From the quick look I've just had, it looks like the Air Port [Extreme] is just a wireless switch, so unless your DAC has Ethernet connectivity, you're hooped.
Patently untrue...
The Airport is actually MADE to stream music from iTunes from a computer through it's wireless connection. If your DAC has a TOSLINK input, it will work wonderfully with an Airport Express. HOWEVER, unless you have a good outboard DAC that you can run it's TOSLINK digital signal into, the Airport will give you the same quality output (using it's analogue jack) that you'll get from the headphone jack of your computer...
great, thanks for all the quick advice! I also heard that the airport was a pita to set up properly... I know all the fun I had when trying to setup my microsoft router with the 5 computers/laptops I have hooked up throughout my house!
Anyone who has told you that the Airport is a pita to set up is either VERY technically challenged, or trying to sell you something that they'll get a bigger commission on. The Airport is dead-simple to set up for streaming iTunes audio from a Mac OR a PC. It takes longer if you're running Windoze, because you essentially have to trick the OS into understanding that it's actually connected to something it has no physical connection with (which under Windows, is a functional impossibility as per its fundamental specs, but "vee have vays to make it talk"...), but if you're using the current install package for the Airport, it takes about 15 minutes to set up. It's actually easier than setting up a new printer for Windows...
But the REAL beauty of the Airport, is it is NOT a uni-tasker, like a Squeezebox or a "media server". Your computer is STILL your computer, but now, it's ALSO a wireless music server. And the Airport isn't JUST an airport, it's also a wireless print server, if you don't mind having a printer near your stereo. And the Airport can also be configured as a "repeater" for your wireless router, so it is effectively ALSO a wireless range extender. Not bad for $100, eh?
However, the Airport WILL not hook up to your iPod. That's not what it's designed to do--it is NOT a digital interface for iPods--it is a WIRELESS device, for networking and streaming audio. The Airport isn't even in the same class of device as far as what it's meant to do as the Wadia dock. Putting these two devices together in the same conversation is like asking which is a better tool for building my house--a chainsaw or a TIG welder?
So what I'm getting at here is that the Airport IS a good device--for what it does--AND providing you have a good external DAC and a quality TOSLINK (preferably with glass fiber) cable. But you can't hook your iPod up to it...
Now the Wadia dock is a sweet little rig--it's a GREAT way to get the pure digital bitstream out of an iPod and into a good outboard DAC. However, that's ALL it does. You can't hook a computer to it. It isn't wireless. And it isn't compatible with the REALLY old iPods, and there have been some reported compatibility issues with the new 3G iPhones. And on top of all that, with the Wadia, you're STILL going to need an outboard DAC--it ONLY serves as a dock--it has NO built-in D/A conversion capabilities...
So if you HAVE to use an iPod as a source, then I would HIGHLY recommend getting the Wadia. I've heard it in several rigs, and it is a VERY clean piece of kit. IT will bring out a level of performance from your iPod or iPhone that you never knew possible, ESPECIALLY if you're ripping your music in Apple Lossless.
But if you are looking to stream music wirelessly from a computer (laptop or desktop) from iTunes, then the Airport is really the ONLY game in town. It's inexpensive, a multi-tasker, AND it leaved your iTunes library useable and intact, (doesn't EVERYONE who is REALLY interested in good portable digital sound use an iPod and iTunes these days, anyway?...)
yep, you have a point there! But I want to be able to change songs in my HT and not have to run upstairs to my computer ...
If you have an iPod Touch, or an iPhone, you can get the "Remote" app for FREE from Apple's iTunes Store, and control your computer--IF your computer is a Mac. It's VERY cool, AND it's FREE...
Yeah, Apple gear costs a little more at the register, but their support is simply light-years ahead of ANYONE else in the business, and they give you all sorts of cool free stuff along the way that is actually USEFUL, instead of a folder full of Mah Jhong and Solitaire games like you get with Windoze...
There's no "simple" way to get the digital out of the iPod, so you can rest assured that there won't be a cheap apple version of this.
I think you will really enjoy how good the iPod can sound with the Wadia!
Again, this is PATENTLY false. Getting digital out of an iPod is actually a painfully simple process--it's no more technically difficult that getting a digital signal out of a computer. It's just that Apple has put all sort of weird-ass encryption on the digital signal that comes out of the dock port of the 'Pods to PREVENT anyone from doing that unless they pay proper Tribute at the Alter of Jobs, so that they can get the "secret handshake codes" to give their devices access to this digital stream. Technically, there is NO reason why you shouldn't be able to run a digital bistream out of the USB or dock ports on an iPod/iPhone, just like you can pump a digital stream out of the USB port of your computer. The reason why it doesn't work that way is NOt because it's technically difficuly--IT'S NOT!!!--it's because Apple decided to make this function a way they could have VERY tight control over the quality of the devices that did it, by charging an extorsionary fee for the "codes" to unlock the functionality and decode the encrypted bitstream...
Don't get me wrong--I LOVE Apple, and have been a MacEvangelist for 20 years, but it seems that Apple is getting more and more like Micro$oft every day with their "proprietary this" and "hobbled technology that", and it's starting to get old. The iPod/iPhone are INCREDIBLE technologies, but between Apple and AT&T intentionally hobbling some of their most innovative capabilities, even some of us die-hard Apple nuts are getting a little jaded...
So anyway, if you want to stream from your computer, get an Airport, and forget about all the other crap.
But if you want to use your 'Pod or iPhone as a source for your stereo, you can't go wrong with the Wadia dock...