ATV2 vs. Airport Express audio quality

[kbeuoy]

There is a definite difference between these two boxes in audio quality. Using Toslink on both, the ATV2 doesn't come close to the sound quality of the AE. I have 2 ATV2s and a side by side comparison with the AE. The AE wins hands down

Has anyone else noticed this or am I out on a limb myself. This was mentioned in another forum so I thought I'd try it and wow. Never really used the ATV2's for music and I guess I wont plan on it.

 

[Alrescha]

Doesn't make sense. The audio data from iTunes is wrapped in an Apple Lossless package and unwrapped at the device and delivered to the optical port. One would expect the bits from the AE to be exactly the same as from the Apple TV.

A.

 

[bp1000]

Apple TV is 48khz typical Video sampling rate

AE is CD standard 44.1khz

Most people argue that you won't be able to tell the difference, but many people claim they can also hear a difference.


I'm a big audiophile and don't like anything altering the source material unless it can't be avoided (like the iTunes stream output) so i bought a AE to stream raw music to my valve amp. It is literally a couple of meters from my apple tv, but i still chose and AE to do the streaming duties because it doesn't change the sampling rate.