I did an A/B comparison of the same hi-rez Linn sampler tracks playing into a good quality hifi system from an Apple TV's analog outputs and a DVD-Audio. They both had excellent sound quality and detail, and there was little audible difference - possibly a slightly more defined sound stage from the DVD-A.
What sort of sound quality improvement could I expect from running either signal through an external DAC? What quality of DAC would I need to buy to notice an improvement, and would it be worth the money?
(Tracks: blues and classical piano/orchestra, 24-bit, 88.2 to 96 kHz. Downloaded as FLAC and converted to AIFF through XLD software.
Source A: Apple Lossless audio file on Mac internal hard drive, streaming from iTunes 10.1.1 (all audio filters off) through AirPort Extreme, Apple TV Mk 1.
Source B: AIFF files burned to DVD though DiskWelder software, played on Marantz DV7600 multi-disk player.)
