Apple TV sound quality as a transport

Rip your CDs as Apple Lossless, and turn error correction on. It'll take a little while longer, but it's worth it IMO. Not a hhuge difference, but some CDs sound a little better.

I didn't think the power cord would make a difference either, especially using the optical out. Optical out means no electricity gets transferred to the DAC, meaning less noise. Yet it sounds better. I think it could be reduced jitter at the output, but I don't know. Then again, what difference does it make, so long as it sounds better? I bought the power cable from Music Direct. It cost $79, and they have a 30 day money back guarantee. Try one out if you've got an extra $79.

I recently switched from using an Airport Express to an Apple TV for streaming audio into my main system. I am using Apple Lossless files and feeding that into a Bryston BDA-1 DAC via the optical link. I did notice that when I switched the Byrston changed from showing locked on 44k1 to 48k0. When I play music onkyo dvd player through the BDA1 it also shows 44k1. Don't know if that can make the difference you are hearing but Apple TV apparently outputs at a higher sample rate that an Airport Express.

Most audiophiles believe that the DAC is the most important part of the source, but actually it isn't. It's the digital source jitter that is most important, whether it is coming from a transport or computer.

With a higher jitter source, yes most DAC's sound very different from each other. The reason for this is that the different DACs have varying levels of jitter rejection. Once you have a very low jitter source, most high-quality $10K DACs sound a lot like high-quality $1500 DACs. This is why it makes sense to consider a good USB converter.

There are of course poorly designed DACs that sound harsh on all material with all sources, but these get weeded-out fairly quickly by this crowd.

The ATV is not bad, but the Logitech Touch is a lot better as far as jitter in the stock box.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Farjamed,

Are you using the original ATV or the current one? My gen 1 ATV outputs at 44.1. I know this because my previous Theta DAC wouldn't decode 48, according to Theta's tech.

The current ATV reportedly outputs everything at 48. I haven't heard it in a system outside the Apple store, so I can't realistically comment on it's sound quality.

KBarkamiam, I am using the current apple tv.