Wadia i170 or Mac TV

I've not tried the Apple TV setup but can confirm that excellent sound is possible from the Wadia 170i using lossless files. If your DAC does its own de-jittering it will sound very good. If it doesn't de-jitter (as my Audio Note DAC doesn't) it may be worth investing in a de-jitter device such as the Monarchy DIP. In my system, the addition of this de-jitter device made an astounding improvement to the resolution of the iPod/Wadia combination.

You would need to use a 75 ohm digital interconnect from the Wadia to the RCA digital input on your Bel Canto (Wadia supplies a basic digital cable for this purpose with the 170i). If your Audio Magic cable is a 75 ohm digital cable this will be far superior to the Wadia supplied cable.

The Wadia comes with a remote but its very basic and just enables track forward/back, play and pause - you can't use it to scroll through the menus and you need to do this on the iPod itself. You need to make sure your iPod is supported by the Wadia as with some earlier iPods the Wadia disables the iPod controls while in the dock meaning you need to remove the iPod select your playlist or album and then redock the iPod. You can check compatability on the Wadia website.

I think you could still use your Apple TV by connecting the Apple TV to your DAC using a toslink cable. I have not heard this set up so couldn't guess as to the quality versus the Wadia.