Mac vs. PC differences to Airport Express?

agree with KANA , this french flying saucer based on the airport express is the best source i ever own (includes audio aero, wadia, dcs stuff..)

it sounds simply like a very good vinyl player..

and don't trust guys like Steve who are just here to sell their products in every post about pc audio , here and on audio asylum. not a very honest point of view..

Juanitox - you dont have to trust me, although I wish you would.

I rely mostly on posts on the forums - customer feedbacks for advertising. I sell all of my products word-of-mouth. No advertising to speak-of. My advertising budget for the year is about $250. Even with this, I have had a 5 month backlog all year.

I post on these forums mostly to dispell misinformation and prevent people from making bad choices.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Hey Jax2,

Toslink is a digital interface and is not audio it is pure digital read off the disk converted to "light pipe" and shipped out, thats it, only data ready to be read by a down stream device.

Mark

Toslink is a digital interface and is not audio it is pure digital read off the disk converted to "light pipe" and shipped out, thats it, only data ready to be read by a down stream device.

I did not say it was an audio signal, did I? I'm not sure what you're trying to say. The signal has to carry timing and content, and you are converting it from one language to another, and then back to yet another when it reaches the DAC. I don't know that much about this stuff, but my experiences suggest to me that every stage of the road from one point to the next may effect the outcome, and that it's best to do as few conversions as possible. Are you suggesting that because it is not an audio signal that it is not vulnerable to any degradation/errors in transport and conversions?

Marco

Thanks for all of your advice, guys. I have decided to get a Trends UD-10.1 USB converter for now. I will use my iBook laptop attached to an external hard drive. I will go

Mac iBook >Trends USB converter > S/PDIF cable > Benchmark DAC-1 > analog out > Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated > speakers.

Down the road I will either mod my existing Benchmark DAC or upgrade to a USB DAC, but for now this looks like the best way to improve my sound greatly for just $150.

The only question I still have is what cable format to from USB converter to Benchmark DAC. I can use my existing Stereovox HDXV S/PDIF to BNC cable
or
I could use an XLR cable between the two.
Any feedback on that?