[garysan]

Can someone just give me the nod that this plan will work. I have an iMac with Apple Lossless music on it and want to get that music to my receiver downstairs (directly underneath the office where the iMac is). Am I correct that I can plug in an rWave dongle and then have whatever I tell the iMac to play (through iTunes or iRemote app on iPad) and have it arrive at an rDAC downstairs which is then connected through the Aux RCA inputs on my receiver?
 
Seems a tidy solution if my thought-process is right.

 

[kstaken]

Looks like that's what it's intended to do although it seems you need the rDAC-kw rather than the regular rDAC. Has the advantage of not requiring a wifi network but if you already have a reasonably reliable network there are many other ways to achieve the same thing that allow more choice in components.

 

[garysan]

Quote:

Looks like that's what it's intended to do although it seems you need the rDAC-kw rather than the regular rDAC. Has the advantage of not requiring a wifi network but if you already have a reasonably reliable network there are many other ways to achieve the same thing that allow more choice in components.

 
I'm looking for something that'll give me a really slick 'user experience' and the iRemote and iTunes does work very well (have tried it).
 
I was also keen on the Sonos app and the fact that I could expand quite easily into different rooms - can I do the same as I'm intending to do with Sonos?

 

[kstaken]

Yeah Sonos is a solution as is the Logitech Squeezebox. The Squeezebox touch also has the advantage of having a user interface on the device and a regular remote control in addition to the ability to control it via the computer or an app for the ipad/ipod touch.
 
You can also achieve the same thing using an Apple TV which would have tighter overall integration with the Mac and can also be used to send video if you have a TV near by.
 
From a sound quality perspective the Squeezebox or Sonos will likely be better. The Squeezebox touch is also highly tweakable if you have any interest in that sort of thing but if not it's perfectly functional as is. It probably is a slightly more complex solution than the Arcam system assuming that system works as advertised. The Apple TV is probably the simplest over all though.

 

[garysan]

Quote:

From a sound quality perspective the Squeezebox or Sonos will likely be better. 

Have you anything to back this comment up? I would have imagined that the Arcam system would likely outperform the Sonos and/or squeezebox in pure sound quality terms but have no real 'knowledge' either way.

 

[kstaken]

Sorry, I meant in comparison to the Apple TV not the Arcam. There wasn't supposed to be a paragraph break before that sentence.
 
The sound quality of the Squeezebox and Sonos will largely be dictated by the DAC you use it with (assuming you use an external DAC). I haven't heard the Arcam system so I have no idea how good the streaming sound quality is, but I agree that given what it is it would likely be better than the built in DAC in both the Squeezebox and Sonos. 
 

Quote:

Have you anything to back this comment up? I would have imagined that the Arcam system would likely outperform the Sonos and/or squeezebox in pure sound quality terms but have no real 'knowledge' either way.