My move to Apple TV

jaxwired
jaxwired Posts: 201
edited October 2010 in 2 Channel Audio
I'm officially in the 21st century now. CDP is probably ready for retirement. The new apple TV is now feeding my music addiction.

Inital Setup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZMVxbCNa3U

Day 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M3ff7R84w8

AppleTV1.jpg
2 Channel
NAD C545 -> Benchmark DAC1 -> Bryston BP6 -> Bryston 4B SST2 -> Dynaudio Contour S1.4
Post edited by jaxwired on
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • Serendipity
    Serendipity Posts: 6,975
    edited October 2010
    I can't wait to get a Mac Pro w/Front Row and use it like an Apple TV.
    polkaudio RT35 Bookshelves
    polkaudio 255c-RT Inwalls
    polkaudio DSWPro550WI
    polkaudio XRT12 XM Tuner
    polkaudio RM6750 5.1

    Front projection, 2 channel, car audio... life is good!
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Valentine
    Valentine Posts: 46
    edited October 2010
    Wow the things apple is doing for people who'da thunk it! Very nice setup jaxwired, Me jealous.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,194
    edited October 2010
    You got 1.4's , so sweet. How do they sound on Bryston? I'm willing to bet amazing.

    Apple TV is awesome , are you getting a new one or a older one? I have the older one and got about 70g of music on it all lossless. It sounds as good as any of my cd players and I don't have to clean any disc's or load them. It's the best of all worlds.

    With a external DAC of some kind it's fantastic. Even the internal DAC doesn't sound bad at all. I have mine connected both Digital and Analog .
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • MillerLiteScott
    MillerLiteScott Posts: 2,561
    edited October 2010
    I just got one today to install at a clients house. I look forward to getting it hooked up.

    I am also pretty intrigued by the Logitech Revue.

    Scott
    I like speakers that are bigger than a small refrigerator but smaller than a big refrigerator:D
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • coolsax
    coolsax Posts: 1,824
    edited October 2010
    the Logitech revue looks interesting, i think its slightly disappointing though that it won't run the Squeezebox server as well. While I don't currently have a SB I think a lot of Squeezebox users would highly consider it if it had the capability..
    Main 2ch -
    BlueSound Node->Ethereal optical cable->Peachtree Audio Nova 150->GoldenEar Triton 2+
    TT - Pro-ject Classic SB with Sumiko Bluepoint.

    TV 3.1 system -
    Denon 3500 -> Dynaudio Excite 32/22
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • BlueFox
    BlueFox Posts: 15,251
    edited October 2010
    Are you saying Apple TV has a built-in harddrive you can use to store music? Where does the TV part come in to play? Can you install a computer monitor and have it display album art? Even more important, can it support touch screen so you can easily drag CDs/songs to different playlist, and select songs/CDs/playlist to play?
    Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
    Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
    Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes

    Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
    Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
    Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables

    Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
    Three 20 amp circuits.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • reeltrouble1
    reeltrouble1 Posts: 9,312
    edited October 2010
    I heard a computer playing music a couple weeks ago jax, it was bad, especially on some quality speakers with nice power. I guess there is some generational thing, but it sounded bad and our youngest longtime member hated it more than I did. Sounded very flat, tinny, no weight, just not for me. When compared against a quality source it just seems so fruitless to me. Lossless is still unresolving, crappy usb sound, digital connection did not help.

    Afterall, the machine is designed to do many things so no doubt its got two strikes against it from the start going against machines designed to do just one thing, play music, add in those designed by specialized music based companies and their engineers and its a slam dunk.

    But if you just want some convenience, or to do something else as the music plays like read about something these things to do play sound just not resolving or able to touch on music as a fine art. Dont believe there is any perfect piece of audio gear for me these things focus on efficeincy for storage opposed to effectiveness for playback.

    It is called a TV player afterall, so that would be the market Apple is primarily chasing.

    RT1
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • jaxwired
    jaxwired Posts: 201
    edited October 2010
    reeltrouble1 wrote: »
    I heard a computer playing music a couple weeks ago jax, it was bad, especially on some quality speakers with nice power. I guess there is some generational thing, but it sounded bad and our youngest longtime member hated it more than I did. Sounded very flat, tinny, no weight, just not for me. When compared against a quality source it just seems so fruitless to me. Lossless is still unresolving, crappy usb sound, digital connection did not help.

    Afterall, the machine is designed to do many things so no doubt its got two strikes against it from the start going against machines designed to do just one thing, play music, add in those designed by specialized music based companies and their engineers and its a slam dunk.

    But if you just want some convenience, or to do something else as the music plays like read about something these things to do play sound just not resolving or able to touch on music as a fine art. Dont believe there is any perfect piece of audio gear for me these things focus on efficeincy for storage opposed to effectiveness for playback.

    It is called a TV player afterall, so that would be the market Apple is primarily chasing.

    RT1

    Sorry to hear that, but for me it sounds fantastic. And I've got a pretty good way to compare the two. I have my CD player hooked into the same DAC and I can start a CD at the same time as the streamed music and then toggle back and forth so I getting identical DAC/PRE/AMP/SPEAKERS with just a source switch. Using this method the two are very close to indistinquishable.
    2 Channel
    NAD C545 -> Benchmark DAC1 -> Bryston BP6 -> Bryston 4B SST2 -> Dynaudio Contour S1.4
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • jaxwired
    jaxwired Posts: 201
    edited October 2010
    BlueFox wrote: »
    Are you saying Apple TV has a built-in harddrive you can use to store music? Where does the TV part come in to play? Can you install a computer monitor and have it display album art? Even more important, can it support touch screen so you can easily drag CDs/songs to different playlist, and select songs/CDs/playlist to play?

