flohmann

Have you tried it as an AirPlay target device? I've heard conflicting things about whether AirPlay is currently supported or not. I assume it's limited to 16/44.1 as an AirPlay target.

As the person who started this thread, I thought I should report back on the listening test I did based on the suggestions made on the thread. Current set up: iMac running iTunes (source) Airport Extreme (wifi router) Airport Express (streamer) Genesis Digital Lens (RAM-based SPDIF buffer) Red Wine Audio Audeze Edition DAC/headphone amp Audeze LCD-2 headphones I've found that the Genesis Digital Lens makes a readily noticeable improvement when inserted between the Express and the DAC. My goal was to find something smaller and cheaper to replace the combination of the Express and the Digital Lens (which is now over 15 years old). Based on suggestions on this thread, I purchased the new Wyred4Sound Remedy and an Arcam AirDAC. The Remedy is a replacement only for the Digital Lens, not the Express, which still must do the streaming duties, with SPDIF being buffered and reclocked by the Remedy. The Arcam combines Airplay streamer with a coax digital output, so it is a complete replacement for the Express and the Lens. Long story short, I will be keeping the Digital Lens. The Remedy was *very* close to the Digital Lens, so close that I'm not sure I could reliably distinguish in a blind test. Both were clearly better than the Express direct into the DAC. I think the Lens was very slightly better, creating a bit more vivid presentation (similar to blacker blacks for video), but a toss up. This is a good result for the Remedy, which retails for $399 (the Lens was $1800 when new and still fetches $450 on the used market, 15 years later). But in the end, I couldn't justify swapping one ~$400 thing for another (albeit larger) $400 thing. The Arcam lost out on functional, rather than audio quality, grounds. It was a fine sounding AirPlay sreamer, and certainly is a tidy and compact single chassis replacement for the Express and the Digital Lens. However, after halting an AirPlay stream, after a few seconds, the unit seems to deactivate the AirPlay "input", and in this state it interacted badly with my RWA DAC, making a hiss interspersed with crinkling noises. This may be misbehavior on the receiver chip of my DAC, rather than the Arcam, but effectively ruled out the Arcam as an option for me. However, it does seem like a solid unit otherwise -- the closest thing I've found to "audiophile version of the Airport Express."

The Arcam AirDAC is another option, supports AirPlay and includes a well-regarded DAC that feed RCA analog output. I happen to be selling a used one on Audiogon right now. :-)

More research uncovered another intriguing option, the Wyred 4 Sound Remedy, which is a reclocker (not clear to me whether there's a digital buffer in there or not, as well). Since it omits the DAC altogether, it's $399 (rather than the $599 for the Arcam AirDAC), but it still requires an Airport Express, so really $498 altogether. So now I have two options to explore (with due respect to all the awesome Linux options, I'm not looking for another tinkers project right now). Turns out there was more out there than I initially thought! Here's the description on the product page:

Hm, then the question is whether it passes 16/44.1 through bit perfect (like Airport Express) or whether it transcodes everything to 16/48 (like AppleTV). Anyhow, I'm intrigued enough to visit my local dealer and see if I can get one for home trial. I will update the thread if I have more to share.

Robert, thanks very much for the information. That makes the airDAC a serious option for me to consider! I had been misled by this post from Myro, which suggests no SPDIF *output* on the airDAC -- plainly mistaken! I use the AE optical digital output, but the high jitter makes it less than ideal for audiophile applications. So now I rely on the Genesis Lens to reclock the bitstream before going to my Red Wine DAC. Sounds like the airDAC might be just the thing to replace both the AE and the Genesis reclocking box. I'll give it a try.

