ATV2 or Airport Express for Airplay?

[chebby]

Will an Apple TV 2 (or Airport Express) 'do' Airplay and connect - with optical - straight into a DAC? (DAC in either box will not be required. ATV2 or AEX only required for AirPlay interface.)

Must be independent of television screen menus with faff free operation from an iPhone 4 used as both controller and source.

Home network is based on Airport Extreme 802.11n + iMac (also with 802.11n wireless built in).

TV functions (if the ATV2 is used) are totally not needed. Only asking about it because of its size and form and cost.

Thanks.

 

[jamesrfisher]

Not sure about TV2 but with the AEX you would set it up using the iMac then just use Airplay from your iPhone. Airplay would work with it's ipod and Spotify apps. You could also stream from the imac if it holds any music not on the iphone and use apples remote app to control it, works very well.

 

[bay24]

Airport will connect via optical to a dac (that's what I do with my CA740C) you would need a optical to mini optical cable or am optical to mini converter for the airport end of the conection as it is a combined headphone and optical socket (so you can connect analogue or digital) I use a monster Lightspeed optical to mini optical cable.

 

[professorhat]

Yup, both Airport Express and Apple TV 2 will do what you want. If you really don't need the TV functions, then you're paying extra £20 for form factor (and HDMI connection if that's easier for direct connection into an AV receiver).

Of course, future potential means Apple TV 2 might be a better bet, unless you're ever likely to want to share a USB printer on the wireless network, in which case Airport Express wins...

 

[chebby]

Thanks everyone. Yes, it seems the AEX 802.11n is the best and cheapest option (£30 difference on the Apple UK site.)

This is nothing to do with my present system by the way. That's all nicely sorted.

Thinking of a second system based on my old Beresford TC-7520 DAC and a Geneva Lab Model M. (I could tuck away the DAC and and AEX out of sight and use my iPhone as a source.)

The Geneva Lab Model M has a built-in dock so I could just shove it in that. But I don't want my iPhone 'tethered', so I will need to contrive an AirPlay compatible input with an AEX and my old DAC.

I know the AEX has an internal DAC, but i'm not sure it will be as good as my old Beresford. I'll try it with both.

 

[Ryan92]

One thing I would say is that if you use the Airport Express and you don't have it connected to a network, either via ethernet or WDS bridging (which despite apple not mentioning it being possible, is) you won't be able to access the internet via wireless on the device connected to it. The Apple TV does not suffer from this problem, as well as having increased functionality, though only outputs audio via HDMI or Optical, though if you are connecting it to a DAC that shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Juzzie Wuzzie]

I would (unless £30 breaks the bank) take the ATV given its lifespan is probably longer if you change your approach / want more. Just a thought.

 

[John Duncan]

I would (unless £30 breaks the bank) take the ATV given its lifespan is probably longer if you change your approach / want more. Just a thought.

+1. Apart from the upsampling it performs (which in most circumstances would be neither here nor there), I think the @TV2 is a more practical solution now. The only disadvantage it may have in some configurations is that it doesn't actually have an analogue audio out at all, so you need an HDMI-toting receiver or optical-enabled DAC to get any sound out of it.

 

[ric71]

Hi all,

Sorry to jump in on this thread but I to need some advice.

I am about to take delivery of an i phone 4 32gig.

My plan is to stream from the phone in hopefully apple lossless to my Arcam AVR 500.

What is the best way to connect Apple TV to my Arcam for sq and will I be able to stream Apple lossless?

Do I need to plug any form of transmitter to the phone.?

No idea what I am doing!!! :doh:

Any other reccomendation would be appreciated.

PS is there an Arcam controll App out there?

Thanks in advance

 

[Juzzie Wuzzie]

Ric71 - I think the answer is the same - ATV2 (optical or HDMI into your Arcam) and then use airplay which will be on both to stream. AEX if you want a (£30) cheaper option, but my comment above still stands.

 

[ric71]

Thanks for the quick reply,

I like the thought of ATV2 for its extra features. Can I stream in lossless as thats why I went for 32 gig?

ric

 

[professorhat]

Can I stream in lossless as thats why I went for 32 gig?

You certainly can.

 

[ric71]

Thank you.

Excellent as that would have been an expensive mistake!!!

Do i need any form of adapter on the i phone or do i just link it via wi fi?

If I want to create a 2nd i tunes library , in Apple lossless, just for MY i phone as the reg i tunes library used by my wife is not lossless and trust me its easier if we keep are music apart how would i do this if its possible on a windows lap top?

I would rather not create my own play list in the family i tunes library.

Thank you guys for all of your help in this matter. :cheers:

ric

 

[professorhat]

Do i need any form of adapter on the i phone or do i just link it via wi fi?

Just link both the iPhone and the Apple TV to your Wifi (or use an ethernet connection into the same network for the ATV) and you're done.

If I want to create a 2nd i tunes library , in Apple lossless, just for MY i phone as the reg i tunes library used by my wife is not lossless and trust me its easier if we keep are music apart how would i do this if its possible on a windows lap top?

Yup, just hold down the Shift key as you're opening iTunes and you'll then get an option to choose a Library or create a new one. iTunes will default to the last library you opened, so just use the same method to switch between them.

 

[ric71]

Thank you Professorhat,

That makes my life so much easier. Cant wait for the phone.

Should i use optical out on ATV to bypass the apple dac?

 

[professorhat]

Thank you Professorhat,

That makes my life so much easier. Cant wait for the phone.

No worries - there's a video here from WHF on using Airplay which might help.

Should i use optical out on ATV to bypass the apple dac?

Assuming you're getting / have Apple TV 2 (black with no hard drive), it doesn't really matter whether you use HDMI or optical as both are digital so there's no DAC to bypass. If you have the original Apple TV (silver / white one with hard drive), then you have a choice of using the analogue output. However, given your receiver, I would definitely be connecting either via HDMI or optical on this as well as I'm sure the Arcam's DAC will be better.

 

[ric71]

Thank you Sir :clap: