I use the Apple TV and find it very convenient but the sound quality to me is 'good not great.' I believe the reason is that the apple TV reduces the bit rate for higher res music. If most of your music is not high res, it may not make a big difference.
If you chose to use the apple tv, the sound is enhanced if you use the optical out to a DAC which accepts optical inputs. This will get you to 80-90 percent of the sound potential in my opinion.
On the other hand, the apple tv streaming does not allow you to use higher res music players like audirvanna, etc. To me, that is a big drawback because these players significantly enhance the sound quality in my system.
I have switched between using my apple tv optical out to dac vs. my macbook optical out to dac, and here's what i found:
- low res apple store downloads are very similar
- higher res files usually sound better on my macbook
- streaming internet radio is better using my macbook (itunes) vs. apple tv
- apple radio is the same
Good luck
If you chose to use the apple tv, the sound is enhanced if you use the optical out to a DAC which accepts optical inputs. This will get you to 80-90 percent of the sound potential in my opinion.
On the other hand, the apple tv streaming does not allow you to use higher res music players like audirvanna, etc. To me, that is a big drawback because these players significantly enhance the sound quality in my system.
I have switched between using my apple tv optical out to dac vs. my macbook optical out to dac, and here's what i found:
- low res apple store downloads are very similar
- higher res files usually sound better on my macbook
- streaming internet radio is better using my macbook (itunes) vs. apple tv
- apple radio is the same
Good luck