My home system is built around an iMac running iTunes. The Airport Express is a great, inexpensive whole home digital streamer solution -- works with nearly all iOS apps, works with iTunes, etc. But I've discovered that if you want an audiophile experience (yes, limited to 16/44.1 or 16/48, I know, I know), I find that buffering the digital output on the Express to reduce jitter is pretty important. Makes an audible difference on high quality gear. So I'm using Airport Express -> Genesis Digital Lens -> Red Wine Audio Audeze Edition. That's a lot of boxes, and the Genesis Lens is ancient by today's standards. So I'm wondering why no one has built a simple Airplay streamer with a digital buffer and SPDIF digital output, so that we can use AirPlay but choose our own DAC. PS Audio once talked about such a product, but they didn't end up building it. The Arcam AirDAC has no digital outputs, and the Myro:Air doesn't do AirPlay wirelessly. And not clear that either of them take any anti-jitter steps. Should be pretty simple -- basically, an audiophile version of the Airport Express (just the Airplay bits, not the hotspot bits, and no DAC). Essentially, a DAC-less audiophile version of the Airport Express... I know, I know, you're all going to tell me that's too small a market. But in this era of Kickstarter funding, that seems wrong!

Yes, the folks at Wyred were helpful, but they didn't have anything that I hadn't already tried, so to no avail. It's difficult dealing with these apps that muck about under the OS X hood, especially when combined with a custom driver (which the W4S uses).

Sorry, I never did get it sorted. Opted instead for Amarra (which I often don't use because it causes trouble with Airplay). These "make modifications under the hood to OS X" audio hacks are tiresome. If the rumors are true that Apple is negotiating to add high-rez downloads to iTunes, then perhaps they'll have the incentive to focus on iTunes sound quality themselves.

I just received the W4S DAC-2, and am having trouble via USB using Pure Music. Source is an iMac, 4gb RAM, running latest iTunes and 10.6. Pure Music is set for no upsampling, 44.1, memory play disabled. I get a recurring minor glitch every 30 seconds or so, as if a millisecond is dropped out. This only happens when I'm using Pure Music -- everything is fine if I go with straight iTunes. This does not happen when using Pure Music via Ayre QB-9 or Bel Canto DAC3.5vb (using Halide USB-to-SPDIF Bridge). As you might have divined, I'm doing a bit of a DAC shoot-out at home. Any ideas? Anyone else have similar trouble with the W4S?

I have a Genesis Digital Lens (long discontinued, but available for ~$500 used) and it made an obvious difference from my AE 802.11g into my Mark Levinson 390S. Much depends on the jitter rejection characteristics of your DAC. And I agree that if you're losing clock sync, then it's likely not jitter but connection troubles.

First, Chris, I liked the review. I agree with you, not every review needs to be a "this sounded 5% better than that" composition assignment. (Also why I love Steve Mejias' blog at Stereophile.)<br /> <br /> Second, can you tell me whether there's room for a Apple Airport Express in that empty space that they have for the Sonos? And whether they've taken any steps to control potential noise from putting a wireless device *inside* the chassis, so close to the signal path (or if they intend the Sonos to be run via Ethernet for best performance)? <br /> <br /> Third, I'd love your thoughts on the Nova iDecco, when it's available. Saw it in Vegas at CES and it seemed very promising. Not sure how it's different from the Nova (other than half the output power). Does it use the same DAC section, for example?<br /> <br /> Keep up the good work.

The one thing holding me back from moving to a music server is the problem of how to accommodate lossy MP3s for use on my iPod (my collection barely fits on the 160gb Classic), while having lossless copies for listening at home. I'm quite happy with iTunes and my iMac Core Duo, which has been a fine music server for lossy, noncritical listening and iPod management. But I'm still using CDs for the serious listening. I could try to keep two separate iTunes libraries, but that seems like it would be a nightmare, especially as I add metadata (ratings, playlists, album art) and try to sync it across two libraries. Is there any music server system out there that can accommodate both lossy and lossless copies in a single library? I recall that iTunes was able to substitute a lossy copy automatically for the original Nano, but that's not a feature Apple has ever made available for other iPods.

One common configuration among many readers will involve the Apple Express combined with a Mac acting as a music server and the new Remote app for iPhone/iPod Touch. Does iTunes support in a NAS product like this allow remote control via the iPhone Remote app?