DAC is $1200 it's a tiny bit over my budget, doncha' think?

Impressive specs, decent price too. I've heard the name Peachtree but I know nothing about the brand. Seems like it's competing against the Presonus Ceres 4.5BT (currently $179 at amazon).

No not the a2+ model. They've got front port-slits.

Interesting, thanks. Generally I prefer the simplest, smallest solution, but I prefer the easiness of dealing with USB audio. I'm just a little surprised that no one else is really playing at that price level. The main alternative I've found is something like the slightly larger Presonus Ceres 3.5BT (Bluetooth built-in in addition to RCA and 1/4-inch) for $125, plus a USB DAC. Lots of convenience in that package but no reviews for it I've seen, which makes me nervous despite owning a Presonus monitor for music production.

Thanks. Those look interesting except (a) they're relatively big for my desk (7x8 footprint compared to 4x6 for the A2+, and they look huge in those amazon user pics) and they also bust my $300 budget. Still, they're worth considering if I don't go for the Audioengines.

I am looking for small, decent speakers for my Mac for streaming music and movies. I prefer USB audio like my old 1st-gen SoundSticks. At a price under $300 the only speakers I see that offer USB audio are the Audioengine A2+ speakers. I know that if I consider other speakers with a DAC (or passive speakers with a DAC/amp) I'd be opening up a huge can of worms with a much larger available pool of choices. But if I just want a simple speaker solution with integrated USB, are there any other recommended choices at that price point? If not, I see that Presonus has a line of Ceres speakers that also include Bluetooth, in 3.5" and 4.5" woofer sizes. The 3.5" model is slightly bigger than the A2+ but has slightly higher specs (plus Bluetooth) while being half the price - does anyone know anything about this speaker?

Thanks for the detailed follow-up! I'll look for an optical S/PDIF -> electrical S/PDIF converter then. My computer is in a different room from where I want to place the monitors, so I really need a streaming setup. (Airplay will also let me stream audio directly from my iPad as well.) I bought the DSM1 last fall and I like them a lot but I have only been using the monitors connected to a synth keyboard. This weekend I was looking at speakers with Airplay... then remembered that both the Airport Express and AppleTV have digital audio-out for Airplay. Apple sells refurb Airport Express units with full warranty for $69, so this seems like an inexpensive way to get good sound.

My M-Audio DSM1 monitors have analog inputs (balanced XLR or quarter-inch TRS jack connectors) and digital inputs (AES-EBU and S/PDIF). If I want to connect an Airport Express to make an Apple_Airplay-based music/radio streaming setup which of the inputs would give me the best sound quality (or doesn't it matter?), and what cables or do I need to buy to connect the monitors to Apple's analog/digital audio minijack?