I thought it would be interesting to share this with you.
Today I have made an interesting side/side comparison between my current CD player Rotel RCD 1070 and one of the most interesting toys I've had, the Apple Airport Express wireless router. (the unit has its own DAC inside so you can stream digital tunes wireless and play it trough the 3.5 mm analog out)
I've burnt a couple of CD's from a lossless WAV (Moder Jazz Quartet - Blues on Bach, Johanes Brahms - Hungarian Dances by DENON records and Artur Pizzaro - Chopin Piano Sonatas - Linn RECORDS). I also added the lossless WAV's into iTunes and stream them through the Airport Express.
After a couple of hours listening side by side and sometimes even switching the amp input in the middle of the songs I realized that I much more favor the sound of the Airport Express comparing to the sound of the CD player.
It had much more impact, better resolution on certain instruments, it was bit more forward positioned and it much better impression and emphasizing on certain parts of the music materials where I suppose it had to. (violin solos, Milt Jackson's vibraphone, dynamic changes in the piano volume). Overall it sounded more musical to my ears.
I wonder if anyone had some similar experience. To me was surprising in a way that the Airport Express costs around 100 EUR and the RCD 1070 use to be top of the line for ROTEL at the time (costing around 500 EUR).
To give you a complete picture, the setup was:
1. Mac Book + iTunes streaming to Airport Express connected with Audioquest 3.5 mm to RCA (rather cheap cable)
You say you burnt downloads to CD and that you added the lossless WAVs to iTunes. Only one problem: as far as I know iTunes doesn't support WAV. Therefore, either:
1. The files were not WAVs and actually MP3 or something similar, in which case it's very possible for the AE to sound better because the CD player is just showing you what an atrocious codec MP3 is.
Or:
2. iTunes automatically converted the WAV files into a form it understands (I have done this) and the AE sounds better using the converted files even though you burnt WAVs to CD. Different mechs and different writing software do make a difference. In this case, I can only think that the burner did a poor job. Alternatively you're deaf...
As you mentioned the differences in the burning software/burner... what kind of burner / software do you use ?
I'm a regular buyer of Linn recordings from their website in CD quality and I would like to know how will I achieve the best possible quality when I burn the flac files on a CD ?
I think a more fair comparison would be to take a purchased CD you already have, upload it into itunes in a lossless format, and then compare the purchased cd on the rotel to the itunes version streamed through the airport express.
The DAC in the Apple gear isn't much to speak of, so I'd be surprised it it sounded better. Now if you fed an external DAC from the digital out of the airport express you'd be in better shape....depending on the quality of the dac and interconnects of course.
One of the best independent rippers is meant to be EAC.
Linn recordings are available in standard CD and higher resolution formats at extra cost. I haven't played with them at all. My point was really that iTunes has a habit of making decisions for you regarding how it stores and converts tracks.
I'm not sure that FLAC is the original CD format, is it? I can't remember, sorry. the best format to store on a CD is the original format intended for CD.
"sorry. the best format to store on a CD is the original format intended for CD."
You got a point there !
However, I do have quite a looot of music kept in my mac book in "lossless" format and I would really like the enjoy it in a higher quality playback on my system.
The options are burning a CD, stream it through the AE or maybe a decent iPod dock.
Frank, have you heard the Arcam rDock and what do you think about it ?
I don't burn stuff except for iPod use on the move when I don't need quality, just quantity.
I have heard the Arcam rDock and it is one of the better docks, definitely worth the money when used in a high fidelity system such as that from Linn.
However, it doesn't take the digital output form the Pod, which can be quite a bit better. Wadia is the only brand to do this so far, as far as I know. Much more expensive, but when yused with a quality DAC the results are good.
Many people who use Mac Minis stream to a Lavry DAC (about £700) and then into some decent quality amplifier (e.g. Naim Nait5i-2, Linn Majik) and then to decent speakers. Alternatively there are the newer integrated amps with built-in DAC such as the Naim Supernait.
Your solution will depend largely on budget and ease of use factors.
