Piqued by JA's somewhat recent investigation of Apple's AirPort Express & Apple Lossless via AirTunes, I suggest that Stereophile run a follow-up article assessing the merits -- sonic & logistic -- of replacing a transport based digital front end w/ a hard disk based audio server connected via Wi-Fi to an external DAC.
I envision that ripping (ALAC w/ error correction) my entire Redbook audio CD collection to an external Firewire drive connected to my PowerBook or a dedicated Mac mini audio server and wirelessly streaming that audio via iTunes' AirTunes capability to my AirPort Express Wi-Fi base station connected via mini Toslink (or will AirPort Express also output PCM via its USB?) to an external DAC could be both a satisfying digital front end and a deus ex machina from my never ending CD shelving problem.
Piqued by JA's somewhat recent investigation of Apple's AirPort Express & Apple Lossless via AirTunes, I suggest that Stereophile run a follow-up article assessing the merits -- sonic & logistic -- of replacing a transport based digital front end w/ a hard disk based audio server connected via Wi-Fi to an external DAC.
I envision that ripping (ALAC w/ error correction) my entire Redbook audio CD collection to an external Firewire drive connected to my PowerBook or a dedicated Mac mini audio server and wirelessly streaming that audio via iTunes' AirTunes capability to my AirPort Express Wi-Fi base station connected via mini Toslink (or will AirPort Express also output PCM via its USB?) to an external DAC could be both a satisfying digital front end and a deus ex machina from my never ending CD shelving problem.