    The old Apple TV had a harddrive. The new model which I have does not, it's just for streaming. No touch screen. Music and playlists are managed on your computer which is streaming the music. The TV is for navigation and playback. Album artwork is displayed. Of course there is a lot of TV and Movie content available as well as the music.
    2 Channel
    NAD C545 -> Benchmark DAC1 -> Bryston BP6 -> Bryston 4B SST2 -> Dynaudio Contour S1.4
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • jaxwired
    jaxwired Posts: 201
    edited October 2010
    mantis wrote: »
    You got 1.4's , so sweet. How do they sound on Bryston? I'm willing to bet amazing.

    Apple TV is awesome , are you getting a new one or a older one? I have the older one and got about 70g of music on it all lossless. It sounds as good as any of my cd players and I don't have to clean any disc's or load them. It's the best of all worlds.

    With a external DAC of some kind it's fantastic. Even the internal DAC doesn't sound bad at all. I have mine connected both Digital and Analog .

    The S1.4s are a great match for the Bryston gear IMO. The Dyns like power and they are super smooth which keeps the Bryston gear from ever sounding too brutally revealing.

    I've got the brand new Apple TV that was just released. No harddrive, just streaming. I agree with you, it's easily competes with CD player quality. And why shouldn't it? It's streaming a pure digital stream to my stand alone DAC, just like my CDP. In theory, it should be better than the CDP as it doesn't have to read a spinning CD to play, just a harddrive which is more reliable.

    The new Apple TV only has HDMI out for analog and toslink for digital audio.
    2 Channel
    NAD C545 -> Benchmark DAC1 -> Bryston BP6 -> Bryston 4B SST2 -> Dynaudio Contour S1.4
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • venomclan
    venomclan Posts: 2,467
    edited October 2010
    Congrats. Seems like the easiest way to listen to all your music collection. I just ordered one of the older 160G models on clearance for $150. They sold out on apple.com. I wanted the hard drive version so I can just load it and not have a computer running. I plan to get an Ipod Touch to use it as a remote for the ATV, thus not needing a tv on to navigate. PS Audio has spoken about this for use with their dac: http://dealers.psaudio.com/articles/applemusicserver.asp
    I plan on using it with my Benchmark dac also. Sounds like your is great with the BM. Venom
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • MillerLiteScott
    MillerLiteScott Posts: 2,561
    edited October 2010
    Ted,

    I think computer music can be good if one has the resources to put into it. What you heard was my cheap $200.00 pre/DAC/HPamp as the source which is fine for a computer office rig but the quality drops off as you move up the amp and speaker food chain.

    I do think it sounded better than the Oppo outlaw combination by a pretty good margin.

    Scott
    I like speakers that are bigger than a small refrigerator but smaller than a big refrigerator:D
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • rdb2001
    rdb2001 Posts: 791
    edited October 2010
    BlueFox wrote: »
    Are you saying Apple TV has a built-in harddrive you can use to store music? Where does the TV part come in to play? Can you install a computer monitor and have it display album art? Even more important, can it support touch screen so you can easily drag CDs/songs to different playlist, and select songs/CDs/playlist to play?

    I have the 160 gb model and love it. No touch screen capabilities but it does show album art on whatever screen you choose. I prefer to have my music on the the actually hard drive, less travel, less interference. I do not know if it makes a difference or not but I figure if it has 160 gb hard drive, I should use it.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,538
    edited October 2010
    Very cool, nice system man.
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • rdb2001
    rdb2001 Posts: 791
    edited October 2010
    Lasareath wrote: »
    For spooling I think I like my Western Digital TV Live better since you can connect two USB devices to it at the same time, Thumb Drives or External USB Hard Drives and you can also spool from your wired network.

    The Western Digital does not limit you from spooling only from iTunes. I like that I can spool from any PC in the house.

    It has Component and HDMI video outputs & Optical & Analog audio outputs

    One of the USB connections can be used for a USB wireless Adaptor as well.

    I guess you can look at this two ways. You can feed Itunes from any computer in your house. the computers just have to have their drive shared and you can import the music. Itunes also recognizes my 1TB NAS drive and I can pull anything from it also. So all my music is accessible and Apple TV auto syncs when you have it setup to use the hard drive so it catches any new music that comes into itunes. The appletv is wireless also.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • venomclan
    venomclan Posts: 2,467
    edited October 2010
    Lasareath wrote: »
    For spooling I think I like my Western Digital TV Live better since you can connect two USB devices to it at the same time, Thumb Drives or External USB Hard Drives and you can also spool from your wired network.

    The Western Digital does not limit you from spooling only from iTunes. I like that I can spool from any PC in the house. It has Component and HDMI video outputs & Optical & Analog audio outputs

    One of the USB connections can be used for a USB wireless Adaptor as well.

    Thanks for the info Lase. I looked at the Western Digital also, but for my purposes, most of the features on the WD and ATV will be unused. I just wanted a device to hold the lossless files burned from CD and deliver them to my dac with some type of digital out. I will not network, run a computer outside the system or use this device for video of any kind. The ATV had the advantage of the Ipod Touch which gave it the lead of the WD for my use. But I can see where the WD has it's lead with other uses. Thanks, Venom
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter