AppleTV to Sony TV to external DAC ?

[RShackleford]

Currently I stream music from my desktop computer (in a separate office) to a 2ndGen Apple TV (connected via Ethernet). The digital audio out of the ATV goes to an Emotiva DAC, and into the stereo system.

I'd like to get the new AppleTV 4K. Unfortunately it has no longer has the digital audio output (I guess Apple is throwing audiophiles under the bus). But I'm also going to buy a new TV, probably the Sony Bravia line, which do have digital audio output. So I can pass the audio from the ATV4K thru the TV to the DAC.

Can I hope for the digital stream to pass through the TV un-molested ? I know the 44.1 KHz sampling rate of my ripped CDs is converted to 48K by the Apple TV (does the new one do the same ?). As best I can tell, this has no detrimental effect, but I'd hate to see any further modification of the digital stream.

 

[RShackleford]

Argh, just realized my current Sony Bravia TV (so probably the new one too) does not control the volume of the optical digital audio output (though it does control the volume of the analog audio output). Dopes.

 

[gvl]

Not going to help with the Emotiva, but you could control the volume using TV's remote with ARC/HDMI and a ARC-compatible receiver.

 

[RShackleford]

Not going to help with the Emotiva, but you could control the volume using TV's remote with ARC/HDMI and a ARC-compatible receiver.

I should have mentioned that my stereo is a rebuilt Dyna preamp and McIntosh power amps - so no volume remote for the stereo, nor any fancy ARC stuff. The Emotiva has a remote though, so I should be ok. My main question, does anything bad happen to the digital data stream as it passes from the ATV4K thru HDMI to the Sony X900E TV and then out the TV's optical audio output ?

I guess I should really suck it up and use a Mac Mini directly attached to the Emotiva. But that also means bringing a bluetooth keyboard and mouse into the living room AV area; not gonna fly well with the GF.

 

[gvl]

My main question, does anything bad happen to the digital data stream as it passes from the ATV4K thru HDMI to the Sony X900E TV and then out the TV's optical audio output ?

I don't think there is a universal answer to this question (considering you think to change the TV). Likely it is just a pass-through. It may add jitter which can be an issue depending on the DAC but it won't be much worse than what you already have with AppleTV.

I guess I should really suck it up and use a Mac Mini directly attached to the Emotiva. But that also means bringing a bluetooth keyboard and mouse into the living room AV area; not gonna fly well with the GF.

Perhaps get an airport express?

 

[Dswankey]

I guess I should really suck it up and use a Mac Mini directly attached to the Emotiva. But that also means bringing a bluetooth keyboard and mouse into the living room AV area; not gonna fly well with the GF.

If you have an iPhone, iPad, MacBook and or iPod you could control the MacMini in "Headless" mode with a free app called "Remote". I'm assuming if your contemplating using the Mini then you would be using iTunes? If so you can go to Preferences > Users & Groups click on "Login Items" and set iTunes to open automatically when you turn on the Mac. Once it's on pull up the Remote app I mentioned and you can control iTunes and you song selections and your Emotiva remote would control the volume.

I use this set up with the MacMini connected to a Dac which connects to my pre amp

Fwiw, I believe you can get a Windows or Android version that will work too

 

[RShackleford]

I don't think there is a universal answer to this question (considering you think to change the TV). Likely it is just a pass-through. It may add jitter which can be an issue depending on the DAC but it won't be much worse than what you already have with AppleTV.

I think the Emotiva may "de-jitter" the digital input, but not sure.

Perhaps get an airport express?

How do you control it ? It's got no way of connecting to your TV, right, so you have to control via the computer that's running iTunes - which in my case is in another room. So can you do it via the Remote app that @Dswankey describes for controlling a "headless" MacMini (in the previous post) ? But you've got no screen, so you actually have to go into the other room to change music, or am I missing something ?

 

[RShackleford]

If you have an iPhone, iPad, MacBook and or iPod you could control the MacMini in "Headless" mode with a free app called "Remote". I'm assuming if your contemplating using the Mini then you would be using iTunes? If so you can go to Preferences > Users & Groups click on "Login Items" and set iTunes to open automatically when you turn on the Mac. Once it's on pull up the Remote app I mentioned and you can control iTunes and you song selections and your Emotiva remote would control the volume.

That could be a plan, thanks. Yes, I'm running iTunes. So the MacMini's HDMI output goes to my TV, and the digital audio output to the Emotiva DAC (via a funky little adapter that goes from the plug jack on the Mini to a TOSlink cable) ?

Any idea how modern of a MacMini you need to make this all work ?

