Airplay to AppleTV questions from Newbie

[rbaker]

I'm trying to set up an office system that currently includes a non-airplay Denon AVR, older AppleTV and a variety of iOS devices and a MacBook. I also have Apple Music and iTunes Match. I'm using the AppleTV via HDMI to receive airplay from the laptop or iPad/iPhone. I just find it faster to switch songs on the fly than using the AppleTV interface. My question is about audio quality. Anything played via airplay from the laptop sounds better than anything from the iPhone. Why would that be? And it doesn't matter whether the iPhone is sending via mirroring or seeing the AppleTV as a speaker. Would I be better off just getting a Dragonfly and use a cable and avoid airplay altogether? This is an cheap Denon so I have questions about the internal DAC anyway. The only thing I am locked into is Apple Music and iTunes.

[Ralf11]

how did you put the music on each device?

did you rip CDs & then transfer to the iphone?

or did you download from Apple?

 

it also sounds like you are sending each device's digital output over WiFi via Airplay to the Apple TV (?)

[rbaker]

The iPhone and iPad are strictly Apple Music streaming. The MacBook is a mix of ripped and Apple Music but for the most part Apple Music. I'm rarely listening to anything but Apple Music these days. And yes, output over wifi to AppleTV. 

[Ralf11]

my bet is your Apple Music downloads are low res

 

compare same to same & see

[rbaker]

12 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

my bet is your Apple Music downloads are low res

 

compare same to same & see

For the comparison, I'm using music straight from Apple Music that doesn't reside on any of the machines. I did do some digging in settings on the phone last night and got some improvement. But I still wonder if I would be better off just going wired with a Dragonfly to my receiver. That would take one wireless leg out of the system. 

[Ralf11]

did you check to see if each track is really same res?

[rbaker]

I'm only listening to one track so I get a clean comparison. And the track is on Apple Music only. 

[kirkmc]

There really shouldn't be any difference. It's the same source (the same track), and unless there's an issue on the iPhone, I can't see what would change. Do you by any chance have Sound Check turned on on the iPhone, or any EQ settings? That can degrade quality. 

[Ralf11]

is it a single download that you transferred to the other device?

 

or is it possible that you downloaded a different bit rate track on one device?

[rbaker]

I think I found it. It looks like a setting in the iPhone. There was an EQ and Volume Limit on. I went ahead and turned on cellular data and checked High Quality Streaming. Not sure if this comes into play when using wifi but it can't hurt. And it seems to have the issue sorted. And the track is streaming from Apple Music. It's never resident on any of the machines. Now as to my other question, would I get better sound with a dragonfly DAC on the laptop to phone that is cabled directly to my receiver. That would bypass the AppleTV and the DAC that is baked into my Denon Receiver. Any ideas?