I have a LOT of experience with the AE. I even gutted it and created my own product from it, using reclocking and a lower jitter clock. I ultimately abandoned the product because the SQ just wasn’t there and I didn’t want my company name on such a product. I think it has something to do with the CODEC used on the board to decode ALAC, which is what is transmitted to the AE. Nothing you can do to fix that, even with a reclocker. Reclocker did improve things, but still had SQ issues due to the on-board CODEC.
You can do a LOT better by using a Sonos Connect and reclocking with a good reclocker like the Synchro-Mesh.
Steve N.
Empirical Audio