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kalash

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  1. Basically, I want the best sound quality (given a reasonable budget) from iTunes running on my PC. I also want the setup to be wireless. I just got a pair of Audioengine A5+ powered speakers I plan to use with this setup. I also plan to go wireless, maybe through AppleTV. My question is whether I would benefit from a dedicated DAC with this setup--I was thinking of the Audioengine D1 sold here Audioengine D1 So one possible setup would be PC laptop --> AppleTV --> D1 DAC --> powered speakers Another cheaper option I was thinking of going is via Audioengine's W3 wireless sender/receiver that essentially acts as an external sound plugged into the USB port on your computer http://audioengineusa.com/Store/Audioengine-W3 Just not sure if the DAC will be decent quality, although I really only want CD-quality out of this setup, not anything higher... Aside from the above, I'm wondering if there is more I can/should do to get better sound. Based on my research, it seems like even with an external DAC (at least via USB) you are still getting artefacts from Windows built-in mixer. There's an article on this here: hifi-advice.com - computeraudio - optimising itunes for windows The author used a program called Virtual Cable to route the sound directly to the desired (external) sound card, bypassing Windows' k-mixer. Do you think something like this is desirable? The bottom line is that I want to get optimum, CD-quality sound from iTunes on my PC. I'll be ripping a huge CD collection, probably to ALAC (Apple Lossless), and probably store it on an external drive or NAS. Thoughts?
  2. Basically, I want to rip my CD collection into lossless format (FLAC or Apple's ALAC) and archive on an external HDD or network drive (NAS). The trouble is how to play it on my home stereo system in my living room. Two options seem to present themselves: (i) plug it directly into the USB port on my AV receiver. Problem: How will I interface with the device so I can page through my library? (ii) wirelessly connect to my external drive or network drive using Airplay, Sonos, or something similar. Audioengine makes a cool wireless device called the W3 that is supposed to have a built-in DAC in the sender that plugs into the USB port on your computer: Audioengine W3 The only problem with (ii) is that my computer has to be running the whole time, or does it? Could I put my music on a network drive and then access it somehow through Airplay or Sonos? How would I interface with it?
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