Airport Express vs. AV710

[viator122]

I posted this question in the wrong forum before, so here it goes again.

I remember some people asserting that the Airport Express is one of the best sources at the $100 price point. If so, does that mean it beats out the Chaintech AV710 and the EMU 0404?

 

[viator122]

Bump.

Come on, someone has to have an opinion...

 

[probedb]

Are you using analogue or digital?

I have my AV710 setup for bit-perfect digital output to my amp.

It does have 2 very high quality DACs as well for analogue, plus you can use ASIO4ALL in Winamp and the like to bypass any Windows nastiness.

Oh and it's only $25

 

[blessingx]

Couple non-SQ issues (which you may have already considered)...

The Airport Express (since it streams any audio as wireless [usually] encrypted ALAC) can only be used with iTunes (somewhat a work around with Airfoil on Mac, but not on PC). So no DVD, RealAudio stream, VLC, Foobar, etc. This is a obviously a substancial limitation. Course the APX is more a streamer/Squeezebox/Soundbridge competitor than a strict soundcard.

However on the opposite hardware side, if say you were for whatever reason considering an iBook (

), the APX opens up possibilities as a portable router. Would also assist in sharing and playback through iTunes your (or anyone else on the network) PC/Desktop and notebook music cache. Should a laptop become your main music system (or even a super remote controller for others) APX would assist in this.

 

[viator122]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx However on the opposite hardware side, if say you were for whatever reason considering an iBook ( ), the APX opens up possibilities as a portable router. Would also assist in sharing and playback through iTunes your (or anyone else on the network) PC/Desktop and notebook music cache. Should a laptop become your main music system (or even a super remote controller for others) APX would assist in this.

Exactly right. I was hoping to kill two birds with one stone and buy an APX to use as a wireless router and a sound device for my desktop PC (i.e. Desktop PC->wireless card->APX->stereo), but if you can only use APX with iTunes, it makes that impossible.

However, out of curiosity, is it possible to have a PC hardwired to the internet and also using a wireless card and APX to stream music?

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by viator122 However, out of curiosity, is it possible to have a PC hardwired to the internet and also using a wireless card and APX to stream music?

I don't exactly know what you mean, but I think the answer is yes. The APX can be used off of the internet to create a local network. With a PC (and maybe Mac I don't know) can be linked to a wired and wireless network, but I don't know about streaming or what overrides what.

Although it doesn't help with killing two birds, another option is to buy a cheap $35 D-Link/Airlink101 router (just make sure it supports TXT WEP or WPA security - most do). For awhile I ran my Mac desktop wired to a wireless router, which wireless broadcast to the APX.

The APX unfortunately doesn't have a port for wire connections (except input for cable/DSL modem).

 

[JiiEf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx The APX unfortunately doesn't have a port for wire connections (except input for cable/DSL modem).

But that USB-printer sharing thing is very useful for those of us that bought a wired printer and want to get it into the network. It's not perfect, but I quite like it.

/JF