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Apple TV sound quality as a transport

I recently switched from a DVD Changer into a Channel Island DAC to an Apple TV into the same DAC. I was under the impression that the DAC was ultimately responsible for the sound but I swear it actually sounds better. The only change other than the Apple TV is the switch from coaxial from the DVD to optical from the ATV. Is it possible that the ATV sounds better than my DVD changer as a transport?
macallan7
macallan7 OP
70 posts
 
I recently upgraded from ATV1 to the current ATV3 and I swear it sounds better into my Channel Island's VDA-2 Dac. Is this possibly because of the 16/48 upconversion? Placebo effect? Alcohol?
don_c55
1,025 posts
 
I use an Apple TV 2 and Netflix, Hulu, and DVD sound is fantastic.

Newer movie soundtracks are mostly High Rez 24 192 stereo!

I use a Sony Bravura into an ARC SP-14 line out, to a Son of Ampzilla 2000, into Magnepan MGIIIA speakers, 6 feet away, and am blown away at the quality.

For audio only, I use "Airplay" from an IMac (AAIF), and get CD quality out.

The "interface" on Apple TV 2 or 3, can not be beat.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
Magfan, your AE might be defective. According to Stereophile review it produces respectable 258ps word clock jitter on digital output. Analog output is much worse. It receives compressed (ALAC) data and recreates clock. With my Benchmark DAC1 it sounds extremely clean.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
The jitter of the source is actually more important than the DAC. I have heard lots of $1K DACs sound amazing with low-jitter sources driving them. Read the last 5 DAC reviews by Steven Stone in TAS. He concludes that when driven from the same low-jitter source, a number of DACs in the $1K-8K range sound virtually identical.

The thing is: Your transport had really bad jitter and the AppleTV has mediocre jitter. Putting a reclocker after the ATV and before the DAC will improve things even more.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
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