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AirPlay vs. BT LDAC?

selfcontained

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I've been searching through the forums and am kind of at my wit's end now.

I am trying to determine what will provide better sound:

streaming 16-bit/44.1KHz ALAC over AirPlay to a 1st-gen AirPort Express https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/revi...-and-Second-Generation-Apple-AirPort-Express/

vs. streaming 16-bit/44.1KHz ALAC over AirPlay to a 2nd-gen AirPort Express https://kenrockwell.com/apple/airport-express.htm

vs. streaming 16-bit/44.1KHz FLAC over Bluetooth using LDAC set to 909Kbps to a Topping BC3 https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...c3-review-bluetooth-receiver-bt-codecs.23740/
 

Tangband

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LDAC is not lossless, it’s really close though.
True, and maybe LDAC is one of the best lossy transmissions?
AirPlay is lossless and the sound is because of this slightly better ( the volume regulation is not lossless though…)

If one combine lossy soundmaterial like Spotify 256 Kbit with lossy codex transmission like LDAC/bluetooth, you get a bad result, because both LDAC/ bluetooth and other lossy transmissions uses the ear/brain masking effect. The same is true with different lossy mp3 techniques.

The result will be -1 ( Spotify ) -1 ( LDAC/bluetooth ) = -3.

AirPlay + TIDAL will be 0 - 0 = 0
 
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MCH

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I would consider the practicalities as well, or even as no. 1 factor. In between them:

- airplay will work wherever your wifi signal reaches, no matter if there are walls or whatever
- for a decent bluetooth connection the two devices will likely need to be relatively close and ideally without walls in between. On top of that, it has been discussed here that the top quality ldac transmission tends to work only at short distances.

- with wifi, i personally find it easier and more robust to stream from device a to device b
- with Bluetooth in a house with many Bluetooth devices, often in the same room (ca. 7 any normal day in my living room), i find it a bit of a mess to pair this with that, but first unpair with that other, and better switch off the Bluetooth of the laptop otherwise it will connect to it and not to the other thingy... I truly believe Bluetooth was not made for audio transmission at home, but for cars or for smartphone to headphones, where it works perfectly fine. I have eliminated its use at home in favor of wifi with the exception of tv to headphones and i never looked back.

My 2c.
 

Dumdum

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True, and maybe LDAC is one of the best lossy transmissions?
AirPlay is lossless and the sound is because of this slightly better ( the volume regulation is not lossless though…)

If one combine lossy soundmaterial like Spotify 256 Kbit with lossy codex transmission like LDAC/bluetooth, you get a bad result, because both LDAC/ bluetooth and other lossy transmissions uses the ear/brain masking effect. The same is true with different lossy mp3 techniques.

The result will be -1 ( Spotify ) -1 ( LDAC/bluetooth ) = -3.

AirPlay + TIDAL will be 0 - 0 = 0
Airplay isn’t lossless for the majority of file sample rates, but from memory is for 44.1, 16 transmission

I’d pick airplay over Bluetooth any day of the week no matter how shiny the codec being used
 

abdo123

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I heard some weird things over airplay with regards to tonal balance, but BT has been consistently worse in other areas. LDAC might be promising but i’m an Apple user.
 
OP
S

selfcontained

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Thank you all for your responses. I love how knowledgable and experienced you folks are. I have an addendum to my first post and a follow-up question or two if I may....

In my original post I neglected to mention that in all scenarios I'd be using analog out to my stereo's Aux. in.

My follow-up questions are:

Does the fact that I'd be using analog out to my stereo's Aux. in change any of your replies?

of the two AirPort Express devices, I've read what, to me, seems to be contradictory assessments of which is better - namely from these two reviews

https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/revi...-and-Second-Generation-Apple-AirPort-Express/

https://kenrockwell.com/apple/airport-express.htm

So if you folks could tell me which AirPort Express model is better - the original or the 2nd-generation I'd really appreciate it!

And finally, in either AirPort Express model, it seems that using AirPlay ver. 1 is better than AirPlay ver. 2 - is that the consensus?

Thank you again for your thoughts on this - really very much appreciated.
 

