"Mini" to Optical for Airport Express

There are two ways to go:

1) Off-Ramp Wi-Fi - modded AE - $1200 with Superclock4 and S/PDIF coax output

2) Stock AE with Pace-Car reclocker - $1350 with both I2S and S/PDIF coax output

#2 is better.

Decent DAC's in the $1000 range - IMO, there arent any, but you can get close with dAck2!, Benchmark DAC-1 or Lavry Black. Probably the most listenable in stock form is the Lavry Black. There are others, like the Channel Islands or PSAUDIO digital link III, but I have no experience with these.

Steve N.

Which dacs do you recommend?

I recommend the turbomodded DAC-1 or the modded Northstar 192. Completely different animals with mods. Both are in the $2750-$3K range though.

Steve N.

So, let me get this straight. I go from my AE via toslink to your pacecar, then Is2 to a modded dac. Is this correct. I looked at your website and didn't see a optical input on your pacecar.

Also, what is Is2 and why is it superior?