[blue4n3]

I am definately going to make my critical listening setup all computer based. My files are mainly lossless out of itunes w/o any enhancer, eq, etc. I want to stream the music through Wi-Fi using the airport express. If I use the optical out will I get a bit perfect output? I will be hooking it up to the Headroom MicroDAC. Is there any SQ difference between using the Airport express and using my laptop via USB to the microDAC?

 

[Oliver :)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blue4n3 I am definately going to make my critical listening setup all computer based. My files are mainly lossless out of itunes w/o any enhancer, eq, etc. I want to stream the music through Wi-Fi using the airport express. If I use the optical out will I get a bit perfect output?

Yes. You do want to make sure your network is all 11g in order to avoid bandwidth related issues (dropouts) though.

 

[sum]

The Airport Express is bit-perfect but has tons of jitter. The reason is that there is no dedicated clock chip in the device to clock the audio, so it is actually clocked on the arrival of the data via Ethernet or Wi-Fi. My guess is there will be a bit of a difference between a USB connection and optical via the Micro-DAC but I'm not positive. It really depends on the jitter rejection quality of the device. I've used my Airport Express through a Benchmark DAC1 and Apogee Mini-DAC with tons of success.

 

[blue4n3]

Ok. How adversely will jitter affect the sq of the audio if I use it with the MicroDAC? Also, is ther any way I can mod it so as to clock it? Does anyone know how much jitter the MicroDAC can take before getting mad at me? finally, is there any way to set up the connection so that I dont have jitter problems?

ps....what about the sonus station thing? better alternative to AE?

 

[Gabe Logan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oliver Yes. You do want to make sure your network is all 11g in order to avoid bandwidth related issues (dropouts) though.

Not to hijack the thread but is "b" incapable of performing realibly?

 

[Oliver :)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabe Logan Not to hijack the thread but is "b" incapable of performing realibly?

Depends upon what else you are doing. If you have no other network activity it could work well. In my place it totally tanked when I upgraded the DSL to 2mBit. 11b just has 4-5mBit realworld performance anyway. Throw in up to three Macs and there won't be much room left for the music stream.

 

[Gabe Logan]

I got 6/608 running.I kind of like my B setup as it works just perfect for me so i would hate to throw a complete upgrade on all my hardware.

 

[iamdone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blue4n3 Ok. How adversely will jitter affect the sq of the audio if I use it with the MicroDAC? Also, is ther any way I can mod it so as to clock it? Does anyone know how much jitter the MicroDAC can take before getting mad at me? finally, is there any way to set up the connection so that I dont have jitter problems? ps....what about the sonus station thing? better alternative to AE?

I found this in Stereophile: http://www.stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/505apple/

If I'm reading this right, it looks like jitter is only a problem with the analog output, not the digital:

-----
Quote:

However, this performance becomes moot when the AE's digital output is used. The grayed-out trace in fig.7 shows a similar spectral analysis of the Musical Fidelity X-DACV3's analog output while it was driven by the AirPort Express via the Monster TosLink cable. The noise floor has dropped by 4–5dB, the word-clock jitter to a respectably low 258ps, which is actually better than the case with the standalone D/A processor driven directly by my PC's S/PDIF output (provided by an RME PCI card).

 

[Oliver :)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabe Logan I got 6/608 running.I kind of like my B setup as it works just perfect for me so i would hate to throw a complete upgrade on all my hardware.

Totally understandable. Yet it would mean taking chances regarding the experience. I don't know how other streaming solutions handle bandwidth issues.

 

[audioengr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sum The Airport Express is bit-perfect but has tons of jitter. The reason is that there is no dedicated clock chip in the device to clock the audio, so it is actually clocked on the arrival of the data via Ethernet or Wi-Fi. My guess is there will be a bit of a difference between a USB connection and optical via the Micro-DAC but I'm not positive. It really depends on the jitter rejection quality of the device. I've used my Airport Express through a Benchmark DAC1 and Apogee Mini-DAC with tons of success.

Not true. There is an oscillator that clocks the TI PCM2705 in the AE. I upgraded this to a Superclock3 in my unit and changed the output to S/PDIF coax, as well as changing the power supply to linears.

Steve N.

 

[audioengr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iamdone I found this in Stereophile: http://www.stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/505apple/ If I'm reading this right, it looks like jitter is only a problem with the analog output, not the digital: -----

Total nonsense. Jitter is always a problem in any implementation, USB or WIFI.