Wifi through Apple TV and optical to the dac does not sound very good. No idea why not, but it doesn't. You will have much better results doing a usb connection direct to the dac. The cheapest option is to buy a Mac Mini and use it as a dedicated server, if you are sold on iTunes etc. It also allows you to use third party software like Pure Music or similar, which will not work over wifi.
Looking for upgrade from Apple TV, would like to keep using iTunes and wifi
My wifi-based sound has never matched my dear departed Arcam Alpha 9 CD player. I've read forum after forum but I don't see a simple solution. One possibility is that an audible problem occurs when the bit rate is changed from the CD native 44.1 kHz bit rate to the more traditional 48 kHz.
Here is my wifi system: iMac (iTunes) -> wifi -> Apple TV -> optical TOS -> PS Audio Digital Link DAC.
The 300GB of music has been ripped from CD and is stored using Apple Lossless compression.
Yes, I know it's a lot of Apple software and gear. I want to keep the iMac and iTunes and the wifi link. I like the playlist features of iTunes, including the Genius feature.
The Apple TV comes with a remote control and I can access the iTunes playlists directly, using my TV as a monitor, even though the iMac is in a separate room. Once the playlist is playing I turn off the TV.
I am an electrical engineer and I've even worked measuring jitter on serial bit streams. I understand that converting from 44.1 kHz to 48 kHz will cause some sort of interpolation error whereas converting from 48 kHz to 96kHz can be done with no trouble. However, the Apple TV outputs 48 kHz so the bit rate must have been changed somewhere along the chain. My PS Audio DAC won't even lock to the native CD rate of 44.1 kHz.
Are there any suggestions for a wifi receiver and DAC that will match the sound of a good/great CD player? The budget is about $600, with an upper limit of $1000.
Thanks
Here is my wifi system: iMac (iTunes) -> wifi -> Apple TV -> optical TOS -> PS Audio Digital Link DAC.
The 300GB of music has been ripped from CD and is stored using Apple Lossless compression.
Yes, I know it's a lot of Apple software and gear. I want to keep the iMac and iTunes and the wifi link. I like the playlist features of iTunes, including the Genius feature.
The Apple TV comes with a remote control and I can access the iTunes playlists directly, using my TV as a monitor, even though the iMac is in a separate room. Once the playlist is playing I turn off the TV.
I am an electrical engineer and I've even worked measuring jitter on serial bit streams. I understand that converting from 44.1 kHz to 48 kHz will cause some sort of interpolation error whereas converting from 48 kHz to 96kHz can be done with no trouble. However, the Apple TV outputs 48 kHz so the bit rate must have been changed somewhere along the chain. My PS Audio DAC won't even lock to the native CD rate of 44.1 kHz.
Are there any suggestions for a wifi receiver and DAC that will match the sound of a good/great CD player? The budget is about $600, with an upper limit of $1000.
Thanks