Airport Express woes. . .

[Charlie Jefferson]

John, Prof H, Gavin, PJ et al,

Just pondering the possibility that if, for whatever reason, I can't get my replacement AE up & running, what other alternatives are available for linking my iTunes library to my Hi-fi?

Re: Chord DAC. Yes, I'm positive it has an 'optical in' round the back, and the majority of my 100GB & counting music on my Mac is in Lossless.

Like many people, no doubt, I'm trying to balance the demands of family living, ridiculous amounts of CDs, the transfer of non-lounge housed discs to a hard drive, with the maximum quality possible streaming.

 

[professorhat]

Charlie Jefferson:Just pondering the possibility that if, for whatever reason, I can't get my replacement AE up & running, what other alternatives are available for linking my iTunes library to my Hi-fi?
Wirelessly? I'll be honest and pledge ignorance here - I know Sonos do a solution but I don't know how it fits into iTunes. Of course, non wirelessly, just a long lead. Or an iPod Classic and an iPod dock...
However, don't give up on the Airport Express - it should honestly be as easy as the few steps I did earlier on. I think if you're still struggling when you get a replacement, Apple's telephone support / Genius bar should really be able to get you up and running.

 

[John Duncan]

Charlie Jefferson:John, Prof H, Gavin, PJ et al,

Just pondering the possibility that if, for whatever reason, I can't get my replacement AE up & running, what other alternatives are available for linking my iTunes library to my Hi-fi?

Re: Chord DAC. Yes, I'm positive it has an 'optical in' round the back, and the majority of my 100GB & counting music on my Mac is in Lossless.

Like many people, no doubt, I'm trying to balance the demands of family living, ridiculous amounts of CDs, the transfer of non-lounge housed discs to a hard drive, with the maximum quality possible streaming.

Am not going to answer this question until we've completely exhausted the AX route, cos it bloody well ought to work!

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

I really want to share your faith, John.

Notwithstanding my computer incompetence, is there any other possible reason for a fully working AE to still not work in my set-up?

ProfH,

I've got a 160GB iPod which is great at the moment, but as I transfer ever more CDs to my Mac, there will come a point when the iPod's full and I want to access songs languishing on my hard drive but through the hi-fi. Hence the need for a wireless configuration.

In the meantime, you can't play an iPod via a DAC can you?

I'm vexed, contemplative and pre-holiday euphoric at one and the same time! All to a soundtrack of my colleague's Y10 class rehearsing Blood Brothers at full tilt.

 

[professorhat]

Charlie Jefferson:Notwithstanding my computer incompetence, is there any other possible reason for a fully working AE to still not work in my set-up?
At the very least you should be getting that Apple network appear in the available networks list when it's first plugged in / reset, so I can't see anything else which would be preventing that (assuming the Airport card in your machine is working and on of course... however, I think you said you connected to the BT Home Hub network, so this must be working).
Charlie Jefferson:In the meantime, you can't play an iPod via a DAC can you?
No, the iPods don't come with a digital output unfortunately.

 

[Anonymous]

the wadia iTransport at 350 pounds can get the digital out from the ipod. it is possible to get it via the dock, but it requires a special arrangement with Apple to get the approval to get the digital out, otherwise you get the analogue. Read up on the wadia itransport threads for more details. I hope that this feature will appear on cheaper kit soon

 

[Anonymous]

Charlie

At this point I'd take it to the Genius bar, either it is not working or you've managed to configure your machine in an odd way. If you can manage to bring the iMac and the AE to the genius bar that would be good.

ÿcheers

Gavinÿ

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

Well I'm glad to say after a fortnight of fruitless fumblings, and having got a replacement, I've finally got the AE up and running.

It seems, as many here suspected, the original AE was faulty. This time around the whole thing took ten minutes or so, and now 100GB of mostly lossless encoded music is available to play through my hi-fi.

Thanks to all concerned for their sterling efforts the first, flawed time around. Your advice made this successful configuration very straightfoward.

Now, about connecting the AE to my Chord DAC, what cable do I use? John, was it an "optical in" you mentioned on the DAC? Yes, it has one of those. Er, how do I utilize it with the Airport Express?

Currently, Lossless files streamed from Mac to AE to amp sound decent, but I really want to bring the Chord into play. How so??

 

[professorhat]

Excellent news! I'm glad you finally got there!
For the DAC, the 3.5mm output on the Airport Express also acts as an optical out. So you just need a digital optical cable which is the standard TOSlink connector on one end which goes in the DAC and a Mini-TOSlink on the other (which looks like this) which goes in the AE. Many cables like this one come with both ends where you can see under the features list, it mentions:
Supplied with TOS to miniTOS adaptors for use with compatible portable audio equipment

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

That's great. Thanks ProfH.

I got all excited and ventured into the loft, remembering I had an optical cable that ran from my MD to CD player some years ago. But of course that's the standard "male to male" cable. I'll *** out tomorrow to get a mini-toslink to standard connector.

Looking forward to hearing iTunes library via the AE/DAC combo.

Another thought and I'm not sure if this has been covered elsewhere in these parts but is there an "appreciable" as well as technical difference AIFF & Lossless encoding?

Will answer my own question by running some comparisons tomorrow via the Chord DAC, or as my incredulous friend called it, the posh biscuit tin.

 

[John Duncan]

yay!*

Am excited about this - with the Chord DAC being about as good as it gets, an Airport Express feeding it bit-perfect lossless files is going to give you about the best front end on these boards.......report soonest please!

