Apple TV or Airport Express

[gingersmarty]

Hi all,

Which of the above is better if the only factor is sound quality?

Music is spotify from sony laptop onto a Cyrus pre/power and
SA 1. The dac is a dacmagic.

I ask as I have both and my bro needs one,

Thanks

 

[gingersmarty]

Perhaps should have said It's TV2.

 

[Anonymous]

Knowing apple's reuse of components wherever possible, I'd say sound quality from both should be identical. Plus as the minjack on both doubles as an optical output, you can always add an external DAC if required...

 

[gingersmarty]

thanks for the reply,

I have added an external dac, i stumbled across some reference online to an upsample in the ATV2, whereas

the airport does not, obviously both signals then go into the dac but has one been changed for the worse, i have

absolutely no understanding of the numbers being used,

 

[the record spot]

If you're using an all-in-one streaming system that's already built round Apple, then the Apple TV2 makes some sense. If this is the first of a kind, then go for either the Western Digital or Sony media managers instead. Heaps more functionality than the Apple and for around the same price. The AE - for the price you pay - has an excellent DAC and isn't outshone greatly by others going up to £200, so for the £70 or so that it costs you, then it's money well spent. If it was my cash, I'd be after the Sony Bravia streamer for about £110 - brilliant for the money.

 

[gingersmarty]

Hi again and thanks,

So in my set up, there is no difference between the 2?

I have arranged for a home demo of the Rega Dac to potentially replace the Dacmagic,

what are the pro's and con's of streamers?

regards

 

[gingersmarty]

Hi again and thanks,

So in my set up, there is no difference between the 2?

I have arranged for a home demo of the Rega Dac to potentially replace the Dacmagic,

what are the pro's and con's of streamers?

regards

 

[daveh75]

Hi all, Which of the above is better if the only factor is sound quality? Music is spotify from sony laptop onto a Cyrus pre/power and SA 1. The dac is a dacmagic. I ask as I have both and my bro needs one, Thanks

I'm confused, if you have both, can't you compare them?

 

[gingersmarty]

I actually gave the AE to my brother today and then came across the article that talked about

some numbers involved........44.1 or 48........or something like that,

If there is a technical thing that favours one over the other i would swap them around.

regards

 

[Paul.]

Lossless is ripped at 44.1khz, ATV2 upsamples it to 48khz whilst the Express leaves it be. The ATV2 stream is therfore not bitperfect. I personally cant tell the difference, and value the extras that the ATV2 has over the express.

A different way of looking at it, do you use an Airport Extreme base station? If I had one of those, I would take the Express over the ATV2 as the express is capable of expanding the Extremes wifi range. Slightly off topic, but a nice feature none the less.

 

[gingersmarty]

thanks,So just to clarify, the numbers involved make no difference to the number crunching of the Dac?,BTW i actually prefer the set up process with the ATV rather than the express, but understand as an extender it has a useful benefit.

 

[Paul.]

Hmmm, thats debatable... I have an AV based system rather than a stereo system, and its entirely possible more discerning people can tell the difference, but I cant.

The ATV2 is great, I leave my TV switched off the majority of the time whilst listening to music, but as my freinds and I all have iPhones, its great for sharing videos over airplay and whatnot having a giggle. Thats worth the extra £20 allone.

The DAC will process the signal of both just fine, its just the signal wont be in its purest form as with the bitperfect 44.1khz stream. I've seen people theoretically complain about the difference, but I am yet to come across anyone who can audibly tell the difference between the two.

 

[gingersmarty]

Hi thanks for the reply

We seem to have settled that debate,

What about power leads, they make a difference or what...

 

[Paul.]

Never tried it, would rather spend the money on blurays. My ATV2 doesn't even have its own power socket, I've got it plugged in to the auxiliary power socket of my AV amp.

 

[gingersmarty]

same here,

thanks again

 

[shooter]

With upsampling you get progressive improvement's in the fine detail, soundstage depth and image separation. Going from 44.1 to 48 will give a minimal amount compared to an upsample of 44.1 to 192 for instance.

Personally i would only have one unit doing the upsampling, this gives the cleanest path so using the AE would be preferable but the TV2 may have preferred benefit's as already mentioned.

 

[pwiles1968]

In theory the AE is better as the ATV outputs 48k this will introduce errors and it is not bit perfect, wether you can actually hear this I would not like to say, if you are happy with the sound of the TV stick with it as it has better functionality, alternatively but a Gen 1 TV they output 44.1.