Airport Express by Apple

[Rabbit house]

I am at a loss where I had better to describe this topic in “off topic audio/video” or in “tweaks”. Anyway, I’ll start. At first I have to apologize my description will be too long.　:bowdown:

Apple Airport Express:
http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/

Though I know the topic about Airport Express (APE) by Apple is not new to ML club members, it has been discussed in a Japanese website that the sound from APE is fur better than that from a Hi-End CD player if APE is set properly. The website address is as follows, but it is written only in Japanese. So I will try to summarize the contents.

http://www.procable.jp/setting/index.html

(Summary of the website)
A.　At first, it is said that the sound from iPod is better than a CD player if they rip the CD data to a PC hard disk as WAV data by iTune with error corrections without any compression. As for a CD player, the player reads the CD data without any error corrections. It is said that they connected iPod directly to main amplifier and could get very good sound with much reality. The fact iPod is activated by a battery is also a big advantage to reduce the noise level.

B.　Then it is said that a sound from APE is fur better than that from iPod.
The conditions are as follows;

a.　　Grounding the APE is very important.
b.　　A wired LAN is better than a wireless LAN.
c.　　It seems that an Apple’s Mac PC is better than a Window’s PC for this method.
d.　　The LAN connection via Hub is better than the direct connection from an APE to a PC. They guess the buffer capacity of the Hub is very important.
And the metal case and 3-pin power cable are essential for the Hub as a countermeasure against noise.
e.　　LAN cable’s and Hub’s qualities are very important for the good sound. They persuade to use over category 6 for the LAN cable.
f.　　The full duplicated transfer is better than the half duplicated transfer. They persuade to check the status by the LEDs on the Hub.
g.　　The peer to peer(PTP) or TCP-IP transmission between a PC and an APE with the IP addresses set manually is better than the TCP-IP transmission using automatic DHCP function.
h.　　The default setting of the modest iTune for the stream buffer is “middle”. So if you change it to “large”, the sound could be better.
i.　　　According to other website, it is said we can get much better sound by using excellent DAC via APE’s optical output.

 

[Rabbit house]

My test

The cost for an APE is about 60 USD and that for a Hub is about 50 USD. Because it’s not so expensive and easy to test, I will try them and report the results for your reference.

a. Grounding the APE is very important. (according to the Japanese website)
We can ground the APE by connecting the metal housing of the USB terminal or the audio analogue contact with the grounding cable. I used the metal housing of the USB terminal by inserting a dummy USB connector. I thought the difference was small. I felt I could get a little bit tighter sound.

b. A wired LAN is better than a wireless LAN. (according to the Japanese website)
APE has the wireless transmission (IEE801.11g), but I use IEE801.11n. So I can’t help using wired LAN. It means that I use wireless LAN for internet and use wired LAN only for an APE.

c. It seems that an Apple’s Mac PC is better than a Window’s PC for this method. (according to the Japanese website)
I don’t have any Mac PC, so I’ll try these experiment by my Windows’ PC.

d. The LAN connection via Hub is better than the direct connection from an APE to a PC. They guess the buffer capacity of the Hub is very important. And the metal case and 3-pin power cable are essential for the Hub as a countermeasure against noise. (according to the Japanese website)
I bought a Hub by Corega (Corega supplies Hubs to Allied-Telesis by OEM). It has a metal case and 3-pin power cables. When I used a Hub, I could get a better sound with beautiful low sound and less noise. The difference was apparent. I decided to use a Hub without any hesitation.

e. LAN cable’s and Hub’s qualities are very important for the good sound. They persuade to use over category 6 for the LAN cable. (according to the Japanese website)
I bought Category 6E LAN cable. But I don’t think it’s enough as I describe at item j.

f. The full duplicated transfer is better than the half duplicated transfer. They persuade to check the status by the LEDs on the Hub. (according to the Japanese website)
It is said that in order to get the “Full” setting we have to set “Auto negotiation” on all of an APE, a Hub and a PC, or “Full duplicated” on all of them. I set the transmission way to “Auto negotiation (default) ” on all equipments, PC, Hub and APE. And I confirmed the transmission status was “Full” by the LEDS on the Hub. I tried to compare the both “Full” and “Half”. I could understand the difference. I could get much detail in “Full” mode.

g. The peer to peer(PTP) or TCP-IP transmission between a PC and an APE with the IP addresses set manually is better than the TCP-IP transmission using automatic DHCP function. (according to the Japanese website)
I turned off the DHCP function of the APE and set the following IP address on both my PC and APE. It means I selected PTP transmission.
(APE)
　　　IP address: 192.168.000.002
　　　Subnet mask: 255.255.255.000
　　　Router: 192.168.000.001
(Windows PC)
　　　IP address: 192.168.000.001
　　　Subnet mask: 255.255.255.000
　　　Gateway: 192.168.000.002
I can expect to reduce the load of APE by setting like this, PTP, because APE doesn’t need to search for the router. By turning off wireless function and using a LAN cable, the background noise become low and I could get a tighter sound finally. The difference was apparent.

h. The default setting of the modest iTune for the stream buffer is “middle”. So if you change it to “large”, the sound could be better. (according to the Japanese website)
I couldn’t distinguish the difference.

i. According to other website, it is said we can get much better sound by using excellent DAC via APE’s optical output.
I don’t have any amplifier or DAC that has the optical input. According to the other website, we can get much better sound by using excellent DAC via APE’s optical output. I can’t check that with my system, so I hope somebody would check and report the results.

