[sum]

So I use an Airport Express in my living room for my primary stereo. For those of you that aren't familiar the Airport Express has a toslink out that works with iTunes quite well. The problem with the Airport Express is that it has no clocking circuit. I currently have it running optical into my Integra processor but it's just not quite right. I used to have a Benchmark DAC1 sitting in line with it but have since sold it. I also have an Apogee Mini-DAC but I can't bring myself to rip that away from my computer which is where I do most of my headphone listening. I'm looking for suggestions for a DAC with good jitter correction and re-clocking circuitry. I'd rather not spend the kind of money my Apogee DAC costs since I don't use my living room for much other than TV now a days. Any ideas? I keep reading about the DAC-Ah but from what I see it doesn't have any clock management and appears to be clocked on the incoming SPDIF signal. What about the Zahlou, or do I need to swallow the cost and go with something higher end such as the up and coming PS Audio?

 

[kugino]

well, for a $100 source the air express isn't going to include a nice clocking circuit...

but i wonder if you even need that via the air express?? i use a dac-ah out of mine and i think it sounds fantastic (and that's a stock dac-ah, too)...i guess if you're not using it as a main listening area, i'm not so sure the money spent on a reclocking/jitter-reducing device would be worth it.

 

[sum]

Hmm, very good point. I guess the big thing is I miss the 3D sound stage I used to get when I had the DAC1 in place. For me, jitter tends to wipe out the sound stage and blur all the imagery. Might just need to buy the DAC-Ah and try it. Considering it's fairly inexpensive, I guess it couldn't hurt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kugino well, for a $100 source the air express isn't going to include a nice clocking circuit... but i wonder if you even need that via the air express?? i use a dac-ah out of mine and i think it sounds fantastic (and that's a stock dac-ah, too)...i guess if you're not using it as a main listening area, i'm not so sure the money spent on a reclocking/jitter-reducing device would be worth it.

 

[TheSloth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sum Hmm, very good point. I guess the big thing is I miss the 3D sound stage I used to get when I had the DAC1 in place. For me, jitter tends to wipe out the sound stage and blur all the imagery. Might just need to buy the DAC-Ah and try it. Considering it's fairly inexpensive, I guess it couldn't hurt.

The Airport Express is not a high jitter transport. Connected to the MF XDAC v3 Stereophile measured the output Jitter to be in the 2xx ps range, which was equivalent to the 'high-end' transports that they measured the same DAC with.

 

[iamdone]

Quote:

The problem with the Airport Express is that it has no clocking circuit.

I don't think that's true. Someone on the board said they modded one and it did indeed have a clocking circuit. I believe the modder replaced it with a better one and changed out the optical to coaxial output.

I would imagine without a clocking circuit you'd have terrible timing because you'd be dependant on your router. I think the reason there is a slight delay before music starts is to build a slight buffer. If you ever get a bad connection, the timing is still perfect, it just keeps stopping and starting waiting for the buffer to fill.

Here's the LINK.

After further research, looks like he sells his mod, but it's very expensive. LINK

 

[d.f]

is there any evidence to suggest using the optical out on an Airport Express would result in any lesser quality than using a direct conncetion (USB - M-Audio Transit - Optical in on DAC).

it would be great to have to connect one less thing to my laptop when listening to tunes. i just presumed that it was not of 'audiophille' quality.

any ideas?

 

[TheSloth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by d.f is there any evidence to suggest using the optical out on an Airport Express would result in any lesser quality than using a direct conncetion (USB - M-Audio Transit - Optical in on DAC). it would be great to have to connect one less thing to my laptop when listening to tunes. i just presumed that it was not of 'audiophille' quality. any ideas?

No, but there is evidence to suggest it would be better. THe M-Audio Transit uses a USB/SPDIF converter which is a very jitter inducing way of getting a SPDIF signal. The Airport Express will undoutably be a more accurate digital signal.