music server advice

I

Ian S

Audiophyte
hi ,
i have a pretty high end home theatre. i use itunes on my macbook. the quality of the itunes music from apple tv (it is wireless in , hdmi out) or via blue tooth is way inferior to if i plug an hdmi from the laptop directly to the preamp.

looking for a music server to hold my itunes library that will be permanently attached to the system- it is a pain to plug and unplug the laptop and sometimes i want to work on my laptop while my music is playing.

i have researched this but it was very confusing.doesnt have to be massive as i dont intend to store movie files. just audio and my library is not massive

thanks
ian Sempowski
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
Tbh Ian, you question is quite confusing. First of all : did you tried to use airplay from laptop to appletv? It supposed to be lossless
 
I

Ian S

Audiophyte
i tried airplay and bluetooth- they work fine but
the sound quality does not seem the same as when you are hardwired from the laptop to the preamp via HDMI.
looking for a hardwired server that can stay attached to the preamp so i can use my laptop.
 
I

Ian S

Audiophyte
you mentioned it is supposed to be lossless - maybe it it is my imagination
Ian
 
I

Ian S

Audiophyte
when i plug it in via the hdmi in the surround formats all say multichannel Dolby surround etc. when i go by airplay it just says Dolby surround. not multichannel in. maybe that doesnt make a difference and it is all in my imagination
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
thanks!
it does look good
Using the computers DAC is usually the worst choice and adding the headphone jack & associated circuitry doesn't help. It should sound better if you use AirPlay- are you using a repeater for the WiFi? Try hard wiring and see if it improves. Also, look at the sound settings in iTunes- if they're wacky, it can screw up the sound quality. In addition, if you plan to use an AVR or some other device to access your music, make sure it will work with iTunes- some don't, unless you're also using AirPlay. If you have a USB port on the laptop, install iTunes on a thumb drive and add some music, to test the ability to do this.
 
I

Ian S

Audiophyte
Using the computers DAC is usually the worst choice and adding the headphone jack & associated circuitry doesn't help. It should sound better if you use AirPlay- are you using a repeater for the WiFi? Try hard wiring and see if it improves. Also, look at the sound settings in iTunes- if they're wacky, it can screw up the sound quality. In addition, if you plan to use an AVR or some other device to access your music, make sure it will work with iTunes- some don't, unless you're also using AirPlay. If you have a USB port on the laptop, install iTunes on a thumb drive and add some music, to test the ability to do this.

I am actually using the hdmi output of the laptop so that is still digital so i dont think it uses the DAC in the laptop but rather in the AVR. the sound just seems to sound better this way than via airplay even though i have a strong wifi conneciton .
THanks
Ian
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
I am actually using the hdmi output of the laptop so that is still digital so i dont think it uses the DAC in the laptop but rather in the AVR. the sound just seems to sound better this way than via airplay even though i have a strong wifi conneciton .
THanks
Ian
Look at the settings for the AVR/preamp and see if some kind of enhancer is being used for the HDMI inputs, but not for AirPlay. AirPlay does redbook response, so there aren't many reasons it should sound much different unless the HDMI input is doing something to enhance the sound.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
I stream my music from iPad to Apple TV. The music sounds every bit as awesome as regular CDs to me.
 
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