So I’m thinking about upgrading my existing system which consists of an apple airport plugged into a Sony QS receiver via optical. Speakers are Kef Egg 2005 which I just run as a 2.1 sub / sat. My understanding is the raw digital signal is passed from the apple device and decoded in the amp. There seems to be a polethora of options for network streamers (Marantz NA6005 for example) , stereo amps which also seem to be loaded with the ability to decode digital to audio (DACS…Matantz PM6005 for example) and Recievers which are fully loaded with AirPlay, spotify etc. my question is will there be any benefit in hooking up an expensive network audio player to a amp if all the processing and decoding is done on the amp? Would it be any better than the apple device as a source? The amp I have at the moment seems to decode the audio at 96kHz / 24 bit? The Maratnz seems to be quoting twice that (192khz, 24 bit). Confused.com

i think….no! i’m wondering if the answer you’re looking for is you should upgrade your DAC (either as a standalone or an integrated gizmo) and force it to do the conversion (digital in, phono etc out) – I think your sony thing (don’t know it, sorry) is up for sale unless it can act (and is useful as) a power amp…hth’s

thanks akeys..yes the sony amp (STR-DB900) does seem to do a reasonable job (although I can find no information on the DAC). It was one of the first all digital amps and won various awards at the time. However I guess things move on …..

get a standalone DAC.
i’m using a ‘cheap’ musical fidelity V-dac through a naim pre-power and i;m very impressed with it’s sound quality. it has optical/usb inputs so i guess you could use your airport express to stream wirelessly in the digital domain though i dont know if there is a limit to it’s bit-rate done this way?

i used to use an airport but now i just leave the laptop next to hifi and use remote on iPhone/ipad to control iTunes

i’m with mr smith – get a standalone dac and if the inputs on the sony are as the picture

http://www.fein-hifi.de/Surround-Receiver/Sony/Sony-STR-DB900-QS-Dolby-Digital-DTS-6-1-Receiver-silber::1196.html

then you run output of DAC into Front R/L (or video or DVD if they’re already used) – upgrade for 100 quid ‘ish

Thanks chaps.,I think I may go the whole hog and get a Yamaha, Cambridge or Marantz streamer with spotify etc built in.