Apple TV sound quality as a transport

Jitter doesn't sound like anything. Jitter changes how sound/music sounds by misplacing and removing information. There are several mechanisms that can cause jitter. The CD format has a lot of jitter problems. Computers are better at controlling and eliminating some jitter, but they introduce other issues.

Macallan7 - CD can be ripped as data using programs like MAX (for Mac) or EAC (for PC). CDP cannot do it working real time and has to skip over piece of unreadable (wrong checksum) data. It is of course much worse with used or scratched CDs. I have few bad CDs that MAX set to "do not allow to skip" refuses to rip but CDP plays and Itunes imports.

Jitter is noise in time domain. When digital data is shaky (moving back and forth in time) it creates sidebands not harmonically related to root frequency - therefore audible even at very low levels. Since music is a bunch of frequencies jitter becomes bunch of sidebands - noise. It is strange noise because it is present only when signal is present. You can hear it as lack of clarity.

i use xld on the mac to rip my cd's to itunes.
hellofidelity - my cable is buried in my cabinet so i can't tell for sure, but i think it is the wireworld supernova series. right now, i use the monarchy dip jitter device. i used/owned other jitter devices for my other rooms from audio alchemy, and others. i use a cardas AES cable from the monarchy to the dac.
also, removing jitter does make a difference. for example, in my den system (jolida integrated, discovery cables, totem speakers, mac server for source, and a manley dac), when i hooked up the monarchy to this setup, everything came to life. it was as big of an improvement as adding the dac.

Yes, I've had excellent experiences with my Apple TV, also.

I rip everything to Apple Lossless (m4a) and stream to my 160GB Apple TV, then to my Proceed AVP. I've compared the sound very closely with my Oppo BDP-83 and cannot discern any consistent or substantial difference between the Oppo and AppleTV as a source.

I would say that the AppleTV does sound slightly less liquid as my old Theta David, but I got rid of the David because I could hear the transport spinning, and every 4 years it needed a $500 laser pickup replacement. Ugh. Suffice it to say, that the Apple TV is now the heart of my digital setup (with the Proceed AVP providing the soul.

Even the analog outs from the Apple TV are respectable, not great, but not terrible, and for anyone with "starter" hifi, may be enough.

The convenience and price of the AppleTV is excellent, and as a bonus, I rent movies for the kids, watch podcasts, and stream internet radio for background music.

Meridian makes a system that seems to greatly outclass the AppleTV in interface, but it also costs many thousands of dollars vs. the very cheap Apple TV, and I have not been able to compare the sound quality in any meaningful way.

Regarding the cable, there was a subtle, but noticeable and pleasant, upgrade when I replaced an older Ultralink plastic toslink cable with the Wireworld Supernova 6 glass toslink. The sound was better in every way.

Enjoy your Apple TV!

I've also been using an ATV to store all my music for several years now. I'm impressed with the quality, but always looking to improve. I'm considering adding an Adcom DAC. Will this improve my sound? I'm trying to decide between DAC, a good CD player, or maybe even considering vinyl. All my CDs are standard (not HD or SACD).

The rest of my system is Adcom GFP-565 preamp, Adcom GFA-555 II amp and Snell C/V speakers.

Thank you.