Apple TV Streaming Sound Quality vs Streamer?

HDMI is not hi-res, but Toslink can be depending on the source. Not sure what you are saying here.

Why do you say FLAC will never sound as good as WAV? My understanding is FLAC is 100% lossless. If a device were to decompress the FLAC input and place into a memory buffer which then feeds a DAC, shouldn't FLAC sound as good?

And regarding ethernet, it would seem the fix to all of this crap with sync/async would be to standardize on a protocol for audio that is similar to TCP/IP in that it features error correction built-in which feeds into a memory buffer (memory is cheap nowadays) which would then feed the DAC section. I have no idea why the audio community hasn't figured this out already.

Packetized data with Ethernet works well, however the signal integrity and rise-time still impacts SQ with Ethernet.  Therefore, it is still important to have a fast driver in a Router or Switch and low-loss, high-bandwidth Ethernet cables.  Adding an isolator also helps with the capacitive leakage across Ethernet transformers.

The bottom line is that there is no panacea.  Every interface and protocol seems to have deficiencies.  The deficiencies with Ethernet seem to be the easiest to overcome, but at a cost of course.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

Since adding the Benchmark Dac, I really enjoy the added detail but it seems to be a little brash in my system or at least to what I’m used to.  Would the synchro mesh mellow it out a little?  Or am I better off getting a more laid back dac? If so what are some good ones in the 1-2k used market?

If it's a Benchmark DAC3, then there is not much you can do.  It is fairly jitter intolerant.  It is what it is.

I would recommend to try either the Metrum DACs or the Border Patrol DAC with the Synchro-Mesh. These DAC's enable the benefits of the SM.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

Steve, what means "HDMI is not hi-res"? HDMI 1.3 by its spec is a Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD Master Audio bitstream compatible if devices support it. And even if we suggest that HDMI doesn't pass a bitstream hi-res signal, but using it instead of ATV's AirPlay with 16/44.1(-->48) is a huuuge difference, even for my non-perfect ears. And the signal is already PCM/88.2 on AV.

HDMI protocol was created for movies, not playback of digital audio formats. DTS is great for movies, but even DTS is nothing compared to 24/192 or 512DSD as an audio format.  The other problem with HDMI is that lack of good DAC's and reclockers to reduce jitter.  The best you can do to reduce jitter is the iFi SPDIF iPurifier which passes Dolby Digital/DTS.  I use these in my Home Theater, but not good enough for my audio system.

If your HDMI sounds better than your audio system, you need to upgrade your audio system IMO.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio