Newbie question.

ok then just plug the DAC/iphone into your Arc Pre and be done with it.

Why go through the Sony if you have the Arc Pre go through the Arc as with the other inputs. Just note you will not get all the advantages of the Flac files but it will, even through your phone, sound better then mp3. get a apple to RCA adapter and go into one of the Arc's inputs skipping the sony all together because yes it will degrade the sound as you are going through a lot more circuits. just use the sony as your tuner. 

Do you have any available open RCA inputs on the ARC pre-amp? If so, just get a 1/8" to dual RCA male cable, like the one linked here:

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=5597

You can probably get one of these cables at many brick/mortar electronics store or Amazon.

You will plug the 1/8" connector into your phones headphone output, and the RCA's into any available input connector on the ARC pre-amp. This will remove the unnecessary Sony from the chain. For a couple of bucks, it's well worth a shot.

Thanks glennewdick and reubent. I will give that a try. I did not know you could route a digital signal into an analog system like that. Glad that it will work and hold me until I can research and get a DAC. For some reason I already have a set of RCA to 1/8 jack cables.

I’d had this Sony unit sitting around (100w/channel), new and unopened. This afternoon I unpacked it, plugged in my old Bose bookshelf speakers and hooked up the old Sony turntable and put on a brand new vinyl of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks....I have no intention of getting into vinyl but love that album and thought I’d dabble a little. It sounded terrible. I figured I must have done something wrong. Checked all the connections and settings. Still terrible. Really bad. Plus the volume control on this unit was stiff and sticky.

So, I got my old Toshiba tuner/receiver from 1980. (25w/channel). It was a reasonably nice unit for a kid in 1980. Was $350 then, about $1100 in today’s dollars. Well, it sounded worlds better than the Sony. Sony is now boxed up and headed back to Amazon.

Anyway, you guys are going to ruin me. I’m now going to look for a tuner, a DAC, a phono-preamp (eBay cancelled the one I ordered, sold out) and some better RCA cables. I can probably get all that for under $500 so I guess I should not complain about getting a system of this caliber with only $500 output....unless I decide I need a turntable........

I did not know you could route a digital signal into an analog system like that.

The output (on your phone) is an analog output, which is why it can be sent to the analog inputs on the ARC.

Excellent.