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Confused With Options To Obtain BestQuality iTunes

I have been reading a lot these days and still confused on the plethora of options available in hooking up a computer based digital system and the pros and cons to each and every selection. I am quite new in this so please bear with me.

I have friends who stream wireless music(Itunes) via an Apple Airport Express that supported this idea and do know many folks are using this setup in their homes. Others who are into Logitech stuff advocated the Squeezebox Classic and Touch. However, another group who uses top-flight gears in their systems(upper range MBL and Revels) advised that wireless degrades sound quality, and the best option is to hook it all up with wires.

Suggested options to play Itunes in WAV or AIFF format are as follows.

1) iTunes in 1TB/2TB External Hard Drive => Mac Mini/Macbook => DAC (iPad to control music selection)

2) iTunes in 1TB/2TB External Hard Drive => Logitech Squeezebox Classic/Touch => DAC (iPad to control music selection)

3) iTunes in 1TB/2TB External Hard Drive => PC => Apple Airport Express => wireless => DAC (iPad to control music selection)

4) iTunes in 1TB/2TB External Hard Drives => wireless => Apple TV => DAC

Out of the four options above, is it a general consensus that option 1 will yield the best sound reproduction from iTunes followed by option 2? Will options 3 and 4 come close to options 1 and 2? Are there any other alternatives to do all this?

Basically my priority is to use an iPad to control playback from iTunes stored in 1TB/2TB external hard drives WITHOUT using a Mac/PC. Apple Airport Express and Apple TV were said to degrade sound quality. What other cost-efficient options do I have?

An advice would be most appreciated.
ryder
tobias
1,534 posts
 
4est, thanks for setting me straight on the built-in limit of USB 2.0. Both the Cambridge DACMagic and the USB version of the Apogee Mini-DAC stop at 16/48. This is a limitation of their USB implementation, I take it.
tpy's avatar
tpy
68 posts
 
Jax2 -- Many thanks One question though.. You say "If AyreWave is just accessing your iTunes library anyway, then you don't need to do any of this - just tell Squeezeserver to use iTunes. Squeezeserver will deliver full res to 24/96 via Touch or Transporter."

Wouldn't doing it this way bypass AyreWave, which has my iTunes folder saved into it, and just take it directly from iTunes, without the sonic benefits I'd get from running AyreWave? How would it know to run it through AyreWave this way?

Thanks.
jax2
3,031 posts
 
Tpy - I'm not familiar with AyreWave. If it is a media player then you will be bypassing both iTunes AND Squeezeserver I imagine. If it uses your iTunes library then you'd just point it at the folder and continue using iTunes to catalogue your music. Sorry to add confusion to the mix. I'm not sure how you'd utilize AyreWave to play Squeezebox devices though since they do require Sqeezeserver otherwise. Someone more familiar with the new software would have to say.
tpy's avatar
tpy
68 posts
 
My guess is that everything from the computer goes through Squeezeserver to the Touch. Or can other software directly interface with the Touch? So the question is, if my music library is loaded into both iTunes and AyreWave, how do I set this up so that I can play the files on the Touch through EITHER of these two librarires (iTuens or AyreWave)? It would be nice to be able to compare the two to see which sounds best.
tobias
1,534 posts
 
I would first try launching both programs ( iTunes and AyreWave ) and see if they could simultaneously be running and both pointed at the same music library. If so, a comparison would be matter of three clicks.

If that didn't work, I would try a consecutive launch. The number of clicks involved ( and the wait ) would be greater but not, I think, unworkable.

Tpy, if you got a chance to try it and report, I would be very interested :D
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