PC, Visa, Itunes..digital input on my CD for the dac..?

xphile -- Sat, 09/12/2009 - 21:27

I would like to find some way to use hear my iTunes library off my Vista 64 bit PC (losslessly comnpressed) on my stereo in my listening room. I have wired and wireless available at my rack in my listening room. I can even control iTunes with the remote app on my iPhone (which is just cool in and of itself but not very useful with crappy pc speakers).
My Cambridge Audio Azur 840C CD player has both toslink and coax digital inputs (I use its DAC and feed out analog outputs to my preamp, so I think it will do a great job as a DAC in this situation). This means it can be used as an DAC correct?
But how do you get a digital feed to my CD player via my network? Is an Airport Express from Apple the easiest/cheapest way to go and will give quality sound? Something better instead?
Any thoughts would be appreicated.
Thanks!

xphile

Steven Stone -- Sat, 09/12/2009 - 22:38

Airport express is certainly one option. And yes it's the cheapest at $100. Since you can control your PC from your iPhone the ergonomics of this method are pretty good.

Next would be the Logitech Squeezebox at $299. It would give you more flexibility (Pandora and Internet radio) and has lower jitter specs.

I must warn you that once you experience having a large music library at the tips of your fingers its hard to go back to silver discs...

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications

xphile -- Sun, 09/13/2009 - 17:00

Thanks!
I will give the AirPort Express option a try and see if I like it. I can A/B compare to the silver disc since the CD player will do the DAC also frim the server (and I think upsampling) so I can see if I get an audible difference. I have a feeling you will be right...I will be addicted to the library at my fingertips. Only my small SACD collection will get me out of my chair :).
The generous Best Buy return policy does give one a chance to really see if this inexpensive option will meet my quality needs.
xphile

xphile -- Fri, 09/18/2009 - 21:02

Update:
Again Thanks Steve! Today I dropped in an AirPort Express in and had it playing music out my main system in 15 mintues!

I must say the combination of iTunes, the remote app for the itouch/iphone, airport express, and an audiophile system is pretty amazing. For about $100 extra expenditure, I was able to access a digital music library remotely with no other new hardware.

I have only listened to a few songs but loved having digital access to my music via the remote application on my iphone..driving my iTunes on my pc...coming out my maggie 3.6'... it is pretty impressive. I could not resist some AB comparisons to the silver disc on my Cambrige Audio 840C, and found the soundstage sounded broader and music more detailed via CD over the digital stream from my pc. But more to come. Worst case I will move it upstairs to my upstairs family room for "main living space" music access, sticking to CD's and Vinly in my listening room/HT (we shall see).

A few tips for others trying this approach:

1. The digital connect for the airport express requires a mini-jack to toslink cable. This fact was hard to find out for some reason when researching this (not clear in much online reading). Plus these cables don't seem very common..not even Best Buy carried one. I ended up buying a $3 adaptor on line when I ordered my AirPort Express and using an exising monster cable toslink cable I had just to get it going, but will try to find an higher quality integrated minijack to toslink cable to see if it helps improve the sound (suggestions would be appreciate). I had no idea you could output digitally through a "mini-jack" but you can.

2. I was quite happy to find my CD player, using the digital input and it's DAC, upsampled the digital stream from the 18/44.1 to 24/384 then ouput it through its balanced analog outputs to my controller. In all the articles I have read on outboard DAC's and USB DAC's I did not ever see reference to using higher end CD players as a DAC. I am very happy to see I already own a pretty good DAC with no further spend needed. I may experiment using the DAC built into my Anthem AVM-40, but it does not do the upsampling, so we shall see.

Xphile