cuiter23
Headphoneus Supremus
Hey Guys,
I have found a relatively cheap way to stream media into your speakers, headphones etc - through an Apple Airport Express!
I was on the market for a Sonos connect or a Bluesound Node and I suddenly thought of a way that could save me a couple hundred bucks. This hasn't been discussed much at all so I wanted to share it on here.
The Airport Express' 3.5mm audio out also doubles up as a Mini Toslink Optical Out (Most Apple products have this feature). I just run a Mini Toslink cable into my DAC/AMP (In my case, the Sony HAP-S1) which supports Optical In. The AMP then provides power my passive bookshelf speakers which I am currently using the KEF LS50.
As you may know, the Airport Express (AE) supports AirPlay which allows you to stream audio content to the AE from any Apple device or with Android and Windows through some tinkering around.
As for sound quality, the built-in DAC of the Airport Express (AE) is adequate. However, by using the Optical Output, this bypasses the built-in DAC of the AE and uses my Sony's DAC which is the PCM1795 which is a much better DAC than the one in the AE.
Personally, I am streaming Tidal HiFi to the unit and it sounds great. There was a few native DSD 2.8MHz songs preloaded and stored in my Sony HAP-S1's HDD and I tested the same trakcs through Tidal HiFi. I didn't really hear a discernable difference. Perhaps the Tidal has slightly more low end but the differences were minimal and I most likely wouldn't be able to tell from in a blind ABX test.
Therefore, why spend hundreds or even thousands on a dedicated music streamer if you aren't even going to use it's built-in DAC? Many people on here buy an expensive streamer with a great internal DAC but then never use as they just Digital Out to connect it to another standalone DAC for processing. My suggestion is, if you don't plan to use the built-in DAC of a higher-end streamer, then save yourself the money.
Oh and one other thing is that the AE only supports 16bit/44.1KHz. So if you need something that can transport higher resolution files, you will need to buy a Bluesound or Aries, etc. The Sonos doesn't support any higher than the AE so IMHO it's a waste of money unless you use it for multi-room connection for it's wireless speakers (I assume dedicated HiFi enthusiasts are not into that kind of stuff anyways lol).
Here is how it is all connected for me (Pardon my ghetto set-up on a chair this is just my temporary set-up while I am living at school):
Let me know if you have any questions and hopefully I saved some of you guys a chunk of money. Again, nothing against all the other companies listed above. This solution works for me but may not work for everyone so please bear this in mind. Personally, this is the perfect solution and it only cost me a fraction of what I would have paid if I didn't think of this.
Happy Listening!
I have found a relatively cheap way to stream media into your speakers, headphones etc - through an Apple Airport Express!
I was on the market for a Sonos connect or a Bluesound Node and I suddenly thought of a way that could save me a couple hundred bucks. This hasn't been discussed much at all so I wanted to share it on here.
The Airport Express' 3.5mm audio out also doubles up as a Mini Toslink Optical Out (Most Apple products have this feature). I just run a Mini Toslink cable into my DAC/AMP (In my case, the Sony HAP-S1) which supports Optical In. The AMP then provides power my passive bookshelf speakers which I am currently using the KEF LS50.
As you may know, the Airport Express (AE) supports AirPlay which allows you to stream audio content to the AE from any Apple device or with Android and Windows through some tinkering around.
As for sound quality, the built-in DAC of the Airport Express (AE) is adequate. However, by using the Optical Output, this bypasses the built-in DAC of the AE and uses my Sony's DAC which is the PCM1795 which is a much better DAC than the one in the AE.
Personally, I am streaming Tidal HiFi to the unit and it sounds great. There was a few native DSD 2.8MHz songs preloaded and stored in my Sony HAP-S1's HDD and I tested the same trakcs through Tidal HiFi. I didn't really hear a discernable difference. Perhaps the Tidal has slightly more low end but the differences were minimal and I most likely wouldn't be able to tell from in a blind ABX test.
Therefore, why spend hundreds or even thousands on a dedicated music streamer if you aren't even going to use it's built-in DAC? Many people on here buy an expensive streamer with a great internal DAC but then never use as they just Digital Out to connect it to another standalone DAC for processing. My suggestion is, if you don't plan to use the built-in DAC of a higher-end streamer, then save yourself the money.
Oh and one other thing is that the AE only supports 16bit/44.1KHz. So if you need something that can transport higher resolution files, you will need to buy a Bluesound or Aries, etc. The Sonos doesn't support any higher than the AE so IMHO it's a waste of money unless you use it for multi-room connection for it's wireless speakers (I assume dedicated HiFi enthusiasts are not into that kind of stuff anyways lol).
Here is how it is all connected for me (Pardon my ghetto set-up on a chair this is just my temporary set-up while I am living at school):
Let me know if you have any questions and hopefully I saved some of you guys a chunk of money. Again, nothing against all the other companies listed above. This solution works for me but may not work for everyone so please bear this in mind. Personally, this is the perfect solution and it only cost me a fraction of what I would have paid if I didn't think of this.
Happy Listening!
