airport express digital to analogue converter

[RCElectricFlyer]

FWIW. I was just looking for something similar to what the original poster was asking for. In very practical terms, I have noticed the frequency response of the analog output of the Airport Express isn't particularly flat. There seems to be a high-pass filter in this thing that rolls off the analog signal at the low end. You would never notice this on speakers that don't reproduce the bottom octave.

Rob

 

[thewhitehart]

This did the job for me. Sound quality is excellent.

Sorry, couldn't resist. Thanks for educating me about digital audio, though.

 

[stu-dio]

Since posting last - I have found a couple of extra things to consider. Using the direct digital out of you mac gives you greater control/sound quality over the digital signal and to control this you should open up "Audio MIDI Setup" located in your utilities folder within applications. This lets you select the sampling frequencies your mac sends out the selected port. If you use airport express you cannot modify the sample rate - you need the optical/digital out straight from the mac.

I have also just upgraded my meridian 563 to a Wadia 12 dac and the sound is another level. With this setup even mpeg audio sounds amazing - still lossless is the best. Through express its good - direct from mac is unfortunately better.