This refurbished one looks like it'd work (and 500GB is enough for all my music): https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/EE1D59XX2XXXB/

But then a new one can be had cheaper: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...8KEG5Fkt8kHrVdaw82yb_VoGn1b7PvkxoCY-sQAvD_BwE

... which is a head-scratcher.

 

[gvl]

I think the Emotiva may "de-jitter" the digital input, but not sure.

How do you control it ? It's got no way of connecting to your TV, right, so you have to control via the computer that's running iTunes - which in my case is in another room. So can you do it via the Remote app that @Dswankey describes for controlling a "headless" MacMini (in the previous post) ? But you've got no screen, so you actually have to go into the other room to change music, or am I missing something ?

Yes, I think the last 2 Emotiva DACs had a ASRC which should help with jitter.

Do you mean you can use Apple TV to access your library on TV screen? Sorry, not familiar with it, I thought you had to go into the other room anyway, but apparently not.

You could also run a DLNA server on your computer and access it from the TV, there are TV apps that can do that.

 

[RShackleford]

Do you mean you can use Apple TV to access your library on TV screen? Sorry, not familiar with it, I thought you had to go into the other room anyway, but apparently not.

Yes, on the Apple TV (at least on my 2ndGen one) there is a button called "Computer" on the main-menu screen, and that accesses shared libraries, including the one you've shared from iTunes (on the big computer in the other room). You still have to go in the other room to wake up that computer before you can access the libraries.

So how do you control the Airport Express ?

 

[gvl]

No direct experience with it, but I believe you can play to it from iTunes and Apple mobile devices, similar to Chromecast in Googleland, it has an optical output that you can connect to the DAC.

 

[KevinJS]

Yes, on the Apple TV (at least on my 2ndGen one) there is a button called "Computer" on the main-menu screen, and that accesses shared libraries, including the one you've shared from iTunes (on the big computer in the other room). You still have to go in the other room to wake up that computer before you can access the libraries.

So how do you control the Airport Express ?

Once you have it set up on your network, using the AirPort app, you use AirPlay to control the output. You’ll find an extra volume control in iTunes, with options to select Airport Express as (one of) your output devices. Connect the Express to your amplifier with a miniTosLink/TosLink optical cable and you are good to go. As noted above, you can use Remote on an iOS device to control iTunes.

Other apps, like Vox, also have options for selecting the Express. If you want all the sound output to go to the Express, select it from the drop down menu top of your screen.

Don’t try to use an AirPort Extreme. It lacks the sound output of the Express.

 

[Dswankey]

Any idea how modern of a MacMini you need to make this all work ?

Well mine is a 2010 or 11 so I'm assuming anything after that will be fine.

So can you do it via the Remote app that @Dswankey describes for controlling a "headless" MacMini (in the previous post) ? But you've got no screen, so you actually have to go into the other room to change music, or am I missing something ?

No you would not have to go into the other room to change the music, that's what the app is for. The device (iPhone for example) you would use will act as a screen. You will be able to see your library, album artwork etc, That's the beauty of the app here's a link with images of it.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/itu...e&preserveScrollPosition=true#platform/iphone

 

[awillia6]

Anybody know how many independent simultaneous streams the Apple architecture supports from a single library on a music server? Three work for me, but I haven't needed to (or tried) to go above that.

 

[RShackleford]

Well mine is a 2010 or 11 so I'm assuming anything after that will be fine.

What's the processor/speed and amount of RAM ? Looks like I can get a 2011 for only $200 or so, but only 2GB RAM.

 

[Dswankey]

Mine is a "Mid 2010"

2.4 GHz

4 GB RAM, upgraded from 2 GB

500 GB HD, which I beleieve was upgraded from the standard 320 GB

If you want to learn more about Mic Mini models and years this is a good link

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/index-macmini.html

 

[RShackleford]

Mine is a "Mid 2010"

2.4 GHz

4 GB RAM, upgraded from 2 GB

500 GB HD, which I beleieve was upgraded from the standard 320 GB

Sorry to keep bombarding you with questions, but did you feel you needed to upgrade memory from 4GB to 2GB for it to work as your music server ?

 

[Dswankey]

^ I bought the Mini that way, I didn't do any upgrades. I purchased it from a guy who owned a Video design/editing studio. He was moving his operation plus he had upgraded all of his Mac gear to newer models.

If your just using it, as I do for an audio/video server, you should be fine with the 2GB. I'm assuming the reason he upgraded to 4GB was due to all the professional editing & processing software that he used.

 

[RShackleford]

For Mac Mini, looks like it's best to go with the "unibody" models, which among other things have an HDMI output. It'd also be nice to get one with an optical drive - no you can rip CDs straight into your server instead of it needing to be a two-step process. That leaves you with exactly one model: the mid-2010.