My new base mini is on the way, and it's main purpose will be as an iTunes server. It would be a bonus if I can use it to replace an old machine as noted below. My music is encoded lossless and is stored on a NAS. I have an Airport Extreme base station and several Airport Express units to extend the network around the house. I get about 7mbps throughput via wifi, although it will sometimes slow to about 3 mbps. I have a couple of connection options and would be interested in opinions of the pros and cons of each.
Option 1 is connect the mini in my home office and stream media to three Atv2s and 2 additional AEx speaker connections. One of the Atv2s is part of my main Yamaha-powered AVR. The mini would be connected via usb to my NAS. An Atv2 would be connected via HDMI (can also connect via toslink if that delivers better sound quality). An advantage is that the mini would be connected to a monitor in my office and I can dump an 8-year-old windows machine. The concern I have is will the audio and video be compromised, either in quality or due to buffering issues?
Option 2 is to connect the mini via HDMI, toslink or both directly to my Yamaha. The mini would be connected via wifi to my NAS; I probably could move the music library to the mini but the NAS needs to stay in the office. I would then stream to the Atv2s and Aex speakers. I lose the office PC functionality, but do I gain anything in sound/video quality?
Appreciate your opinions. Are there other connection options?
Mahalo,
Mike
Option 1 is connect the mini in my home office and stream media to three Atv2s and 2 additional AEx speaker connections. One of the Atv2s is part of my main Yamaha-powered AVR. The mini would be connected via usb to my NAS. An Atv2 would be connected via HDMI (can also connect via toslink if that delivers better sound quality). An advantage is that the mini would be connected to a monitor in my office and I can dump an 8-year-old windows machine. The concern I have is will the audio and video be compromised, either in quality or due to buffering issues?
Option 2 is to connect the mini via HDMI, toslink or both directly to my Yamaha. The mini would be connected via wifi to my NAS; I probably could move the music library to the mini but the NAS needs to stay in the office. I would then stream to the Atv2s and Aex speakers. I lose the office PC functionality, but do I gain anything in sound/video quality?
Appreciate your opinions. Are there other connection options?
Mahalo,
Mike
