Apple TV sound quality as a transport

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.

Far,
I can vouch for jitter being destructive. My AirportExpress has such a high jitter signal that my DAC.....a Cambridge Audio CA840 (redbook player w/dac inputs) sometimes looses lock. And makes an awful noise in the process.

Is the ATV better? Is it internally clocked? The AE is not, being an asynchronous device.

Not sure about the jitter... Never had a problem my dac (Bryton bda-1) losing the lock.