Canadian Mac Forums at ehMac banner

Airports: audio quality differs?

3K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  blackbook 
#1 ·
I have a 2004 Airport Express base station which I run Spotify and iTunes through Airplay to my Harmon Kardon 990 integrated amp and B&W 602 speakers. The HK 990 also has a DAC. Sadly, the audio quality is less than expected as this amp has fantastic ratings for both analog and digital.
Harman Kardon HK 990 integrated amplifier Page 2 | Stereophile.com

Would upgrading my Airport to the latest Airport Express or even the Extreme improve the audio quality I'm getting?

Currently, it's plugged into the Optical input on the amp which is supposed to be the best quality possible.

As well, I know WiFi cuts out frequently but listening to digital is not even worth it because it cuts out so often. Could this be my WiFi or the Airport Express?
 
#2 ·
Well, 0's and 1's either transmits or it doesn't. So quality will remain the same.

If you already have your own wifi router, then you could plug the AEBS directly using Ethernet and disabling the wifi. This will give you access to the AirPlay server.

Now I don't know if the newer version changed anything to the optical output so it sounds different.
 
#3 ·
AirPlay uses lossless compression, so there should be no discernible degradation in audio quality vs the original source. I use airPlay to stream to an AppleTV connected to a Yamaha receiver, and I can't notice a loss in quality vs. listening to it on the Mac (with headphones in both cases).

I would place the blame for the low quality on Spotify itself, which likely compresses its stream significantly. It's likely no discernible on an iPhone, but with a good amp, the flaws could become quite audible.
 
#6 ·
AirPlay uses lossless compression, so there should be no discernible degradation in audio quality vs the original source. I use airPlay to stream to an AppleTV connected to a Yamaha receiver, and I can't notice a loss in quality vs. listening to it on the Mac (with headphones in both cases).



I would place the blame for the low quality on Spotify itself, which likely compresses its stream significantly. It's likely no discernible on an iPhone, but with a good amp, the flaws could become quite audible.

Good point. Check the bit rate of the source. When digital radio first emerged, 128k was considered good, but today, it would be lacking, and 256k has become the standard for compressed files, including everything you find on the iTunes Store. Listening to something streaming at, say, 64k or 32k can be quite a painful experience when you get used to higher bit rate files.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#4 ·
I have a couple of Apple TVs, and two Airport Expresses (current versions) and the quality is fine. They are all connected via optical or HDMI.

Are you using G or N for Wifi? Is ethernet a possibility? What are you streaming from (I'm assuming a Mac?)

As a previous post mentioned, free Spotify doesn't have the best audio quality, and I believe you have to opt in for the high quality stream if you're a subscriber.
 
#5 ·
AirPort Extreme doesn't support AirPlay so upgrading to that wouldn't help.

Since the airport express only has analog output why not just keep it analog for the input on the amp?

AppleTV has optical audio output so I wonder if using an appletv could provide better results. I don't know the answer at all.

Other things to check would be the wifi in the house and how well the airport express is connecting (ie wifi strength, is it extending the network as well?)

I have fairly good experience in my house with an airport express but it's a small house.


Sent from my iPhone using Crapatalk
 
#7 ·
#8 ·
I have a 2004 Airport Express base station which I run Spotify and iTunes through Airplay to my Harmon Kardon 990 integrated amp and B&W 602 speakers. The HK 990 also has a DAC. Currently, it's plugged into the Optical input on the amp which is supposed to be the best quality possible.
Yes, this is correct. If you are using the minijack to TOSLink optical cable to go to the HK amp, then it is the HK's higher-quality DAC which is doing the conversion to Analog - the signal will stay digital from the Mac to the HK amp, so there should be no degradation.

As for the APExpress box and dropouts, is there any way you can run an Ethernet cable from your router to the APExpress? I have done that for several clients who were getting marginal WiFi reception and it cleared their problems up immediately. Remember the Airport box can only work with the signal it sees from the router. Eliminating one leg of radio transmission and reception increases reliability - going wired solved my Netflix problem with the AppleTV.

Otherwise, you need to look at other ways of improving the signal.
Moving the router,
moving the APExpress (I know choices will be limited),
replacing the main router,
replacing the antenna(s) on the main router with higher gain units,
adding a repeater or range extender halfway between the 2 points.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top