Advice on AirPlay 1 streamer

[meibdk]

Unfortunately I bought in on the Apple universe years ago.
Now I’m looking for an advice on an AirPlay 1 streamer.
I got tired of AirPlay 2 long ago because of lag/stuttering when adding songs to cue or reorganizing a playlist on the fly… And I have tried my Airports and different third party “streamers”, different iOS versions.

Recently I tried AirPlay 2 again through WiiM Mini but those two bugs persist… So I rekon it’s an iOS and/or AirPlay 2 protocol thing.
I have found AirPlay 1 doesn’t suffer from these two bugs and I don’t need multi-room.
… but now I’ve tried using AirPort Express Gen 1 802.11N version, AirPort Express Gen 2 and Apple TV Gen 3.

• The AP Express Gen. 1 suffers from a little bit of jitter - enough for my DAC unlock at sometimes (ESS Sabre based).
• The AP Express Gen. 2 suffers from mad jitter. What a piece of cr….
• The Apple TV Gen 3 is actually fine, except for an iOS bug. Playing music using AirPlay, while browsing in Safari (Chrome too) will cause AirPlay to pause if I encounter auto-playing videos on various websites. The AirPorts don’t have this issue and there is no way to avoid this. All methods tested.

So… Can anyone recommend a good, bug and jitter free AirPlay 1 unit?

I’m currently looking at the Yamaha WXC-50.

Also I want the volume control to be done directly from my iPhone.
… ofcourse without any noticeable sound degradation.

 

[Downtown]

Use the Apple Express A1392 (gen 2) with firmware 7.6.9 (AirPlay 1).... this works flawless overhere.
And worth to try the analog output, the internal DAC is very good.

 

[NiagaraPete]

I have 2 Airport Express Airplay 2 and a RPI Shairport Airplay 2 and have never had and lag / stuttering or any kind of issue. Airplay 2 use lots of buffering to prevent that. You may have a network issue at play.

 

[Downtown]

My experience with several stand-alone DAC's is that there's always a chance of a "mismatch"(which results in jitter/lag/stuttering or other digital artifacs) between the "digital out" of some streamer devices to the "digital in" of some DAC.
Don't ask me why, but this is what I've experienced over the years.
@meibdk.... an extra benefit of having AirPlay 1 (if possible to select the firmware) is that you can use your iPhone using lossless streaming quality, which isn't possible with AirPlay 2.

 

[NiagaraPete]

iPhone using lossless streaming quality, which isn't possible with AirPlay 2.

Hogwash. iPhone Apple Music > Airport Express AirPlay2 or RPI Shairport AirPlay 2 > 16/44.1 > DAC

 

[anotherhobby]

Hogwash. iPhone Apple Music > Airport Express AirPlay2 or RPI Shairport AirPlay 2 > 16/44.1 > DAC

Apple Music from an iPhone over AirPlay2 is converted to AAC256, even if it started life as 16/44.1 or hi-res.

 

[Firefly00]

Raspberry Pi Zero W + Apple Dongle. Install Moode on Pi, then enjoy

 

[Firefly00]

Apple Music from an iPhone over AirPlay2 is converted to AAC256, even if it started life as 16/44.1 or hi-res.

You sure? Mine claims 24/48 when using Airplay 2, assuming the music file has the adequate resolution

 

[anotherhobby]

You sure? Mine claims 24/48 when using Airplay 2, assuming the music file has the adequate resolution

I'd start reading here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...pple-music-vs-tidal.27681/page-3#post-1047260