Dhdare

Thank you, John, very helpful. I'm going for a iPod/iPhone digital dock and DAC as we speak, using an Apple air express to stream music and my iPhone app as a remote for streaming. Thanks, again, to all of you for the great advice.

Thanks!

Very helpful. Sounds like I should just do both using a DAC in between each source and bypassing the iPod DAC. The Peachtree iDAC will both bypass the iPod and do the DAC for $1,000 in one box, but I don't know much about the quality of the manta DACs on the market. Thanks for your DAC ideas, though. Appreciate it.

I'm new to high end stereo music and trying to understand if an iPod connection to my new integrated amplifier would produce a better sound than streaming through an Apple air express using an optical input. I currently stream to a high end headphone amplifier and it has been very convenient, but with my new speaker-based system I want the best sound from my iTunes and I have just about all the music that i care about in lossless on both the computer and my classic iPod. Is this something I just have to audition, or is one approach clearly superior? Thanks. PS. How much of a difference does an external DAC make, whether streaming or using an iPod? Thanks.