[romanesq]

The little box arrived via Fedex this afternoon, one day earlier than expected. The little box was quickly opened and setup in a few minutes. Connecting to the stereo was of most interest and after taking a couple of weeks to compare a direct connection from a powerbook g4 AL15, it came as a pleasant surprise to see how seamless the sound played.

This is a serious audiophile system for those that have a desire to consider in their system: B&W Nautilus 803 speakers, McCormack DNA-225 Deluxe Platinum Series mods and a 10 tube preamp from space-tech labs interface with the airport express. A pair of Paradigm Reference 20 speakers in the den also produced excellent results.

Going through a bunch of AIFF, MP3 and Apple Lossless did not produce any lower quality than a direct connection from the powerbook. Very nice.

In terms of the range, the airport express was not able to go through two walls to my den about 65 feet from where it is set up. It is a little shaky there so that means only one thing: another airport express.

I wish my Netgear MR314 was able to work as an extended network but after a futile effort to achieve the impossible, I've surrendered.

But congratulations are in order to Apple for a fine cost effective achievement on all fronts.

[macmad]

Going through a bunch of AIFF, MP3 and Apple Lossless did not produce any lower quality than a direct connection from the powerbook. Very nice.

What does that mean? Is it awesome or just nice? Did you use the S/PDIF or analog output? Have you tried comparison tests with a Slim Devices Squeezebox (which incidentally sound pretty damned good)? I'm thinking of swapping my Squeezebox for Airtunes, but I'd like to read some real Audiophile tests first. Any additional 'Audio Quality' info would be greatly appreciated.

[romanesq]

I had debated the Squeezebox option but was not conclusive on reviews if it would be that good for my system. BTW, my complete system is listed at audioasylum.com (phobie). The cost for the airport express is cheaper too and was worth a closer look.

I connect from the airport express via rca to a 10 tube preamp. I would imagine there will be no problem with a digital connection either.

In terms of the quality, it is very, very impressive. I don't see any dropoff in my limited time to test comparing a direct connection from the G4 AL Powerbook.

Yes, I'll go ahead and say it: it's very impressive and excellent sound. I also put the airport express on an isolation shelf: the Grand Prix Audio Monaco where most of my components have benefited from and I think that however strange that might be, it is an improvement too.

At this point, where audiophiles have CD, vinyl, SACD and DVD-Audio to consider among, this is just a no brainer.

[macmad]

romanesq, thanks for the reply - me thinks me needs one of these!

[larkost]

Just as a note, AirTunes takes the digital audio stream the would normally go to the sound system (and thus to the speaker... about the same as a AIFF), losslessly encodes and encrypts it, and then sends it to the AirportExpress. There should be 0 signal loss in this process.

The only places where you should loose sound quality at all would be in the original media (for example if you were streaming the content of a mp3 you would not gain back the loss in signal from encoding in the mp3), and if you are not using the digital audio connector at the speaker end you will loose something to the analog conversion there (not much presumably).

[BIGBERTHA]

I don't particularly want to buy the whole AirPort Express Stereo Connection Kit with Monster Cables.
I only have one optical input on my receiver which is already being used. I doubt I will use the power extension cord. So I'm simply looking for a single mini-to-RCA left/right audio cable to run from the Airport Express base station to my receiver. That being said, I am looking for a quality audio cable. Is Monster the way to go? What are my options?

[chrisx]

I've been thinking of getting the Airport Express so I can use my Powerbook wirelessly. What's the max range you got from it? Thanks.

[thePurpleGiant]

Originally posted by BIGBERTHA:
So I'm simply looking for a single mini-to-RCA left/right audio cable to run from the Airport Express base station to my receiver. That being said, I am looking for a quality audio cable. Is Monster the way to go? What are my options?

Nah don't bother with a Monster cable, any standard mini-to-rca cable will work just fine. And by fine, I mean it will sound great. Don't let the higher price tag of the Monster fool you into thinking its better than it is.