View Full Version : Making an Airport Express better?
Recently I upgraded the PSU on my 7520, and while that change was an improvement, it also revealed my airport express for the highly jittery digital source that it is. I find it hard to give up the express because the convenience of accessing my entire music library from the iTunes interface which I am very comfortable with is hard to let go of.
Anyone have suggestions on how to improve upon it in a economical fashion?
So far I've come across these possibilities:
1. Get Empirical Audio's Pace car to re-clock the exrpesses output. Sounds very good and there a lots of very positive reviews about it. The device costs $1200. That's a wee bit more than I bargained for.
2. Replace my 7520 with the Benchmark DAC1 PRE? DAC1 has a well known jitter reduction (immune?) circuitry that would work well with my express. But at $1500, that is way out of my budget.
One thing I will try for the moment is to get an updated Airport Express. There are 2 Airport express models, and they look identical. The older one is the B/g model (A1084) which I have. The newer one is the N model (A1264). I've perused the web and found that the N model does have a better DAC within; capable of 24/96 as opposed to a maximum of 16/48 in my model. Apple firmware does not enable that capability, however.
My hunch and hope is that the N model handles jitter better than the B/G model.
If there are any other suggestions, please do tell.
Thanks.
CD
I thought this whole jitter nonsense had been put to bed in the last 15 years as modern DACs lock-on to the data stream much better now. Are you sure it's not interference on the wireless network signal?????
I thought this whole jitter nonsense had been put to bed in the last 15 years as modern DACs lock-on to the data stream much better now. Are you sure it's not interference on the wireless network signal?????
I use the wire:(
CD
You could always get a jitterbuster second hand somewhere. Theta, Monarchy, Trichord etc.
You could always get a jitterbuster second hand somewhere. Theta, Monarchy, Trichord etc.
I googled jitterbuster and found this;
http://www.monarchyaudio.com/DIP4.htm
Then I noticed that you have an airport and the Monarchy DIP. So, how much of a difference did it make?
This is very encouraging. They're not that expensive and apparently address my issue exactly.
CD
There are two types of Monarchy DIP's. One that upsamples and one that doesn't.
The DIP basically does, although I may be wrong, the same as what Stan does in the DAC by re-clocking the data so in theory it shouldn't make any difference. Setting the DIP to upsampling mode made more of a difference to the sound giving it more clarity and definition. Again I don't know why. I'll plug it in again and try it now that I have the 7520 supercharged ;)
I have tried the AppleTV streaming lossless into both DACs and it doesn't sound anywhere near as good as the CD5XS into them.
It might just be time for a change of source?
There are two types of Monarchy DIP's. One that upsamples and one that doesn't.
The DIP basically does, although I may be wrong, the same as what Stan does in the DAC by re-clocking the data so in theory it shouldn't make any difference. Setting the DIP to upsampling mode made more of a difference to the sound giving it more clarity and definition. Again I don't know why. I'll plug it in again and try it now that I have the 7520 supercharged ;)
I have tried the AppleTV streaming lossless into both DACs and it doesn't sound anywhere near as good as the CD5XS into them.
It might just be time for a change of source?
Were\are you running iTunes on Windows or from a Mac, and did you make sure to set everything for bit perfect output?
CD
Were\are you running iTunes on Windows or from a Mac, and did you make sure to set everything for bit perfect output?
I've tried streaming through a Windows iTunes, xbmc/boxee installed on the AppleTV and from the HD on the AppleTV itself. Not much difference if any at all that I could determine.
I've tried streaming through a Windows iTunes, xbmc/boxee installed on the AppleTV and from the HD on the AppleTV itself. Not much difference if any at all that I could determine.
I'm a little comforted that you said that because iTunes on a Mac runs better. I've run iTunes on my WindowsXP machine and the Mac version always bettered it, even to the same airport express.
I hear that Itunes, and audio device drivers in general, have improved significantly in Windows Vista and of course, 7.
CD
Isn't that the beauty of hifi though? If there was one solution wouldn't everyone be using it? I've never ran a mac iTunes into my system so I can't say whether that was better or not from what I have heard.
I still think at the end of the day you could put the best signal you want into the AE/Atv and it will still come out less than perfect.
I use the wire:(
CD
Which wire do you use?
Which wire do you use?
100 BaseT ethernet.
CD
Just thought I would add an update to this:
I have had my Naim CD5X CD player modified over to a transport only by Naim. I've had it back for about a week now and it is connected with a Mark Grant G1000HD bnc/bnc to a Naim DAC. The Apple TV is connected up to the DAC with a Chord Optichord streaming lossless via iTunes. It is night and day that the transport is better. I'm going to the trouble of digging out CD's off the shelf now rather than just using the convenient Remote method.
100 BaseT ethernet.
CD
Is it better to connect like that than wirelessly if it's possible to do so?
Depends how reliable your wireless is.
Depends how reliable your wireless is.
No difference in SQ then?
No difference in SQ then?
No
Just thought I would add an update to this:
I have had my Naim CD5X CD player modified over to a transport only by Naim. I've had it back for about a week now and it is connected with a Mark Grant G1000HD bnc/bnc to a Naim DAC. The Apple TV is connected up to the DAC with a Chord Optichord streaming lossless via iTunes. It is night and day that the transport is better. I'm going to the trouble of digging out CD's off the shelf now rather than just using the convenient Remote method.
I guess my pursuit for better sound comes from the knowledge that the airport express is bit perfect, and that its only jitter that's messing things up for it.
I recently decided to give iTunes an upgrade on my old mac, from iTunes 7 to the incredibly bloated iTunes 9.2.1. 100 MB for music server software is rather large IMO.
