MacThijs

Q: Airplay sound quality with Airplay iTunes and Airplay System Audio

So there are different kinds of Airplay.

 

1. There is Airplay in iTunes (the Airplay button left from the volume slider). If I turn that on, I can play my music on my hifi-system, via my AppleTV.

2. And there is Airplay in system setting. You can find that one

a. in the Audio/MIDI configuration app and

b. in the sound-icon in the menubar (with ALT-click).

These two are coupled. If I select my AppleTV with ALT-click on the speaker icon in the menu bar; I can also play music on my hifi system, via my AppleTV.

 

But why is the sound quality so much better via the system setting??? What happens? It REALLY is different. With option1 it is just music. With option 2 it is wonderful hifi; better than anything I've ever heard on my system.

 

Is it because option 2 does just feed a bitperfect signal through the AppleTV to my DAC? And option 1 does some nasty upsampling, presumably the 48kHz of the AppleTV?

Apple TV, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), MacBook

Posted on Jan 22, 2014 2:14 AM

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Q: Airplay sound quality with Airplay iTunes and Airplay System Audio

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  • Helpful answers

  • by TheGuyintheProjectionBooth,

    TheGuyintheProjectionBooth TheGuyintheProjectionBooth Mar 26, 2014 2:09 PM in response to MacThijs
    Level 2 (208 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 26, 2014 2:09 PM in response to MacThijs

    I have AirPlay in my Pioneer receiver and my biggest complaint is the way the volume jumps 4.5dB for every Command-(ArrowUp/Down). Nothing like hitting the volume and not getting any response and then hitting it again and getting a 9dB increase all at once. Where every other device does .5dB per volume adjustment. When connected via your 2b method the volume is controlled via the volume buttons on the computer volume at 1dB steps and you leave iTunes on full. It's so much more accurate, smoother and responds quicker (instantly) compared to using using iTunes. But you also get all the burps and beeps from the system. I can live with that because for the past 20+ year before AirPlay I used wire direct and got them there too.

     

    Why Apple is there such a dynamic difference?

  • by asdfasfgntrtnbncvx ic isdi4w4t,

    asdfasfgntrtnbncvx ic isdi4w4t asdfasfgntrtnbncvx ic isdi4w4t Aug 23, 2014 9:36 AM in response to MacThijs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 23, 2014 9:36 AM in response to MacThijs

    I also noticed the difference in sound quality.  Airplay through system preferences sounds noticeably better.  Also, I noticed that airplay through system preferences takes longer to buffer than airplay through itunes.  (about 6 seconds for system preferences vs about 3 seconds for itunes).  Because of this, I would guess that through itunes, airplay uses some type of lossy compression, resulting in worse sound.  I couldn't find any definitive info though.  Does anybody know for sure?

     

    It would be great if Apple was more upfront about this.  Everything I read about airplay says that it only uses lossless compression. 

  • by Claverdon,

    Claverdon Claverdon Sep 5, 2016 1:40 PM in response to MacThijs
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 5, 2016 1:40 PM in response to MacThijs

    I Have used iTunes for digital music for a couple of years now, always dissatisfied with the sound compared to other source. Now running OS sierra beta, made adjustments in midi setting. Really like switching a light on, such a difference, all that missing information has returned.

     

    so why do Apple not make this more obvious to users, quite remarkable.

    btw I still feed from my Mac mini via gen1 airplay to a DAC.