The OFFICAL Apple TV thread

I have two Apple TV's (version 1) and one Airport Express that I use in three different rooms. The two ATV's are connected to DAC's (PS Audio and Proceed) via Wireworld SuperNova 5 glass toslinks while the AE uses analogue out to a pair of Audio Engine self powered speakers. I have about 1700 CD's stored on a 1T hard drive ripped in Apple Lossless. It all sounds very good.

For serious listening, I also use Pure Music in connection with Airfoil and find that it is a big improvement.

My favorite "find" has been broadcasting Pandora to my various sytems using Airfoil. If you spring for the premium edition of Pandora for $36/year, the signal is bumped to 192 KBS. No, it is not audiophile quality, but it sounds good enough for the type of background listening (such as dinner parties) that I primarilty use it for, plus I have discovered lots of new music. My CD purchases have dropped about 90% since I started listening to Pandora. BlueBeat also has some great stuff that I broadcast with Airfoil. KUT FM (University of Texas at Austin) has a program on Saturday nights called "Twine Time" covering blues, R&B and rockabilly that I have listened to for years when I could get the signal down in Texas, and now it is a Saturday night ritual.

I suppose I should spring for a Mac Mini for my main rig, but for now, I am a happy camper

I am using the ATV2 to stream Apple Lossless files into my system. I am using an Audioquest toslink into the excellent Hegel HD10 DAC. Works great with my system. Super high resolution, yet warm and natural.

I am happy with the convenience of the aTV but not as thrilled with sound quality. I have the 1st gen atv hooked up to an NAD M15HD via hdmi. I have listened to music both stored directly on the atv as well as streamed through itunes. It sounds decent but not nearly as good as music stored and played from my ps3. I've thought about adding a mac mini but the simplicity of the atv operating system is very appealing.

Would pure music and airfoil help with the quality in streaming from itunes to the atv? I'm confused about this point.

I also assume the NAD dac supsercedes the atv dac?

I've ripped all cd's using apple losless. CD's, blurays etc sound terrific on my system. It's the noticeable decrease in atv sound quality that has me frustrated. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Your thought about moving into a Mac Mini is right. The simplicity of running a Mac Mini with an iPad is superb and is truly a 21st century music delivery system. You can use the Mini to stream your iTunes library from another computer in your house so you don't even need to rerip your music, just start putting the new music on the Mini. Use Pure Music playback software, at least AAIF to rip and just relax and listen.

The one thing is, if you are streaming from another computer you do not get to use the capabilities of Pure Music. The files have to actually be on the computer that has Pure installed for playback.

PS. A site called Computer Audiophile has a ton of info on this subject.

It seems most recommend ripping cd's with apple losless. Is aaif better?