Highly distorted sound using amplifier

[Brummer68]

I am on premium plan

I have Spotify on my iPad running iOS 15.6.1

connected to my amplifier using a gramafon device. Connection is 3.5mm jack to RCA into amplifier

i had an Onkyo amplifier with a usb input on the front. I was able to stream Spotify from my iPad directly to the amp using a lightning to usb cable. The onkyo amp pooped itself recently. I’m trying to reconnect using one of my older amplifiers which do not have a direct USB connection option. The only method is 3.5mm jack (on the steamer) to RCA red.white input on the back of the amp.

I’ve tried using two different amplifiers. I’ve tried using both echo dot and gramafon device but both produce highly distorted sound. I tried inputting into multiple RCA inputs on each amplifier

Both amplifiers work well for CD player.

I have two zones of speakers, both of which play well alone or together from the CD player.

is there a fix I can try?

I don’t want to buy a new amplifier or new streamer if this is not going to help. I kind of get that the echo dot might create issues but the gramafon always worked well in the past for streaming Spotify. Note I have not used the gramafon for 4 years because I had the usb option on the onkyo amplifier

 
thanks

[Vasil]

Hey there @Brummer68,

I do have an idea that may help you out and it's a lot more affordable than a new amp 🙂
Have you tried using one of these?

It may be possible to directly skip the streamer in the connection.

Hope that helps!

[Brummer68]

Thanks Vasil. I will give that a try.