I have some inkling of your pain, because I've been fighting with repeated drop-outs on my AEs for months now. The RS guy is actually giving you some pretty well reasoned 'best guess' advice, but unfortunately I don't think it's correct. Because of my issues I've been playing around in Airport Utility rather a lot and I'm pretty sure there is no setting to adjust the digital output format.
PCM stands for pulse code modulation - basically the normal format of digital audio data, such as you would find stored on a CD. The RS guys is guessing that the AE is outputting a format that your CDP's DAC can't handle (i.e. Dolby Digital, MP3 or something like that).
I think that the whole way that Apple does things, to maximise ergonomics ease of use and interoperability (despite being rather undermined when issues like these are experienced!) would seem to suggest that they would just offer the standard universally-accepted digital format output, rather than make it a setting that the end user would have to know to (and know how to) adjust.
If someone else knows different then please correct me.
Using the AE in my lounge, connected to my Naim Supernait (integrated amp, built-in DAC) I get a 'blip' when I begin playback - i know it's not the same as the interference I referred to, because it happens every single time I begin playback. The AE is fine going in to other DACs (used to have a DAC Magic in fact) and other digital sources are fine going into the Naim, so I've concluded that it's just a peculiarity of those particular 2 devices working together - maybe you have the same issue, and I hate to say it, but if you have proven the correct functioning of both devices with other kit, the respective manufacturers are each likely to point the finger at each other's product.
Sorry I haven't read all of this thread, so ignore these if you've tried them all already:
- Have you tried restoring the AE to the factory settings
- Checking for software updates
- Using a different optical cable
- Tried changing the 3.5mm optical adaptor if you're using one (as you might not have tried this with other kit you've tried and it could be faulty/damaged)
- Is your AE set to create, join or extend the wireless network? if it's not your main wireless bridge then set it just to 'join' (long-shot but thinking maybe interference with your system)
I've decided to be done with it, and get a Sonos!
PCM stands for pulse code modulation - basically the normal format of digital audio data, such as you would find stored on a CD. The RS guys is guessing that the AE is outputting a format that your CDP's DAC can't handle (i.e. Dolby Digital, MP3 or something like that).
I think that the whole way that Apple does things, to maximise ergonomics ease of use and interoperability (despite being rather undermined when issues like these are experienced!) would seem to suggest that they would just offer the standard universally-accepted digital format output, rather than make it a setting that the end user would have to know to (and know how to) adjust.
If someone else knows different then please correct me.
Using the AE in my lounge, connected to my Naim Supernait (integrated amp, built-in DAC) I get a 'blip' when I begin playback - i know it's not the same as the interference I referred to, because it happens every single time I begin playback. The AE is fine going in to other DACs (used to have a DAC Magic in fact) and other digital sources are fine going into the Naim, so I've concluded that it's just a peculiarity of those particular 2 devices working together - maybe you have the same issue, and I hate to say it, but if you have proven the correct functioning of both devices with other kit, the respective manufacturers are each likely to point the finger at each other's product.
Sorry I haven't read all of this thread, so ignore these if you've tried them all already:
- Have you tried restoring the AE to the factory settings
- Checking for software updates
- Using a different optical cable
- Tried changing the 3.5mm optical adaptor if you're using one (as you might not have tried this with other kit you've tried and it could be faulty/damaged)
- Is your AE set to create, join or extend the wireless network? if it's not your main wireless bridge then set it just to 'join' (long-shot but thinking maybe interference with your system)
I've decided to be done with it, and get a Sonos!
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