Hi, I consider to buy NA7004. However, some things are not clear to me:
1) The user guide says it cannot play copyright protected AAC files from USB or while connected to a music server. Does it mean that it won't work with my iTunes collection? I would say this contradicts the press release that claims NA7004 works with Airplay.
2) Apple's Airport Express accepts any quality digital signal streamed to it via wi-fi, however, then downsamples it to 16bits/44.1kHz. Does NA7004 support also higher quality streamed to it via ethernet or wi-fi and then upsamples to the 24bits/192kHz using its DAC?
3) How does its DAC stands in comparison with "budget" DACs such as CA DACmagic?
Obvious where I am aiming, right? In other words, when I make a decision between DACmagic + Airport Express and NA7004, which one to chose? It is clear that NA7004 offers some additional features such as nicely integrated environment, digital iPhone connection, connection to internet audio streaming services, etc. but those are not that important for me. What I want is user friendly implementation of iTunes into a home stereo system that will not compromise on sound quality, which Airport Express does to certain extent due to downsampling the signal before its upsampling by an external DAC.
Thanks in advance for your help.