(*TFFT

)

 

[PJ1200]

Charlie - pleased to see you have it all working! As always with Apple products - great when they work, pain in the absolute back side when they don't!
I've just got an iPhone, adn don't get me started on the problems!

Good luck with the sound too.

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

Just managed to tear myself away from an iTunes library playing in shuffle mode via the AE/Chord DAC combo.

I've got to say initial impressions are extremely positive. The joys of random selection, in between spooning Weetabix/baked beans/grilled cod into the little one's not so little mouth, presented a great listening test. Symphonic Beethoven, Elvises Costello & Presley, Zep, Belle & Sebastian, Beth Orton, MIA, The Kinks & The Fall all had my ears pinned to the moment, scrutinizing then simply enjoying the sheer thrill of listening.

A couple of times I scrambled to find the original CD of the track playing, so as to carry out a rough & ready A/B comparison. No definitive conclusions either way of course, but definitely not a wide gulf between the Arcam CD92 & the Mac's losslessly streamed songs.

Now all I need to do is synch a three-way listening test between the sources above and the Roksan turntable.

For now, and for the first time in a long time when I want to really enjoy music, the deck isn't in action but iTunes is.

 

[PJPro]

After a while, you'll be wondering if the CDP is worth the rack space.

 

[Anonymous]

Charlie Jefferson:.Another thought and I'm not sure if this has been covered elsewhere in these parts but is there an "appreciable" as well as technical difference AIFF & Lossless encoding? Will answer my own question by running some comparisons tomorrow via the Chord DAC, or as my incredulous friend called it, the posh biscuit tin.

ÿ

AIFF and Lossless should give exactly the same results. An Aiff file is simply a lossless, but uncompressed version of the music. So the lossless one should take up about 40% of the disk space.

Very pleased to hear you've got it all working

iTunes and an Airport Express is a brilliant thing, with the iPhone as a remote it is even better =)ÿ

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

Re: Lossless & AIFFs, thanks Gavin.

Oh, and is the iPhone my only AE "remote" option?

 

[professorhat]

Or an iPod Touch...

 

[John Duncan]

Charlie Jefferson:Re: Lossless & AIFFs, thanks Gavin.

Oh, and is the iPhone my only AE "remote" option?

Not quite, there's another one by keyspan which plugs in the usb slot which is much cheaper, but isn't as cool, obv.

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

Thanks for that John.

We've got enough Apple products under one roof, and I really can't justify an iPhone or iTouch on the sole basis that I need it as a remote for my AE, surely???

Well, then again, I justified the DAC to myself (admittedly in pre-cohabitation times), and the AE's sonic and utilitarian virtues are not lost on the female half of the household. So, maybe, just maybe.

 

[PJ1200]

So, this DAC thing... can someone please explain a little further.

Am I right in assuming that its another link that will sit by my amplifier with a 3.5mm to optical lead from my AE to it, then a normal interconnector from the DAC to my amp??

This will give me a better quality of sound from the lossless files playing wirelessly from my pc to my AE??? How?!?!?

Am I also right in assuming the Beresford TC-7510 is a good purchase, despite it's complete failure in the looks department!!

Sorry if all that is completely wrong!

 

[fatboyslimfast]

Basically, it bypasses the lower-end DAC of the airport express (that is in use if you use a 3.5mm - phono cable) and the digital signals are processed in the DAC.

Basically, it's like ripping out one of the chips in the airport express and upgrading it for a better one (but without having to open the case...).

An yep, if you can get past the looks of the Beresford (I can) it sounds fantastic.

 

[chebby]

Thanks to this thread for putting me off the idea of a new Airport Express for life

Ok to be fair, I have also read the reviews on other sites where the proportion of people with AE set-up problems to those who had no problems is about 40:60.

We have three computers at home (PC, notebook and iMac 20" - mid 2007 model. The last white one.) all on a wireless network based on an Airport Extreme 802.11n base station (WPA2).

This wireless set-up is non-problematic and has been stable since I installed it over a year ago. I am loathe (now) to upset the apple cart by getting the Airport Express for music duties especially as the main source will be the notebook and not the iMac. (The wife and kids mostly use the iMac and it is in another room to my hifi.)

I am also not hearing great things about the built-in DAC on the Airport Express so would need (at least) the Beresford in addition, bringing the total cost up to about £200. In this scenario (given we already have an established wireless network) the Airport Express would add no value except as a glorified 'connection' between notebook and DAC.

5 metres of USB cable (or optical) would do the job better.

 

[professorhat]

Well chebby, up to you, but given you already have an Airport Extreme base station, most of the hard work in actually setting up the Airport Express has been done as you're literally just using it to stream music, rather than starting from scratch to set up the whole wireless network. As for the built-in DAC, both John Duncan and I found it to be surprisingly good considering the cost of the unit.
But, as I say, up to you.

 

[chebby]

OK I will pop down to our John Lewis and pick one up today and try it as an alternative to a USB DAC.

I suppose it leaves things open to add a proper DAC (DacMagic) via an optical connection later on somewhen.

(I thought I had read you all recommending the AE + Beresford because the AE DAC was not up to snuff)

 

[professorhat]

I think you will definitely hear a big improvement with the Beresford, but don't forget there's a cost to value ratio going on here. For £65, the AE does a pretty damn good job I think considering it's main function is to stream music wirelessly!
I guess it depends on whether this is a convenience thing to play music wirelessly from the iMac / laptop or you're actually looking at CD beating quality.