All things apple tv

I'm not sure why the macbook, or imac or any mac for that matter would have better imaging and detail then the apple tv. Does the macbook have a higher quality dac? I am definitely not impressed with the audio quality of the apple tv but I wasn't expecting much. For $299 I am extremely impressed with the interface and ease of use. The movie rentals from itunes are as good of quality or better then cable on demand. The photo archiving and playback via screensaver are very neat. I do intend on adding a bel canto dac 3 for the audio quality.

Perhaps there isn't a reason for the Apple TV to not sound as good as a Mac computer, but it didn't. If you lived in my area I would certainly invite you over to experience the difference. For whatever reason, the music did not sound as clean and controlled with the ATV as it does with the MacBook. I just don't think the digital outputs on the ATV are implemented that great. The HDMI and optical outputs both are guilty of higher levels of digital jitter than other digital outputs. That could be part of the reason the music sounded inconsistent at times. Maybe the product isn't ready for primetime? I have also read many negative comments concerning the quality of ATV's audio and video. I can say that the HD video quality was quite poor. Downloading HD content is far from being able to compete with hard disk material. I would say that HD movies downloaded from Apple are only slightly better than the same movie on a SD DVD disk. For some people, these issues may not be as apparent or as bothersome as they are with me. I really wanted to like the ATV, but in the end, I didn't have faith that it was as good as I could do.

I agree the hd video is not as good as a hard disk. It is better then the HD videos I get from my cable service. I noticed that my ps3 had much superior audio playing a cd which was also ripped to apple tv using apple lossless. I hope that a high quality dac will remedy this.

@Mbehner: I too hope that an external DAC will improve sound quality from the ATV... yesterday, I ordered a Stage 3 modified PS Audio DL 3 from Rick Cullen (after he & I had an email exchange). My fingers are crossed, and I hope to have the modded DL 3 sometime next week. If the ATV sound quality doesn't end up being up to snuff, I'll keep it for video use & buy a Squeezebox, I think. Too bad all of my music is in ALAC, which SB doesn't support (it transcodes it on the fly, I think)...

I'll need the dac either way. If it isn't a substantial improvement I'll go to the mac mini using the usb out. I went atv vs. mini for the nice interface and simplicity. Plus, my universal remote controls the atv nicely using the macro to turn on all the relevent componants and switching the inputs etc. The usb out on the mac mini might be better ultimately but would require a keyboard and mouse. More hands on then I want to be. I have heard the atv works really well with a high quality dac. Please post your results.