Apple TV audio - HDMI vs optical?

[roger06]

Hi

What's going to give me better audio quality from an Apple TV to my Yamaha amp - HDMI or and optical digital cable?

(I appreciate that I ultimately want a DAC and for audio to go straight to the Naim amp but am restrained by budget!)

 

[Craig M.]

as far as i know, the appletv resamples audio to 48khz through optical but not through hdmi, so only hdmi will give bitperfect audio. subjectively, you might notice no difference.

 

[roger06]

That's interesting...

Does that mean when I get a DAC I need one with an HDMI input?

 

[roger06]

roger06:
That's interesting...

Does that mean when I get a DAC I need one with an HDMI input?

No, that's daft isn't it? as I'll need the HDMI for video output...

 

[John Duncan]

And I can't think of any DACs with an HDMI input. TBH I'd worry less about the quality of the DAC, which ought to be reasonable in an AV receiver - YMMV - and more about the quality of the amplification, which can sometimes be a bit suboptimal (though some are better than others at doing music).

 

[roger06]

Hi John

Yeah - not heard of an HDMI DAC either! I think temporary insanity set in and I was thinking USB.

Are you saying don't use the Yamaha amp? I'm thinking that too - hence if I get a DAC I can plug it straight into the Nait5i which I'm sure will be better.

I've just been giving it a whirl this evening and it sounds pretty good. Not up there with my all-Naim affair but so great to be able to flick through all those CDs I'd forgotten I have...

 

[roger06]

You know what - it's either that it's warming up or I'm reaching the end of a bottle of Claret - but it sounds dead good...

 

[pwiles1968]

Is the AV and Naim Kit in the same room, Do you have a pre out of the AV amp you can feed in to the Naim Kit and just use the Yamaha as a DAC? Technically speaking the AV amp is a HDMI DAC

Sorry if this is how you are already set up.

 

[roger06]

Yes, all the kit is together. The Yam does have pre outs to the Naim which powers the L&R speakers for 2 channel and home cinema.

So yes, the Yamie is effectively a DAC - but I wonder how it compares with a dedicated unit such as a DagMagic or rDAC...

 

[pwiles1968]

Ok you probably already have a really decent sounding sytem even without a glass of red, I honestly think you would need a home demo to see if you could get any improvement, my gut feeling would be that it would be subtle unless you spent a decent amount on a DAC. There are some Nice DAC's coming out over the next few months up to around £500 it may be worth looking about and getting a home demo, Keep an eye out for some DAC's from Audiolab which will be developments based on the ones in the 8200 CD, believe they are unveiling them at CES.

 

[roger06]

Yes Paul - I think you're 100% on that.

I'm getting slowly seduced by my streaming set up. I've just spent 20 quid on AirFoil so I can now stream Spotify to the system as well. All so simple.

And I'm loving going through my back catalogue - can't say I've listened to Dear Prudence by the Banshees, or Bad Time for Bonzo by The Damned in decades!

And yes I agree - a DacMagic or rDAC might not make a jot of difference so would need to demo. I can't beleive I'm writing this but I'm even thinking of selling the CD player! It's in mint condition so I'd probably get 500 quid for it so that could fund a quality DAC.

Now if I had £2k for the Naim DAC...

(hey, I'm sure I could sell a kidney?)

 

[pwiles1968]

I'm in the same boat converted to streaming over summer and the only time my CD player has been turned on since was when my daughter put pop party 8 in there, came home to hear JLS playing on my main HiFi the thought of it send a shiver down my spine as I type

I have a AV amp feeding Mono-Blocks to drive the front speaker's so i'm looking at putting in a DAC/Preamp and possibly a Power Amp

, auditioning soon.