ZolaIII

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How about good old DLNA over WiFi or network instead? If it's an option for you of course. Open protocol supporting up to 192000 Hz 24 bit and DoP, losseles of course and with a good player full proper DSP integration for local streaming. At least I use it like that with JRiver as player.
Of course both Airplay and DLNA will exhibit some hickups from time to time depending how good is your rooter, on the other hand LDAC on highest bit rate will have very short range and probably much more problematic (at least with phone's is like that just couple of brand's and more of the past ones [LG and Sony] ware only one's who did it properly and had deacent antennas so it whosent pain in the ass).
Best regards and have a nice time.
 
OP
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selfcontained

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Thank you that's a good suggestion but I had to rule it out as DLNA doesn't allow for transferring streams to the player.

My use case is that I'd load my phone's microSD card with ALAC files and send them to the AirPort Express and use the AE's analog out to my stereo's Aux. in. What I also do is use the phone's browser to connect to the live streaming feed of a favorite radio station in a different state and play that out to the AirPort Express. DLNA doesn't allow for that streams (as I understand it.)
 
OP
S

selfcontained

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However, I'm still at a loss as to which AirPort Express (1st-gen or 2nd-gen) produces the best quality audio through its analog out.
 

Weeb Labs

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NiagaraPete

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AirPlay ver. 1 is better than AirPlay ver. 2 - is that the consensus
Not for me. Being able to stream to more than one device at a time is a deal breaker. MY TV has Airplay2, my PI streamer has Airplay2, my 2 Airport Express boxes are Airplay2, and my recent purchase of Apple TV4K is also AiirPlay2. I'd also speculate that if Apple ever gets off their asses and bring out Airplay3 likely only the newer devices will support it. But who knows on that one.
 
OP
S

selfcontained

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You folks are the best - in just one day through your help I've been able to get much closer to the best solution for my needs than I've been able to figure out in the past two or more weeks of ineffectual googling.

The final obstacle for me is in interpretting the results of these two tests:

This one https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/revi...-and-Second-Generation-Apple-AirPort-Express/ seems to suggest that the 1st-gen AirPort Express is better

This one https://kenrockwell.com/apple/airport-express.htm seems to suggest that the 2nd-gen AirPort Express is better

If I am only going to use analog audio out from only ripped CDs (16-bit/44.1KHz) ALAC files, which is better? Any help in this last milestone for me?
 

Tangband

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You folks are the best - in just one day through your help I've been able to get much closer to the best solution for my needs than I've been able to figure out in the past two or more weeks of ineffectual googling.

The final obstacle for me is in interpretting the results of these two tests:

This one https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/revi...-and-Second-Generation-Apple-AirPort-Express/ seems to suggest that the 1st-gen AirPort Express is better

This one https://kenrockwell.com/apple/airport-express.htm seems to suggest that the 2nd-gen AirPort Express is better

If I am only going to use analog audio out from only ripped CDs (16-bit/44.1KHz) ALAC files, which is better? Any help in this last milestone for me?
If you gonna use the analog output from the device then I would go for the 2nd gen AirPort express, the sound is rather good used in that way . Its a good streamer and volume regulated preamp for little money if your main source are airplay . I used this solution during one year after I had a naim streamer , and didnt miss the naim much, soundwise.

 
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OP
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selfcontained

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If you gonna use the analog output from the device then I would go for the 2nd gen AirPort express, the sound is rather good used in that way . Its a good streamer and volume regulated preamp for little money if your main source are airplay . I used this solution during one year after I had a naim streamer , and didnt miss the naim much, soundwise.
Thank you that's good to know.
 

DavidM1

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Late to the conversation but I have both the first generation and 2nd generation Airport Expresses. I compared them via the 3.5mm audio connection a couple of days ago and I heard a difference. The earlier one didn't quite have the clarity of the newer one, especially in the midrange. The 2nd gen is really quite a decent sound. I might add an external DAC for this one in time but it doesn't feel urgent. I'm using vintage gear - a Quad 33/303 amp and B&W DM601 S3 speakers.
 
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selfcontained

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Late to the conversation but I have both the first generation and 2nd generation Airport Expresses. I compared them via the 3.5mm audio connection a couple of days ago and I heard a difference. The earlier one didn't quite have the clarity of the newer one, especially in the midrange. The 2nd gen is really quite a decent sound. I might add an external DAC for this one in time but it doesn't feel urgent. I'm using vintage gear - a Quad 33/303 amp and B&W DM601 S3 speakers.
Thank you very much for your analysis. You have some nice equipment too!
 
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