[PETE6737]

I got an Ipod touch as a gift. I wanted to get the music from the ipod into my theater so I did not have to change cds so often. I decided to send it wifi through an apple tv, and then into my Cambridge Audio 840C digital inputs for 24/384 upsampling then into my preamp...The sound is the same whether I use a shiney cd into the cd player or use the wifi approach into the same player from the ipod. My question is whether there is a higher fidelity way of doing this, realizing that the music is being sent 16bit from the ipod. I am learning about music without a disc world, so any advice is appreciated. Thanks, Pete

[srb]

A technically superior approach might be to use a digital iPod dock with S/PDIF coaxial output into the Cambridge DAC.  The Apple TV is already upsampling your 16/44.1 files to 16/48 before it hits the DAC (which is also upsampling), and both the Apple TV and the Airport Express (which BTW is bit perfect and does not upsample to 16/48), are known to add a fair amount of jitter out of their Toslink optical outputs which can result in a slight loss in clarity. 
 
The downside is that the iPod is now tethered to a base unit and you lose the convenient comprehensive remote control provided by the handheld iPod.  The most inexpensive iPod digital dock is the < $100 Pure i-20 dock, and they go up in price from there, including those from Wadia, Luxman, Arcam, Teac, Cambridge and others.  Results will vary depending on resolution of the complete system, but the loss in convenience may not be worth the tradeoff unless IR remote control of the dock with basic Play/Pause/Previous/Next functions is sufficient.
 
Steve

[PETE6737]

Steve,
Thanks for your input. I considered the Cambridge ID100 dock. I am not married to the apple TV, and I have thought of moving it to the family room tv/system...Since you are in the know, I will ask you one other thing. The new Oppo BDP105 will have hdmi/digital inputs that will serve as a dac for other products. Maybe I can keep the apple tv and plug the HDMI or toslink into the oppo or get the
ID100 ...I wonder what the end result would be...I am definately buying the oppo bdp105 when it is available so if I can incorporate the ipod in there somewhere that may satisfy my needs. Thanks, Pete

[srb]

Yes, if the Oppo BDP-105 will be using the ESS Sabre32 DACs like the BDP-95 and also provide several DAC inputs, it will surely be a big success.  As far as the HDMI audio vs. the optical audio output of the Apple TV, I don't know which one will be better, but using HDMI for audio very often requires a handshake that is dependent upon an HDMI video display also being connected.  Just a thought in case you might be thinking of using it for audio only.
 
Steve

[PETE6737]

Steve, Thank you. I will consider the use of a dock for my non- hi- Rez music. Since all my gear is in the rear of the room, I need to look into a display to navigate the tracks.

[Stu Pitt]

Steve, Thank you. I will consider the use of a dock for my non- hi- Rez music. Since all my gear is in the rear of the room, I need to look into a display to navigate the tracks.

Just throwing this out there if its an option...

If your computer is in the same room as the stereo or you could somehow wire it to the stereo, you could use the iPod Touch as a remote for iTunes.  I've used my iPhone as a remote for the main computer several times.  Works quite well IMO.

I have a first generation ATV, which I've synched a lot of music to its internal hard drive, and use either my TV or my iPhone as a remote, depending on my mood.  But regardless of if its the ATV or the main computer, the iPod Touch/iPhone makes a great remote.  Just download the Remote App from the iTunes Store.  It's free.

I'm pretty sure I'm correct that the Remote App will work for the current ATV too, if you want to use the ATV in the stereo room.  I don't think you'll get all the ATV's features though.  I can't get Internet radio controls.  Hopefully they'll address that one with an update, but I doubt it. 

[Stu Pitt]

One other thing...

If you get a digital dock, you could get a long iPod extension cord so it doesn't have to sit on the dock and you could hold the iPod, rather than use the remotes that leave a lot to be desired IMO.  Yeah, you'll have a cord running to the dock, but you can hold the iPod and navigate whatever you want without any headaches.  The cables can be found relatively cheap on Amazon.

I hate the remotes that come with docks.  Very limited functionality, and I get easily aggravated by not having wha I want playing when I want it to play.  Somehow, the wrong album always plays.  Doesn't happen when I'm using the iPod's controls. 

[jarcher]

I would +1 SRB's advice : use the dock's he mentioned for maximum audio quality vs the apple tv.  I had a APTV2 & loved the convenience, but sound quality-wise the combo of upsampling to 48khz + the optical out degraded the sound quality substantially.  For the $99 from amazon the pure i-20 docks costs, you can a/b vs the apple tv to hear for yourself, and if doesn't sound better to you, return it. So very little risk vs reward.