Airport Express Dead! Viva what ?

[Peter Stockwell]

My Airport express just died. I'd like to be able to output 96/24 to my StanDac, My main computer is a mac mini.

My choices to replace the Airport Express are:

Airport Express (no 96/24)
Apple TV (no 96/24)
Play Station 3
Mac Mini


Obviously, the apple solutions integrate easily, I'm torn between the Apple TV and the Play Station 3, I don't think I want to pay as much as a new mac mini.

Any thoughts ?

[SteveW]

Personally I'd go with the Apple TV.
Not that I have one, its just that I have a PS3 and good as it is, I think the apple stuff really will integrate better.

Another thing i'm pondering is hard-wiring my Imac optically or via ethernet...I've seen adapters that will take an optical signal and convert for sending through ethernet...or those mains type things. I have one from Maplins that will take a USB signal and send it through the mains to be picked up the other end, much like those BT Vision things.

[Peter Stockwell]

Personally I'd go with the Apple TV.
Not that I have one, its just that I have a PS3 and good as it is, I think the apple stuff really will integrate better.



The missus is hostile the idea of a PS3, she can't see what is the use of a game console. Thanks for the input.

[SteveW]

Yeah...we ended up with the Play Station because of a 19 year old son, and it was the basis if a home theatre system As time has gone on its proved to be an amazing bit of kit...connects and streams wirelessly and can play blue ray.

However, the way I have it at the moment its a bit crap at playing downloaded movies and itunes (connectivity issues).

The Apple TV however is likely to be pretty good, and it can play rented HD movies from Apple, as well as doing the Apple iLife stuff well. I suspect we will have both before too long, but the Apple TV is likely to be more user friendly I think...and will have that lovely 'Front Row' feel to the whole thing. OK the down side is the lack of 94/24..

[Peter Stockwell]

The Apple TV however is likely to be pretty good, and it can play rented HD movies from Apple, as well as doing the Apple iLife stuff well. I suspect we will have both before too long, but the Apple TV is likely to be more user friendly I think...and will have that lovely 'Front Row' feel to the whole thing. OK the down side is the lack of 94/24..

iTunes store France has no movie content! Just crap french Tv series and a handful of english langauge series. So AppleTv not a brilliant idea, thinks I.

[Peter Stockwell]

The play station can serve as a TV recording device with an adaptor box ?

[Spur07]

Peter,

how about connecting mini mac to standac via toslink cable?

I'm thinking of doing this - 5 metre toslink from flashback cables for £19.99 - straight from my G5 to standac, and comparing it to my current set up: G5-USB converter-coaxil-standac

If its any good i can dump my UD-10 USB converter, and with Mac OS 5 running i can get 96/24bit


I think its better to stick with Apple for now - i can see the whole landscape of streaming/transport will changing pretty soon

[SteveW]

iTunes store France has no movie content! Just crap french Tv series and a handful of english langauge series. So AppleTv not a brilliant idea, thinks I.
If you have a UK address...or better still, a USA address ( dollar billing cheaper) you can access that countries itunes A/C.

Otherwise, merde alors.

[Peter Stockwell]

Steve,
I think it's merde alors, I used to have a US$ credit card account, but the billing address was in France. It's not so much the cost issue, it's the bl$$dy content. So, Back to the Airport Express option, I think. Just maybe I could stretch to another macmini, but since there's so much rumour about an update to the mac mini, I'm hesitant to do that right now. I can always sell on an airport express, and if I buy 2nd hand as I did the last one I'd not be out of pocket.

[Peter Stockwell]

Anybody tried an ultra portable PC running nder Linux to stream with iTunes ?

[Peter Stockwell]

I think that I've got two real choices, either another Airport Express, it has the advantage of being cheap and I can move it on for next to no loss, or maybe a squeezebox ?

I have almost no 96/24 content so I can pass on that.

[SteveW]

Just a thought Peter.
Is the Airport Express definitely dead..?
Sometimes mine just disappear from the network..eventually I found that just turning off the router and then back on and they re appear again.

[Peter Stockwell]

No light when it's plugged in, I think it's dead, but I'll check again

[Peter Stockwell]

Viva Squeezebox!

[Peter Stockwell]

I've had the squeezebox running for about 2 weeks now, it's a nice bit of kit. There's a couple of plug-ins for Squeezecenter that are very nice to have. iTunesUpdate http://petherton.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/SlimServer/index.html#iTunes_Update updates the playcounts and times, as well as allowing rating update on the fly. This is mostly compatible with iPeng http://penguinlovesmusic.de/ipeng-application/ which imitates the remote application for iTunes, more or less. The only thing, as far as I can see, it doesn't do is the on the fly ratings update that remote does with iTunes.

You can argue that iTunesUpdate + iPeng turn the Squeezecenter into a glorified airport express and that it would be cheaper to just buy the airport express. You do have a wide choice of file formats with Squeezecenter and it will run on any platform. Sound quality wise, I haven't been able to make a comparison between AE and the SB Classic, but they are at least equivalent, through the Beresford TC7510 Mk6/3 dac.

I'm pleased with the SB Classic and give it a hearty recommendation.