computer to preamp?

Squeezebox3

www.slimdevices.com

I believe this is a very solid alternative to Airport Express. Had analog and digital outs as well as 24-bit on-board DACs. Available wireless or Ethernet, well built. Imo the SB sounds incredible and has a very impressive functionality.

A low-end, but decent sounding and fairly simple alternative is the RCA Lyra wireless (a USB-based wireless setup with stereo analog outs) can be had for under $40.

You can get a toslink cable that comes with a mini adapter. They are easily found.

where do you buy the toslink connection, the regular tosolink connector is too big, i think it use a mini jack.
on the i tune, there are different way to rip the cd, wave, apple, acc ? which way has the best result?

Below is a long link to apple.com its for Airport Express Stereo Connection Kit. One of the connectors is optical which can be used for connection to a DAC with optical imput.
Http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/71608/wo/7M5EIwrPgSks2BaaBS21ruKsoK8/1.SLID?mco=CB298EB6&nplm=M9573LL%2FA

Allan

can you get a digital output on an airport express? I have one but the only output it seems to have is a low-fi minijack

The Airport Express can be used two different ways. To answer your question, yes your laptop with 802.11g will recognize the aiport. If you have an existing wireless network the Airport can will simply join your existing network. If you do not have a wireless network, the Airport Express can be configured to operate on its own and your laptop will recognize it as well.

The Airport can be used alone and has a DAC in it which is not terrible but defintely, not high end. It is really a GREAT product.

Chris

hi i am not very computer literate, if i se the airport express, does it have to be connected to the router/modem?
on my laptop, it has a 54g wirelles card, how does it know that airport express is there?

Best/Easiest Approach would be to use and Apple Aiport Express and Stream your Tunes Wirelessly into the Airport Express from iTunes.

I would suggest you use the Airport Express in conjunction with a Bel Canto or Benchmark DAC then hook that to your pre-amp. Itunes is free, the Airport Express is $129.00 and both DAC's can be found here on Audiogon.

Of course you will need a digital cable and decent pair of interconnects.

Good Luck

Chris

You can use the audio outs on the back of the PC where you normally connect the speakers. If you still want to connect speakers, you can get a Y cable. Another way would be to get a Hi-End sound card from Audigy or someone else and use it's audio outs. And of course the best way would be to use the digital outs into a Hi-End processor then into your preamp.