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Airport Express compared to High End Transport.

I would love to hear from people who have compared the results of:

(1) Streaming music from a computer via Airport Express to a high end DAC via the optical output on an Airport Express.

(2) High end transport connected to the same DAC.

What were the sonic differences between the two? I suspect the high end transport was better, but thats just a supposition.

Many thanks in advance for your thoughts on this.

All the best,
Neville
njp
mcmanus
82 posts
 
The AE uses mini-optical. My unit came with an optical cable and an adapter. I kept the adapter and use it on a VH Optocoupler. Keep in mind that the AE only has an optical jack so if your DAC does not have an optical input, you will need to get the AE modified or use a converter -- I use the Monarchy Upsampler which converts the signal to coax.

I am just getting started on comparing the AE signal to my RA Opus 21. So far the differences are evasive. As you might expect, there are huge differences between file formats with Lossless being head and shoulders above the others.

FYI Keyspan has a new remote control integrated with the AE and iTunes. A bargain at $40 on Amazon.
njp OP
44 posts
 
Mcmanus - many thanks for the information. Would love to get an update from you once you've had a chance to compare the AE to RA Opus 21 against the RA Opus 21 standalone a bit more. Thanks for the Keyspan tip _ I'll look into getting one.

Thanks and all the best,
Neville
rooze's avatar
rooze
656 posts
 
Does anyone know if it's possible to use another playback program like Foobar with AE, in place of iTunes?
It seems Foobar has upsampling options and sounds better than iTunes when a USB - SP/DIF convertor is used instead of AE.
Any ideas?

Rooze
jayboard
301 posts
 
Rooze, At this point you can only use iTunes. AE only "listens" to Apple Lossless format. iTunes translates non-AL files into AL format on the fly to stream to AE.
ghunter's avatar
ghunter
164 posts
 
Actually, I'm now using a USB interface to link them together as the AE inserted a delay in when starting playback. Very annoying.

Also, sorry for any misunderstandings in my original post - the 4-second buffer is neccesary to bring the DAC64 up to the level of the Blu. Without the buffer, it sounds thin.

It's also worth noting that the Blu has a dual output that I did not try. I've heard from my dealer that this once again takes the Blu to a different level as it seems to split the signal or something and the DAC64 has circuitry to reassemble it. I'm still ecstatic with my system.

I just bought an Audio Research DAC-5 and might just give the AE another chance in that context.

Graham
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