iTunes and AppleTV as a Quality Music Server

Last night I connected a 17" LCD tv to the ATV now located in my den. Everything is working fine and the DAC in my Denon DAP-2500A is very close in sound to my Denon DVD-2900. My initial impression was the bass on the 2900 was a touch tighter than the preamp but it's very close if there really is a difference. I think I'm going to hold off on purchasing the DACMagic for at least a couple of weeks. I want to give the preamp a good listen before I make any more changes and give me more time to research optional DAC's. The Benchmark DAC1 and Apogee Mini look tempting but cost almost twice as much used as the DACMagic does new. And if you add in USB...

I'm still undecided regarding using the ATV with a monitor or Airport Express with the Touch. I'm leaning towards the ATV as I really like using the GUI and it adds a certain coolness factor for just an audio system. :yes: I can also watch music videos with it as well although the audio on the videos from iTunes is low bitrate. For some reason the Touch does not want to stay connected to the ATV but has no problem staying connected to iTunes on my PC. This is not an issue if I'm using an Airport Express.

Since nobody has an answer for the question below I'll probably start a new thread.

What's the best way to rip my CDs into ALAC using EAC? I'm missing the middle software piece below.

CD--->EAC--->???--->ALAC
 
Update

Well I've been having issues with my WiFi connection to my ATV. I moved my router to a better location and that helped but didn't solve the issue. So I ordered an Airport Express and will give that a go when it arrives next week and control iTunes with my Touch.

So far streaming the iTunes audio sounds very good through my Denon DAP 2500. Even the 192 rips sound good. :D I've only ripped a few CD's using ALAC and will get on that project after Christmas.

I really like using the ATV with a monitor but will make my final decision after I've lived with the AE and Touch combo for a couple of weeks.
 
Almost Finished

After having problems with the WiFi I had a guy drop a cat-5 cable from my office into my den. I've decided to make the ATV my streaming device of choice and will purchase the DACMagic soon. I will also change out the silver 17" TV in the photo with a silver Apple 20" cinema display in another month or two. The cinema display is being purchased on it's looks alone and I'm aware there are better options out there. I'm waiting to purchase another ATV until the end of January when Apple is expected to announce updates to several pieces of hardware and possibly the ATV. If it is updated I'll buy the new version for my HT and use my current ATV with my stereo. I'm also in the process of re ripping most of my CD collection as ALAC files.

While I've had the ATV for almost two years and was using it to listen to music in my HT I never thought of it as a quality source for my stereo system. Once I decided to go down path of using high quality audio files as a source it was obvious to me where I'd end up. For those of you who have never seen the GUI of the ATV you should check it out at your nearest Apple Store. It's very cool looking and easy to use. It's a fabulous way to surf or search your entire audio library. Adding a monitor to the mix does add another level of complexity to the equation but for me it is worth it. For those who will be using an ATV to stream high quality audio files in an existing HT environment that makes this decision a no brainer. :thmbsp:

Here's my system as it sits today.
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Nice choices. I lust for the Apple cinema displays. The ones I've seen have had stunning screens.
 
Nice choices. I lust for the Apple cinema displays. The ones I've seen have had stunning screens.
Thanks. The cinema displays are way overpriced and to my eye don't really look any better than a nice monitor at half the price. But the cases do look cool. I plan on buying one from a local company that resells computer equipment returned from leases at less than half the price of a new one.
 
I have been watching this thread with interest since I just ATV this Christmas. To me the advantage of the ATV over the Duet is that you have the choice of streaming from your PC via the ATV or playback directly from the ATV. I have loaded a subset of my CD collection using Apple Lossless and synced to the ATV. I can playback directly from the ATV without my PC running or I can stream from ITunes. So far I am using my living room TV for the menu display, but plan to get the Touch as the remote menu display which for me is a better option than a small LCD display. This will allow me to not turn on your main TV just to control music. The ATV also gives you all the Video stuff that you don't get with the Duet. So far, I am just using the analog output from the ATV to my NAD receiver, but have the Cambridge Audio DacMagic on order. I have to say the sound I am getting now is actually good - though I expect significant improvement with the DAC. So far I am very pleased with ATV and now have an easy interface to my CDs loaded through Itunes to the ATV along with other downloads. Also, my CD player was very outdated (early 90's Yamaha), so the choice of a new CD player versus a DAC and ATV was easy especially given all the extra audio/video media management from the ATV.
 
bottlerocket, welcome to AK. :thmbsp:

Please post your impressions of the DacMagic when it arrives, I might be ordering one in the next week or so. I think there will be a significant improvement compared to using the ATV internal DAC. When I first purchased the ATV two years ago it was in my HT and I compared the ATV DAC to the DAC's in my Denon AVR 3805 and the Denon sounded much better. No doubt if you are looking to stream audio and it's going into a system with a TV/display the ATV is an excellent choice.
 
Will do Duffinator. There's a good review of the DACMagic in Issue 62 of Hi fi+. I don't have an AVR and my 2 channel amplifier does not have digital input so I definitely needed an outboard DAC. I am really curious how it will sound also. I expect to have it by the end of January.
 
Got my Cambridge Audio DACMagic today. I am playing Apple Lossless through the ATV to the DACMagic via a Toslink optical cable to a NAD 712 receiver. Its never sounded better. In comparison to using the ATV Dacs and RCA output, it has way more detail and depth. Sounds great. I am really happy with the whole set up. For a $329 ATV and a $399 DAC, I've replaced my CD player with a good music server with exceptionally easy set up.
 
Cool. :thmbsp: I'm not surprised that it sounds a lot better than the DAC's in the ATV. Too bad you couldn't compare it to a better DAC. I still haven't ordered one but will do so soon.
 
This seems to be covered well by previous respondants, but FWIW...

I use iTunes on my Mac..with the stuff I want to stream in simple .WAV format. Using the built in WiFi I stream to the remote Airport Express plugged in the wall behind the stereo. Optical out to a AU$400 DAC and then into the pre-amp. No remote control though.

Simple and sounds magic, can play for hours without having to chanhe disks.

You can even expand later by adding a second or third Airport Express. With my set up I can stream into the main system in the lounge and to the smaller Bose setup on the patio concurrently - great for parties.
 
DACMagic

I just ordered a silver DACMagic but they are on back order (again). It should be here within a couple of weeks and I'll report back if it sounds better than either the DAC in my Denon DAP-2500A pre or DVD-2900 universal player.
 
Here's my setup in it's final form with the Apple Cinema monitor and Cambridge Audio DacMagic in place. I'm very pleased with the DacMagic.

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If I was going to spend more money I would have likely purchased the Benchmark Dac1 or Apogee Mine like you recommended. Do you like the PS Audio better than your Apogee?
 
I have not directly compared the two. Perhaps I will this weekend. The PS is selling for $699 on PS site. That is a GREAT deal for a GREAT DAC. The Apogee has more features like volume control and firewire.
 
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