Optical Out on macs

Nap-ster,

I've heard the digital output of AE, MB, MBP and SB3. I think the AE is pretty dire whereas the two laptops and the Squeezebox are fine. The AE digital out is far better than its analogue out, but it would be a shame if the user thought that was the best obtainable from their iTunes. There are also vast differences when comparing digital outs from budget cd and dvd players.

Keith

From apple tv is a lot lot better than express.

But this might not be simply the port more the implementation, where as an express has a pretty shitty dac and not a lot else and apple tv is basically OSX in a small box.

I've compared at some length the difference between MacBookPro>wireless>Airport Express>Toslink>SuperNAIT and MacBookPro>Toslink>SuperNAIT. Honestly, I can't hear the difference. In A-B there is maybe (big MAYBE) something there - but no way would I recommend one over the other. Note that I am using neither the MBP nor the AE DAC here - it is all digital until the SuperNAIT does its magic.

That's not to say the MBP>firewire>Konnekt8>SN isn't better. It's just that I've never heard it.

The AE does play up when I'm nuking my cereal in the morning, though .

quote:

I've compared at some length the difference between MacBookPro>wireless>Airport Express>Toslink>SuperNAIT and MacBookPro>Toslink>SuperNAIT. Honestly, I can't hear the difference.

Maybe the SN is more tolerant (jitter reduction???) than either Benchmark or Lavry.

My feeling is ATV and the macbooks/computers are going to be the same, they have the same basic hardware and all are running OSX.

And express however is a lot simpler and does not run an operating system.

Certainly and appletv sounds better than an express, this could be due to having better bandwidth capability or simply a better processor for getting the info through. Its 5.1 capable for one thing where as the express is stereo only.

My advice, any mac up from an express will be an improvement.

quote:

Originally posted by garyi:
From apple tv is a lot lot better than express.

But this might not be simply the port more the implementation, where as an express has a pretty shitty dac and not a lot else and apple tv is basically OSX in a small box.

gary, have you compared the apple tv opptical compared to the mini and the powerbook intel ones ?

there is a big difference between AE and the intel powerbook...it is like the cds against the under 5i quality

regards p

I'm intrigued now. I'm going to experiment some more. There seems to be a body of opinion that says the AE pretty much sucks. What might I be doing wrong that I can't hear any degradation by using the AE Vs sending direct via Toslink? Is it just my hearing? Bad optical cable?

This review (link) a while back claimed the AE to be "bit-perfect" in terms of the raw data. I know that's not the end of it as there are still clock/jitter challenges for the DAC. But still.

As I said, I'm going to play some more.

quote:

Originally posted by avole:

quote:

What might I be doing wrong that I can't hear any degradation by using the AE Vs sending direct via Toslink? Is it just my hearing? Bad optical cable?

You're not the only one, I can't either.

Makes the three of us. I run Van Den Hul Octocoupler cable from AE to Lavry, to me it sounds slightly better than coaxial out from the SB2 to Lavry.

avole / jy...what kind of set do you have. there is nothing noticed on your profiles...

on the first listen the ae sounds prity fine, but if you listen more you realize , that it sounds flat and not vivid.there is no magic in the music just good reproduction. i mostly search for the first in reproduction of music. cables can influence a lot here as well.both the toslink and the signal cables. i wouldn´t use an adaptor on the toslink at all.

how old are your ae`s ?

p

quote:

Originally posted by pylod:
avole / jy...what kind of set do you have. there is nothing noticed on your profiles...

on the first listen the ae sounds prity fine, but if you listen more you realize , that it sounds flat and not vivid.there is no magic in the music just good reproduction. i mostly search for the first in reproduction of music. cables can influence a lot here as well.both the toslink and the signal cables. i wouldn´t use an adaptor on the toslink at all.

how old are your ae`s ?

p

I have Lavry DA10 DAC (3 months old) connected to NAC202/NAP200/HiCAP/Ariva.

Airport Express is 802.11N version, about 1 month old.

I should say my only experiments was with the older express wireless g.

the same here gary...my ae is 4 years old...

sounds really flat against the optical output of the powerbook...

gary have you compared the apple tv with the optical output of your powerbook ?


p

I have been surprised by the quality of AE through optical wireless. Is it possible that those who find this disappointing may be using the older version of AE (802.11g) whereas now the AE 802.11n is much better?
Nestor

Has anyone noticed a difference between "real glass" optical cables compared to other (plastic?) materials?

I was thinking of using the optical out on my old imac to connect to a cheap beresford dac. I'm not sure what the connector is called at the mac end though. Is it a mini toslink as I think it is small headphone jack sized? The mac analogue audio out has no bass in comparison when playing the same aac files on an hdx.

Aye it's a mini Toslink you need.

quote:

Originally posted by avole:

quote:

What might I be doing wrong that I can't hear any degradation by using the AE Vs sending direct via Toslink? Is it just my hearing? Bad optical cable?

You're not the only one, I can't either.

i have been doing both for about 8 months and there is no difference between the optical out form the laptop directly into the dac or streaming wirelessly form my NAS/router to the Airport Express.

quote:

Originally posted by r-tee:

quote:

Originally posted by avole:

quote:

What might I be doing wrong that I can't hear any degradation by using the AE Vs sending direct via Toslink? Is it just my hearing? Bad optical cable?

You're not the only one, I can't either.

i have been doing both for about 8 months and there is no difference between the optical out form the laptop directly into the dac or streaming wirelessly form my NAS/router to the Airport Express.

Neither can I.