The OFFICAL Apple TV thread

I put this in another thread, but I guess this is a far more appropriate place..

Toslink cable - Sonicwave glass 1 meter - About $25 from Amazon.com
Improved everything. Biggest difference was sound was less blurry and more focused. Everything sounded sharper, in a good way.

Power cord - Audioquest NRG 1 - 6 ft - $79 from Music Direct
Same results as the Sonicwave cable. Pretty much same extent too. I was skeptical about a power cord on the ATV, so I made sure I could return it. It stayed.

Vibracones - I had them laying around the house, and use them for better ventilation, as the ATV gets hot. It also helps lift the unit up so the cables are easier to get to. Not sure about sound quality, as I've used them since day 1.

iPhone Remote App - Free - Makes navigation far easier than on the TV.

Rega DAC - $1k - By far the best DAC I've heard anywhere near the price.

My ATV and Rega DAC sound so much better than my Apollo did. No going back to CDPs.

Also, just because you digitize your collection doesn't mean you have to get rid of the CDs. I still have mine!

Forgot to say...

I have the ATV with 160 gb internal hard drive. All music is Apple Lossless with error correction.

Haven't heard a difference between WAV, AIFF, and Apple Lossless. Have heard a difference between error correction on and off on some CDs. Probably depends on the CD's condition.

Stored music sounds better than synched.

Just reporting what I hear. Others have disagreed with one or two things. As always, try it for yourself.

used a wireworld glass toslink cable.
wyred 4 sound dac2
sounded decent but with limitations.

replaced atv with mac mini, 4TB of disk, running pure music
all cd's ripped with MAX
nice usb cable using 24/192 driver from wyred 4 sound
going into the wyred 4 sound dac2
night and day difference.
sold my classe cdp-10 since my mac server sounded much better.

i still use an atv and airport express around the house for background music.

I'm glad you posted this topic. I use my ATV2 mostly for streaming radio from my iPad to my system. Occasionally I will stream Apple Lossles files from the iPad as well. It's connected to a Musical Fidelity V-DAC using a 1 meter Monster Interlink LightSpeed 100 I had lying around (from my HT faze). I did not replace the power cord. I have to say it sounds good. Internet radio is quite enjoyable thru the V-DAC. The lossless files sound even better. I'm really happy with the ATV2 and the convenience.

That said, I've wondered if a higher end dac would make much difference or would the law of diminishing returns apply here. I can't see spending $1000 for say, a 2% increase in fidelity. Perhaps we will have to wait for an ATV3 to see if Apple will tweak it for the audiophiles who want more.

The majority of my listening is done thru my Mac Mini, Pure Music, Tranquility dac and there is just no contest.