 

[Rabbit house]

My additional treatment (1)

After using a LAN cable between a PC and an APE, the sparking noise “Pachi Pachi” had occurred from ML panels when I turned on or off the fluorescent light. Then I searched for the cause and found the LAN cable (Category 6E) collected the electro-magnetic radiation noise from the air. So I decided to take countermeasures to meet the noise like a computer geek who take for the PC of his own work. At the same time, I add the grounding to the copper shields of the indoor power cables in my house.

j. Shielding the LAN cable (my additional treatment)
I wondered how much noise the LAN cable gathered. So I decided to put the aluminum shield with grounding round the cable. It was a really big change about a sound and the soundstage became clear.

 

[Rabbit house]

My additional treatment (2)

k. Putting many ferrite cores on many cables (my additional treatment)
I put about 100 ferrite cores on each cable of my system. I think it’s very difficult for you to aware of the difference if you put only a few cores. If you put many like me, you can aware that background noise become quiet.

 

[Rabbit house]

My additional treatment (3)

l. Rapping the Hub with aluminum foil with grounding (my additional treatment)
I understood we could not neglect the effect of noise in item j. So I rapped the Hub with a aluminum foil with grounding. I could get a very clear high frequency sound by rapping a Hub.

m. Rapping the APE with a aluminum foil with grounding (my additional treatment)
Then I rapped the APE with a aluminum foil with grounding next. The effect was almost the same as item l. I feel the background noise become less and I could increase the main volume by 1 or 2 dB after doing item l and m. The sound became very real and live.

 

[Rabbit house]

Conclusions

(Checking the formats of ripping-The comparison Apple lossless format with WAV)
I try to distinguish the difference between the Apple lossless and the WAV format ripped by iTunes with error corrections. I couldn’t distinguish the difference between both formats.

(APE VS. Marantz)
Finally I compared the sound from APE with that from my CD player (Marantz SA-11S1). Though I don’t know if Marantz SA-11S1 is highly appreciated in the world or not, it is regarded as one of the Hi-End players in Japan. Surprisingly I couldn’t judge which sound is better from APE or from SA-11S1. The APE expressed the fine details and the sound is very live with much reality.

(Conclusions)
My impression about an APE is as follows;

1. The potential ability of APE is amazing. If you do a proper treatment to an APE, you will be surprised at the big change and find how an APE has a good cost-performance.

2. I think the weak point of an APE as a product for pure audio is the countermeasure against noise. In order to withdraw the full ability of an APE, I think the items a, b, d, e, f, j, l and m are very important. Especially as for the LAN cable, I persuade you to use a very qualified one over category 7 or/and to add a shield around the cable with grounding. Furthermore, if you rap a Hub and an APE by aluminum foil with grounding, you can get a live sound with much reality.

3. However I don’t think a APE is fur better than Hi-End CD players as the Japanese website describe, though there is the possibility of that if you use the very excellent DAC via APE’s optical output. I hope someone here try to check and report that after the countermeasure against noise.

4. Personally I want to buy an Apple PC with “Firewire800” interface to connect the outer hard disk in order to stock the much music data in near future. I’ll rip my all CDs into the outer hard disk and keep my CDs in the closet.

I’d like to thank the Japanese website for giving me the opportunity to think about APE.

Shuji

 

[Beat_Dominator]

Very interesting write up!

The first thing that comes to mind..... why save the $ with the APE setup when it needs to look SO ugly!

Funny you wrote this as I created a thread HERE about my adventures in ripping my CD catalog to FLAC lossless format. My plans are a little unorthodox compared to what I have seen on the internet.

I knew that CAT5/6 cable has no real shielding, and my computer is a bit noisy. Thus I want my PC in a separate room from my Audio equipment..... just like it is now. I find it REALLY hard to believe that you can get a perfect signal through wireless transmission, with all of the cell phones, cordless phones, other wireless networks in the area, as well as the other various sources of interference in our world. I searched the internet and found a few technical studies done that back up my theory and shows that the data received wirelessly has a bit of error. Well within range to work..... but not good enough for audio nuts

My solution will be to purchase a high quality 8 meter run of optical fiber cable. My Terratec soundcard can output a 24bit 96khz signal from it's optical jack. I will feed this to my Forte F50 DAC and I am hopeful that I will have decent sound!

Unfortunately my completion of this setup is still a few months off or we could compare notes!

 

[Rabbit house]

Very interesting write up!

The first thing that comes to mind..... why save the $ with the APE setup when it needs to look SO ugly!

Thank you for your gentle comment.

The reasons why I tried that are;

1. For you, Beat! <- Wishes Audio were cheaper, so he could buy it all!! >
2. I can't help trying to use an APE, if somebody says the sound from an APE is fur better than that from a Hi-End CD player.
3. I can satisfy my curiousity by doing by myself and also take a good experience.

My solution will be to purchase a high quality 8 meter run of optical fiber cable. My Terratec soundcard can output a 24bit 96khz signal from it's optical jack. I will feed this to my Forte F50 DAC and I am hopeful that I will have decent sound!

I think using an optical fiber cable is a good idea. I will try to search it and a good DAC.

Shuji

 

[Beat_Dominator]

It's too bad your Marantz does not feature a digital input, since the DAC in there is terrific!