The Best Apple AirPlay Streamer

[In-Tone]

Now that the Apple AirPort Express is going away, what is the best AirPlay streamer available?

Only Apple AirPlay.  No UPnP, ChromeCast or other network protocol/service.  Something simple that just does AirPlay.

[In-Tone]

Let me clarify, it needs to be a currently available product/component that replaces the Apple AirPort Express Toslink output, or has a high quality internal DAC.

 

What is the best AirPlay receiver (access point)?  Not a stereo/home theater receiver with amplifiers.

 

Only using AirPlay for iTunes on Mac and the Music app on iOS.

[In-Tone]

The Apple AirPort Express and old Apple TV are not current products.  They are both discontinued and considered legacy.  I have several AirPort Expresses that I currently use, but I want something better, if possible.

 

I need a current (in production and shipping) product that does high quality AirPlay.  I only use AirPlay, so I don’t need it to do UPnP or any other platform.

[In-Tone]

Better sound.

 

An AirPlay receiver with Toslink optical out, for using a nice external DAC....OR an AirPlay receiver with a great internal DAC.

 

Is there a current component that works perfectly for just AirPlay?

[In-Tone]

I have a good stash of AirPort Express units.

 

Maybe someone should design and create a solution....?  A high quality AirPlay DAC....hmmmm.

[In-Tone]

Thanks for the information.  I will contact him.

 

We have our own in-house solution that we have been using for serveral years.  I was curious if anything else like it existed.  We specialize in high quality AirPlay music & media systems for custom homes.

[In-Tone]

@rodrigaj

 

Thanks for the recommmendation.  We have been evaluating “re-clocking” solutions.

 

Our AirPlay source simultaneously provides: a variable analog output provided by a wonderful sounding internal DAC and a fixed Toslink output (that can feed a “re-clocker”).  I’ve been looking at the Empirical options.

 

What are some other “re-clockers” that could improve the Toslink output?

[In-Tone]

@Ralf11

 

Both.  It must be Toslink.  We are open to suggestions and recommendations.  We want to create the best AirPlay source possible.

[In-Tone]

We are currently able to deploy AirPlay and will implement AirPlay 2 as soon as we get more information from Apple.

 

With the discontinuation of the AirPort Express and the desire for higher quality audio playback, we feel there is a need for a dedicated AirPlay source.

 

We will keep you posted and would like your feedback.  Thanks for sharing your time.

 

Allan

www.In-Tone.com

[In-Tone]

We are waiting for Apple to release AirPlay 2 API and Certification requirements.

[In-Tone]

@Ralf11

 

Website?  One step at a time.

 

We are integration designers and our main focus was to create an AirPlay source that we can provide to our clients.  As we use our solution more (especially as the AirPort Express is not an option moving forward) we see the need for something similar for “audiophiles” and have been curious to get some feedback from this community.

 

In full disclosure, my original posted question was a little loaded.  We do want to know if there is an AirPlay source that we could use, but as we dig into it, there’s nothing out there that fits what we have already done.  We are evaluating if and how we would create a “product”?

 

We feel that AirPlay is not only native to the Apple ecosystem and easy to use, but can sound great when setup properly.  Maybe some of the people using Apple AirPlay want a higher quality solution?

[In-Tone]

@kirkmc

 

We have a large stock of AirPort Express units and still deploy them all the time.

 

We already have our AirPlay design that we’ve been using for several years for our clients that want higher quality.

 

We are not concerned about not having a solution.  We are curious if our solution is relevant and valuable to the “audiophile” market.

[In-Tone]

@kirkmc

 

It’s simple, we want to know the best AirPlay streamer (source) available.  We use A LOT of AirPlay in our designs.

 

We have developed our own AirPlay streamer (source).  Our solution is currently designed to integrate with our systems (we design/build our own amplifiers and processors), but we might want to make it a dedicated component.

 

Is there something better than our solution?

 

If not, is there a place for our solution in the “audiophile” market?

 

There are all kinds of reasons to have a dedicated AirPlay streamer source:

 

1.  Analog Output:  better DAC so that the analog output sounds great.

 

2.  Digital Output:  bypassing any volume control to eliminate dithering.

 

3.  Control Interface:  clients can have a physical volume control for each system/room.

 

4.  Automation Integration:  with status and feedback.

 

We have been designing and building systems around AirPlay for several years and have learned that it requires more than an AirPort Express (APE) for larger scale projects.  The APE is wonderful and we will miss it, but we also know that we need(ed) something of higher quality performance with more stable control/interface options.

[In-Tone]

@MikeyFresh

 

No “fake non-questions” here.

 

Just wanting to know if there is a better way than the AirPort Express or our AirPlay DAC solution.  After years of reading through these forums, we thought this would be be the best place to ask.

 

We appreciate all the responses, comments and suggestions.

[In-Tone]

Thanks to everyone who responded!  We appreciate your comments and suggestions.  This community and forum has been very helpful over the years.

 

Regards,

Allan

www.In-Tone.com

[In-Tone]

Maybe the question should be:

 

WHAT WOULD MAKE the best Apple AirPlay streamer?

 

I want the best performance from AirPlay.