squeezebox versus airport express

Edesilva, thanks for your post. I will look into the NEC disk drives, I'd given up trying to find a quiet drive. All my problems go away if only I could put a dead-silent networked PC driving the DAC. Thanks for the pointer.

But if I can't get the PC to work out, then I need to use wireless, and as you point out wireless has bandwidth and quality-of-service issues. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think with AEX, all the upsampling, etc the computer can do will be reduced down to 16bit @ 44.1KHz via TOSLINK to the DAC, so the DAC needs to do upsampling all over again. But with the SB3, sounds like I can probably get 24b @ 48KHz to the DAC, and then I could really take advantage of the great software there is out there.

To explain what I meant about iTunes, first consider that I don't have that much source material from CDs, we just don't have that many. iTunes can only play the file if you have the file, so we need either to buy songs (which will get DRMed into one particular player), buy CDs (expensive) or use a streaming service like an internet radio station or the Rhapsody service. That's why it's important to me to find a wireless digital path to the DAC that allows me to use data from non-iTunes pay-to-play or free or DRMed streaming sources. Playing DRMed files or streams requires particular players that would need to work somehow with the slimserver.

Anyway, I think I just need to try it (but first I going to look into those quiet PCs!).

pj10128, that AirFoil looks like exactly what I wanted. Except that they won't support Windows (seems to be a philosophical position).

Steve-

If you come across music in other formats, iTunes will probably play it--mp3, wav... iTunes should also play streamed internet radio.

As far as the data rate stuff goes, remember that what is on a CD is only 16/44.1. All that stuff about "22 bit superbit" is really about the mastering--redbook CD format is 16/44.1 period end of story. So, unless you invoke an upsampler, the computer isn't upsampling it normally. In fact, many people dislike upsamplers... And, the benefit to be gained by upsampling is going to be dependent upon your upsampling algorithm and how good it is.

Think of it like this... If you want PC to replicate a CD transport, what comes out of a CD transport is 16/44.1...

I have had QOS issues using a SB wirelessly that I have not been able to resolve. It's a clever little device, however.

The big problem with AEX and, I think, SB in wireles mode is that it is all dependent on radio environment. I think both use 802.11 or related protocols in the 2.4 GHz band, which is pretty crowded (includes microwave ovens, some cordless phones, bluetooth...) and doesn't have great penetration through walls. And, there are only a few channels available for 802.11b--there are only three available channels, 1, 6 and 11. While you can set a device to a channel inbetween, you are really then overlapping two channels, and your performance is probably worst. I'd start with Ch. 6--I think Ch. 1 is the default setting (so lots operating there by, well, "default") and Ch. 11 is closest to the fundamental frequency of your microwave oven--which is probably a whopping 500 W, compared to your 100mW or so WiFi device.

When you get interference, the throughput of the system gets ratcheted down to where it becomes more reliable. While max data rates for 11b are nominally 11mbps, in the face of conflicting uses, it drops to 5.5, then 2, then 1... Plus, you have to subtract about 30-40% for overhead, since it uses what amounts to an aloha protocol.

Bottom line, what works for some wirelessly may not work for others. Going to be highly dependent on what else is running nearby, how many walls you go through, how well set up your network is, etc.