[mathgeek97]

Well, currently I'm playing things as in my signature.  I love the convenience of Apple Lossless via the digital out of an Airport Express, all controlled with an iPhone.
However, last night, I connected to my wife's Library on her MBP and no sound was coming out of my speakers.  I noticed on the iPhone that the volume was turned all of the way down.  I always leave my machine's iTunes' volume at 100%.  This was an unpleasant discovery.
Anyhow, the simple conclusion is this is not a lossless setup.  It can't be if I have volume control via iPhone/iTunes.
Now what do I do???

[Crimson]

If you keep the iTunes volume at 100%, it is lossless. BTW, iTunes volume control is of a pretty high quality since version 7. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[EDS_]

If you keep the iTunes volume at 100%, it is lossless. BTW, iTunes volume control is of a pretty high quality since version 7. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

To dovetail off of Crimson's point. I use my Macbook's slider volume nearly all the time.  It works way better than I would have thought given all the negative posts/articles I've read.  It sounds fine to me as long as the slider is set to 50% or higher.  It does seem to really crap out below 50%.

That said I do try to set the slider to 100% as often as possible.

[mathgeek97]

If you keep the iTunes volume at 100%, it is lossless.

Is this a known fact?  Anybody have a link? </paranoid_mode> 

[low.pfile]

Well, currently I'm playing things as in my signature.  I love the convenience of Apple Lossless via the digital out of an Airport Express, all controlled with an iPhone.
However, last night, I connected to my wife's Library on her MBP and no sound was coming out of my speakers.  I noticed on the iPhone that the volume was turned all of the way down.  I always leave my machine's iTunes' volume at 100%.  This was an unpleasant discovery.
Anyhow, the simple conclusion is this is not a lossless setup.  It can't be if I have volume control via iPhone/iTunes.
Now what do I do???

Sounds like you want hard proof(especially given your username! ). Given it's consumer market, I doubt if you will find the exact proof of the lossless accuracy, but this Benchmark Media wiki entry might be enough to hold you over. See the section titled "Article from Feedback Newsletter comparing iTunes 6 vs. iTunes 7" It speaks of 24bit dithering on the volume. Which is on the itunes side not the AE side.

I see in your signature you wonder if your Denon is the weak link...
Is it perfect? Doubt it. but with the AE it is a simple/low cost set up. I used it for a while: Denon AVR 4306 with an AE via Toslnk. I think the AE is the weak link if you are really looking for optimal sound.  I had problems with drop outs. I still find the AE fine for background music in other rooms.

I've also tested my 4306 (using it's internal DAC) using optical Toslink directly from my mac (itunes) and preferred my USB DAC with high rez non hi-rez files.

So you might want to look into removing the AE from your source chain.

Look at SEARCH here using "airport express" as search words to see previous discussions of its use.

have fun, ed

[mathgeek97]

Ed,

Thanks for the link.
I went with the simple and reasonably cheap setup approach.  I've never had any dropouts and when doing critical listening at decent volume, I have little to complain about with regards to the AE.  Maybe someday I'll stick a Mac or PC directly in the chain via a USB DAC.  I've also thought about getting a nice DAC (and pre and amp) and using a Toslink to Coax converter on the AE.
So many toys to buy...

[EDS_]

Ed,

Thanks for the link.
I went with the simple and reasonably cheap setup approach.  I've never had any dropouts and when doing critical listening at decent volume, I have little to complain about with regards to the AE.  Maybe someday I'll stick a Mac or PC directly in the chain via a USB DAC.  I've also thought about getting a nice DAC (and pre and amp) and using a Toslink to Coax converter on the AE.
So many toys to buy...

If you get the chance check out the Musical Fidelity V-DAC and or the Cambridge Audio DacMagic.  Both are fairly inexpensive and both sound great and accept USB, and toslink and coax SPDIF.

Best of luck the computer/audio thing is a bag full of headaches that is ultimately well worth the effort.

[mathgeek97]

Thanks, again, for the suggestions.  It might be a while until the wife agrees to let me go on another spending spree, but it's definitely good to know where to start.

[EDS_]

Thanks, again, for the suggestions.  It might be a while until the wife agrees to let me go on another spending spree, but it's definitely good to know where to start.

Sorry, I meant to list this one as well............      http://www.devilsound.com/