[joefosho315]

Currently, my speaker rig is as follows: iTunes > TBAAM (optical) > presonus CS > sophia EL-34 > Von VR-1's. I've always been wary about using the TBAAM in this setup, as it seems like it might be a bottleneck (it isn't bit perfect, and automatically resamples to 48 kHz). Thus, I've been considering replacing it with the apple airport express for its superior optical out. My question is, is there really even a noticeable difference when upgrading to the airport express? And if there is, is it worth the price? I'm asking this because with the same $100 it would take to purchase the airport, I could just as easily get a matched quad set of Winged C EL-34 tubes that are sure to make an improvement in my setup. Or even a power conditioner. I'm just trying to see what will give me the most bang for my buck. Thanks!

 

[GreatDane]

I've only been using an AirPort Express for a few months but I think it works great. I use the optical out into a Denon 2802 receiver using a Rotel amp driving B&W 602s3. For me it's such a pleasure to be able to sit in my sweet spot and send my music 15' away.

I know I'm not using the Airport Express as you would and I don't have experience with much of your gear. I do use a CS and the DAC sounds great imo but I only use it with headphones.

 

[Wodgy]

Your source makes the most difference. It's worth it just to get the bitperfect audio. I'd go for that before a tube upgrade.

 

[krmathis]

Its worth it imo.
I bought my first AirPort Express when it was released in the summer of 2004, and have since then bought another one. I simply love the wireless digital audio option.

 

[Oliver :)]

AirTunes is a very nice thing to have, liberating and convenient. Unless you have a notebook to abuse as a remote, be sure to get one. There are quite a few, some traditional designs (say Keyspan), some employ other mobile devices. The APX units themselves are very versatile and—due to their all-in-one nature—very mobile too. I currently have three, for audio, remote printing, internet access. The only thing you have to make sure for music is that your network is operating at 11g or higher speeds, no vintage 11b devices (or Nintendo

) forcing it into mixed-mode. You need to have at least 1mbit in realworld network capacity available after broadband, general network activity, and some overhead. Otherwise, you might get hickups in the stream, and that is a very sad experience.

 

[Hardwired]

I have 2 of them. One streams music to the kitchen and the other is in the living room that's both a network plug (into a switch) and a music source.

Add Airfoil to that so you can stream to all your Airports at the same time and fill your house with music.

EDIT: just noticed the 802.11n version of the Airport is out. Might have to grab another for my living room PC.

 

[joefosho315]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hardwired /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have 2 of them. One streams music to the kitchen and the other is in the living room that's both a network plug (into a switch) and a music source. Add Airfoil to that so you can stream to all your Airports at the same time and fill your house with music. EDIT: just noticed the 802.11n version of the Airport is out. Might have to grab another for my living room PC.

Besides increased speed, is there any other advantage in owning the 802.11n version, rather than the older 801.11g version? Does it increase the range perhaps? The older version is readily available on ebay for a much cheaper price than the 802.11n.

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by joefosho315 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Besides increased speed, is there any other advantage in owning the 802.11n version, rather than the older 801.11g version? Does it increase the range perhaps? The older version is readily available on ebay for a much cheaper price than the 802.11n.

Afaik there are no difference between them besides the WLAN standard support. 802.11n on the current one, and 802.11g on the old one.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I haven't used the optical out on mine yet, but I am very pleased with its performance and *love* the automatic backups to an attached drive. Using it to network a printer is killer, too.

Sooner or later, I'll get the optical out working - it was one of the primary reasons I bought it.

 

[Wodgy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif I haven't used the optical out on mine yet, but I am very pleased with its performance and *love* the automatic backups to an attached drive. Using it to network a printer is killer, too. Sooner or later, I'll get the optical out working - it was one of the primary reasons I bought it.

Just in case anyone is confused, the Airport Express doesn't support attaching an external drive or automatic backups. That's only the Airport Extreme and Time Capsule. Neither of the latter includes optical, however.

 

[grawk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif I haven't used the optical out on mine yet, but I am very pleased with its performance and *love* the automatic backups to an attached drive. Using it to network a printer is killer, too. Sooner or later, I'll get the optical out working - it was one of the primary reasons I bought it.

If you've got a drive hooked to an airport express, and it's working, I'm going to have to get several of the 802.11n ones. My understanding is the usb ports on them are printer only.

if you've got an extreme, you're gonna have a hard time getting the optical to work, as there's no audio out jack.

 

[IceClass]

I just hooked my Airport Express up to my living room speaker rig by way of the Entech Number Cruncher 205.2.
I also have a Teac DVH350 plugged into the Entech.

Weird thing is that when only the Teac is plugged in, all is well but the second I plug the Airport Express into the optical in of the Entech it just suddenly starts jumping from one input to the next in sequence and every few seconds.

The problem stops when I unplug the airport express from the optical input.

Not trying to hijack the thread but would appreciate any constructive input.

 

[soundfreq]

it seems that your dac is not locking to the digital signal of the airport express. have you checked the connections? can you manually select the input signal rather than having the unit search for it automatically?

 

[grawk]

It could be one of two things. It could be a bad optical cable (or mini->toslink adapter), or it could be that your dac doesn't like having both inputs plugged in. Try unplugging the toshiba, and then see how it likes the airport.