Had a quick peek on t'net and the 'Burr Brown PCM3052' gets very reasonable reviews. Certainly try before spending money on an external converter.

Mr. Moulton,

Regarding Apple's implementation of audio, would this poor quality still hold true if you were beaming (via WiFi) Apple lossless files to an Apple TV that was in turn connected to a BeoVision TV and then output (via the TV) to some BeoLab 3s?

TIA,

Mark 

I know it wasn't aimed at me but I'll answer anyway as I can...

When the data is transmitted to the Apple TV, it's 'lossless'. There is no loss of data along the way. Where the audible degradation comes into place is in the Apple TV's DAC, which isn't the greatest quality circuit out there. The Apple TV does however have a digital output, which could be connected to a higher-quality DAC if you really wanted very good sound.

Alex,

Thank you for replying to my question.

So, even if I go HDMI out from the Apple TV to a BV8 and then have BL3s connected via the PL output on the BV8, I'd still be subject to Apple TV's DAC and it's poor quality?  I ask as it would seem that music in the Apple lossless format would be flowing digitally right to the BL3s, but maybe the BL3s don't have a digital to analog convertor that's inherent to them and this is required somewhere in the set up.

My goal is to try and avoid a BS3 or other "receiver" like device with this particular AV set up.

Mark 

Alex,

Thank you for replying to my question.

So, even if I go HDMI out from the Apple TV to a BV8 and then have BL3s connected via the PL output on the BV8, I'd still be subject to Apple TV's DAC and it's poor quality? 

=== 

I may have to correct what I wrote in the BV8 thread, concerning HDMI. The spec's for the BV8 say that "HMDI Input senses audio and video. Main usage is high quality video."

The spec's also state that stereo decoders are A2 + Nicam. I therefore can't say whether the TV will process the HDMI audio out properly from an AppleTV. Must check it out on my own. Would be ideal if it did!

Soundproof,

Sorry to be hitting you with questions in two threads, but thank you for the clarification and for all your insight.  I sure hope that the BV8 can do good audio out from an HDMI source otherwise my idea behind designing this all digital media AV set up without a receiver is flawed.

Anybody else with insight as to how the BV8 processes audio coming in via the HDMI port and whether or not it can output well via the PL link?

Puncher,

I realize that the BL3s don't have a digital input with onboard DAC, but what are your thoughts on my proposed AV set up (i.e. the HDMI from the Apple TV coming in to the BV8 and going out to the BL3s via PL connectors)?

TIA,

Mark