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I would agree with the assessment that a DAC would make an Airport Express sound better. There are obviously many more DACs to choose from and at these price levels you are not going to get into too much trouble experimenting to get the best solution. IF you want better quality sound you could just use the Cromecast as a wireless streamer only, and by pass its internal DAC with an optical cable (and a 3.5mm adaptor) into an inexpensive but decent DAC such as the Schiit Modi 2 Uber for $150 or the SMSL M8 for $165. You could still leave the AE in place as a wifi "booster", if that is its primary function. The Chromecast has both digital optical and analogue out, and at $35 from Walmart you can easily afford to buy one and A/B test it against the sound quality of your existing AE. They just need a better solution for getting Apple Music to a stereo system (or fix AirPlay).Another way to skin the cat is to purchase the very inexpensive Chromecast Audio, which will provide wireless streaming up to 24/96 vs 16/44.1 for the AE.
![audirvana and airplay audirvana and airplay](https://community.audirvana.com/uploads/default/original/1X/2b62b2ce01f358524c0c2882baca98d19f05d980.png)
And I'm no Apple hater - I have AirPods Max and I would recommend them wholeheartedly to anyone in the Apple ecosystem. My frustration is that it doesn't have to be that way - Apple does so much well, and then there are these massive impediments. But for someone who doesn't have those devices, the options to play Apple Music through a stereo system are limited and clunky, and that is not the case for other streaming services.
![audirvana and airplay audirvana and airplay](https://yellowes.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/5/6/125601783/135561329.jpg)
So in your use case, no, it is not clunky at all.
AUDIRVANA AND AIRPLAY TV
Likewise, AppleTV is very good for what it is, but how am I supposed to hook that up to a stereo system with no HDMI/I2S input? And when there are on-screen status messages I need to deal with (about updates, network issues, whatever) how am I supposed to see them if I don't have a TV connected to that system? Yes, I could get a device to extract audio from HDMI and output it to S/PDIF, but it's just another thing in the chain, another point of failure, etc. Nothing against that type of speaker, I use (a different) one every day and it's excellent. I have no doubt the HomePod Mini is great for what it is, but I'm sure you would agree it is a "lifestyle" speaker and no replacement for a full-size stereo set up. Sorry for the rant, but I actually submitted feedback to Apple on this issue today because it’s mind-boggling to me that they think anyone would want this.Ĭlick to expand.Right, I specifically mentioned the AppleTV and HomePod as the exceptions up in post #111 As far as I can tell, those are the only two devices (plus a Sonos device possibly?) that stream Apple Music directly, and that allow you to start from your phone and transfer the stream to those devices. Yes, I could use a dedicated old iPhone or something for this purpose, set it it play and leave it, but why, when I have a perfectly good one in my pocket at all times? ANY audio or video content on a web page, Facebook, whatever you might open after starting AirPlay will take over your music and it’s extremely annoying.
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That would be fine, except AirPlay is fundamentally broken IMO in that you can’t force it to stay on the content you originally chose to stream. You don’t get the kind of integration with streamers that you get with other services - you pretty much have to use AirPlay outside of a couple of exceptions (AppleTV, HomePod, I think one of the Sonos products? There might be a couple others I’m not aware of). Is there any data on whether AppleTV gen 3 via optical output is lossless?Īlso, for anyone considering Apple Music, I think it’s worth keeping in mind that Apple really limits your playback options.