Is my Airplay the best it can be?

ukcolin99

This is a new Forum category for me to ask, I am sure a basic question.
I am loving playing my lossless iTunes music library stored on my Windows 7Pro PC via Ethernet to network modem then Ethernet directly into my Yamaha (all wired) out my beautiful Polk speakers. Reading about DAC's and wondering if my music is not the best it can be. I presume I am using the DAC that came with my 5 year old desktop Dell PC, should I upgrade? Grateful for any soothing and/or informative words.

ukcolin99

Thank you Z, feel better knowing at least it's the Yamaha's DAC. If I buy external DAC do I use optical or HDMI cable, how do I by-pass the BB in the Yamaha? Thanks

ukcolin99

Thank you Z, good info, gonna try CA DACMagic see if I notice any difference.

trj

Jumping in to give my 2 cents.

I believe airport express has optical out, so you can theoretically stream everything in iTunes wirelessly to airport express, and from airport express to your yamaha via optical cable. Will it better than direct ethernet connection? I don't know.
How is the integration with iTunes on PC, I don't know.
But you will still be using DACs in your yamaha, which I feel do a pretty decent job.
But if you are tightly knit in apple family, then airport extreme and airport express are pretty nice solution.
I use apple TV, which I read is not better than airport express. But now, I am thinking to go with a mac mini as my media center connected to AVR via HDMI and have all my AV needs fulfilled through it.

trj

Oh, does your desktop have digital outs, example HDMI or optical/coax? You might want to straight wire and test it out to see if there is any difference. Not sure how much you will loose via network, but a single digital interface should be better, I think.

ukcolin99

Thank you trj. It's an old PC, no fancy outs. Ethernet via modem/router into the 3020 w/Airplay works great. I have an old Airport Exp running off the network to feed the 671 from the same iTunes library to different speakers, all Ethernet.
Before I purchased the 3020 I used AppleTV, definitely not as reliable as Airplay, although I miss the album cover screen saver. Gonna try an external/better DAC in the future.
FYI-iTunes operating out of Windows 7Pro works well, no issues w/15,000 tunes, at least half stored & played in Apple Lossless, managed with little iPad & Remote app.