theswissgator

Thunder24, thanks for the great suggestion. I'm not afraid to go DIY, but might be looking for something a bit more robust. In my research, I've read great things about the Aurender N100. Quite a bit more cost than your suggestion! Any thoughts on the Aurender?

Long term update. Well, I'm still using the Apple TV to connect to my DAC, but in reading through the great replies, I realized I left something out that MAY have an impact on the responses. My DAC is internally build into my Pre-Amp/Amp (A Perreaux 150i). As the Perreaux doesn't have any software associated with it, any source from ethernet needs to pass first through some kind of device (as mentioned, currently Apple TV) where it may be manipulated with another device such as ipad, mac, Qobuz, etc. and then passed along to the internal DAC of the Perreaux. Hopefully that clarifies my need! Thanks again for all the replies! Dan

sbank, yes I currently have ethernet running to the living room and fiber connection. Yes, I just want a way to connect the ethernet to the dac the best way possible (cost reasonable). I have my iMac in the office and my preference would be to keep everything there and just send the audio to the dac in living room. I suppose I could just use a mac mini and then an external drive as currently I don't have a huge collection (I was kind of reborn recently to hifi!) Perhaps a NAS in the office could make sense. I'll take a look at the Sonore, thanks for suggestion.

Hi Chris, Thanks for the reply. I checked out the Auralic Aries, but at its price and footprint, I'd probably opt for a Mac Mini. I have a few 192kHz files that I'd love to listen to full potential. All said, I suppose the Mac Mini with USB output would be the best solution, agree?

I currently use a third gen Apple TV connected to my network via ethernet, to stream to my DAC via optical connection. My understanding is that the ATV does not output hi res audio in native format and downgrades the source. First, is this correct? If so, then what is the best way for me to stream my music to the DAC other than USB/optical from a computer such as MacMini (wife just doesn't want another device in the living room!)? Right now I use my iMac to stream Spotify and then some hi res files from HDtracks, etc. running through Audirvana Plus. Is there a better solution? Thanks for the suggestions!

That's a great idea that I didn't think of! Thanks I'll check into it as well. Cheers.

You mentioned that you currently use your ATV3 and connect optically to your AVR. Just be aware that the ATV4 loses the optical output if that is important to you. I've posted a different thread as a newbie asking about best ways to stream my music to my soon to be delivered DAC/PreAmp/Amp so chime in if you have a chance! Thanks

Hello all, After many years of mass consumer grade audio, I've finally pulled the trigger and bought a nice starter integrated DAC, Pre-amp, Amp. For reference, it is the Perreaux 150i with optional DAC installed. My music collection is almost exclusively either on my computer or streamed via Spotify. I do have some FLAC hi-res files from HDTracks. While the ideal setup would be to have either a laptop or macmini hooked up via USB, the reality is that my computer (iMac) is in my office and all music is streaming from it via ethernet cable and I'm using Audirvanna 2+ for playback. Now here is where my "newbieness" comes into play (no pun intended). When streaming from my iMac, is the signal "pure"? That is, is the signal the same quality as if I were running a USB cable from the iMac directly into the DAC? I have a 3rd Generation AppleTV with optical output. Therefore, would this be the best way to get the signal from the iMac into the DAC (from a networking point of view)? I read that an airport exress wouldn't support full resolution of some of the higher resolution of the HDTracks I have. Is there another solution that would work better? I'm kind of tied to the Airplay thing at the moment as all my devices are Apple. Thanks for the patience as this is a basic question for the vets out there, but I've been reading around trying to educate myself a bit! Cheers