Apple TV vs Wadia 170i?

I just wish Apple would make a really cool audiophile class component out of stainless steel or aluminum that had a huge terabyte size hard drive and coax and optical outs.

I have been experimenting with wireless access from my mac mini to a LaCie 1 TB 2big NAS drive in RAID1 (mirrored data - i.e. it has two 1 TB drives) coupled to the latest CISCO Wireless Gigabit router. The audio is stored lossless and I send the audio wireless to an Airport Express with optical out to the Benchmark DAC1.

I needed this kind of storage because I went lossless and I need up to 3,000 CD storage capability with absolute insurance that is backed up.

FWIW this works. Depending on your other gear you may or may not like the DAC1 at all - it is a very flat and transparent device so it won't compensate for any room or other issues in the setup. I think it works better with silk dome tweeters as opposed to metal domes (as Macdad points out the clarity is such that it could be all too bright when coupled with a speaker/room that is leaning towards bright)

Shardone makes a great point about integration. I can't take anything that sounds bright with Maggies and a less than perfect room. I need things that add warmth, that's why I have a lot of Cary gear (SLP98, CAD 500 MB amps) and for some reason the Bryston sounds much warmer to me than any other DAC, including the Berkeley, that I tried.

If you have B & W's, Klipsch Heritage, Eggelstons, or other slightly warm speakers the Benchmark could be the be-all-end-all of components.

"Depending on your other gear you may or may not like the DAC1 at all - it is a very flat and transparent device so it won't compensate for any room or other issues in the setup."

Shadorne-

The Benchmark DAC1 is not a "transparent device," it's homogeneous.

Regardless of the original sample rate of the data, converts it to a datastream sampled at 110kHz.

If you want to listen to any digital files in their native FS, you need to look for another product.

The Benchmark DAC1 is not a "transparent device,"

This seems to go against the majority of conclusions and test measurements, as well as my own observations. FWIW - upsampling is used in many D to A devices. It would be difficult to explain Time Series Analysis or Signal Processing here (it is usually a 3rd of 4th year engineering) but I can assure you that upsampling will not change the signal but it can help improve S/N and remove reconstruction artifacts in the D to A, in a good implementation of course.

I would offer that Apple TV makes for the better musical source. I did not like the Wadia at all. It has a signature that is a bit shrill (tilted-up with a plastic artificiality) when compared to the Apple Tv or the mac mini. I also tried the unit against a Cambrige DS500SE used as a transport into a Bidat (the Bidat was used for all of the above sources). I remember my comments were "it would be nice for a party setting", but now I say the apple tv would be better for a party as well because of the ease of using an ipod touch as a remote.