Anyhow, I have read threads on other forums saying that even iTunes version 8 improved sound quality but I hadn't heard so much via airport express, though.
I have to say, though, that the sound quality has improved significantly with this mild software upgrade. The slightly strong mid-range has taken a step back...in the right direction:) There's more to it, but its only been a couple of days and I'm still fleshing it out.
One drawback is that my poor little G4 music server strains with certain activity within itunes now. If I'm playing a song and get more information on it, or even worse, change the display to show the dancing graphical EQ, so to speak, my Mac chokes. The music continues to play, as can be seen by the time increments continuing as normal, but the sound drops out from my airport and only continues once I stop the EQ or get out of the get info pages. It seems to be more sensitive to AIFF files. The performance hit doesn't seem to happen when playing MP3s or AACs. Something tells me that it has to do with disk access. With AIFF files, iTunes has to grab alot of uncompressed data to send over to the airport. With AAC/MP3 files, iTunes grabs just small amounts from disk and the rest is CPU expansions and sending over the data. If I play music, however, and just leave it alone, its perfectly fine.
CD
I've stuck with iTunes 7.7 for it's simplicity more than anything. It does what I need it to do.
I bought the airport express as a quick, easy way to stream iTunes to my hifi. However, if I bought a DAC, what is the best way to connect it up?
Should I connect it to the AE via a toslink? (I can always use the AE somewhere else)
Or go straight from the mac via toslink? (that would be a long cable as the hifi is around 5 metres away)
Or should I connect it via USB?
Or should I get a HiFace and go SPDIF?
Oh, and should I use it as a pre amp into my 8000s?
100 BaseT ethernet.
CD
Do you still get slight lag with it cabled?
I bought the airport express as a quick, easy way to stream iTunes to my hifi. However, if I bought a DAC, what is the best way to connect it up?
Should I connect it to the AE via a toslink? (I can always use the AE somewhere else)
Or go straight from the mac via toslink? (that would be a long cable as the hifi is around 5 metres away)
Or should I connect it via USB?
Or should I get a HiFace and go SPDIF?
Oh, and should I use it as a pre amp into my 8000s?
Your Airport is connecting directly to your hifi using RCA cables? If so, you' haven't begun to hear how good your airport can sound. My airport is connected to my dac via a mini-toslink cable, this one;
http://www.lifatec.com/toslink2.html
Now, regarding the options you are considering, and the fact that the airport is limited to 44.1 Khz. I would;
1. Connet my iMac toslinked to a DAC. Same cable as the one mentioned above. The iMac's optical out can stream up to 24/96 data. the maximum recommended length of a toslink cable is about 5 meters.
2. If option 1 isn't good enough then I would try the hiface solution.
CD
I've stuck with iTunes 7.7 for it's simplicity more than anything. It does what I need it to do.
That's the same reason I stuck with it, but I experimented with 9 and found a definite improvement in sound quality. I don't care about the genius or compatibility with the latest iPhone. I just want the music to sound good, and this upgrade made it better.
CD
Your Airport is connecting directly to your hifi using RCA cables? If so, you' haven't begun to hear how good your airport can sound. My airport is connected to my dac via a mini-toslink cable, this one;
http://www.lifatec.com/toslink2.html
Now, regarding the options you are considering, and the fact that the airport is limited to 44.1 Khz. I would;
1. Connet my iMac toslinked to a DAC. Same cable as the one mentioned above. The iMac's optical out can stream up to 24/96 data. the maximum recommended length of a toslink cable is about 5 meters.
2. If option 1 isn't good enough then I would try the hiface solution.
CD
Thanks.
So, forget the AE altogether then?
Why are you using an AE? Is the mac in a different room?
Thanks.
So, forget the AE altogether then?
Your iMac (check to make sure as there were so many iMac models) has a 24/96 digital output. The AE will never do that. So yeah, forget the AE in your situation.
Why are you using an AE? Is the mac in a different room?
I use and airport express for 2 reasons;
1. My Mac is very very far away from the stereo.
2. My Mac does'nt have any suitable digital output, like yours. I could use RCAs, but....no:)
Your question about using ethernet or wireless for the airport express, there is no lag. If you have good signal strength with wireless then it doesn't matter wheter you use wire or wireless with the AE, the performance is the same. As mentioned earlier, my wireless signal is weak and therefore unreliable.
CD
You must have very long runs of ethernet cable running around your house then!
My airport is connected to my dac via a mini-toslink cable, this one;
http://www.lifatec.com/toslink2.html
Is there anywhere in the uk I could get a cable like that?
Is there anywhere in the uk I could get a cable like that?
Do a search for a mini toslink cable. They're quite common.
CD
I've tried streaming through a Windows iTunes, xbmc/boxee installed on the AppleTV and from the HD on the AppleTV itself. Not much difference if any at all that I could determine.
Old thread...I know. I finally got a jitterbuster. Found a used Theta TLC. In the first week I had it I found it was very sensitive to power. My unit has the standard wall wart, not the beefy upgraded PSU. When plugged into a shared power strip, it didnt sound that good. Powered up from a wall outlet brought out the good sound.
The improvement was substantial. Much reduced digital glare and significant bass improvement. iTunes outputs bit perfect to an airport express from a Macintosh, so all the TLC had to do was straighten out the data, which apparently it does quite well. Through a DIY friend I am building a beefy PSU for it. That should really tighten things up.
CD
Reid Malenfant
23-11-2010, 20:14
Nothing like coming back to an old thread :) I use a Monarchy Audio DIP24/96, non upsampling ;) The difference it makes isn't subtle, it's just plain obvious :eyebrows:
Wouldn't be without it tbh, best cash i spent on my digital system (apart from the transport which was a real bargain) :)
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