[iTunes] Streaming ALAC to Airport Express

[Jim MacCormaic]

On 23 Apr 2008, at 5:39 am, Robert Golovniov wrote:

> Could anyone please advise me whether Airport Express is good at
> playing back via a stereo system the ALAC-encoded music streamed to it
> from iTunes? Does it make any difference whether it is the latest
> version of Airport Express or an earlier one? Warm thank you for all
> the responses.

I've been using Airport Express for this purpose for several years now  
without any problem. My AE is one of the previous generation (802.11g)  
models, set up to join a wireless network controlled by an Airport  
Extreme base station (802.11n). I stream from both my iBook (802.11g  
card) and my iMac (802.11n) on a regular basis. I also stream  
occasionally from my older swan-neck iMac (802.11b card) without any  
problem.

Audio files involved include ALAC, AAC, AAC iTunes purchases, MP3 and  
AIFF (including, recently, high-resolution AIFF -- up to 96kHz/24bit).  
Airport Express copes with all this flawlessly. Later this year I plan  
to get rid of my old iMac and my trusty old iBook, replacing them with  
the soon-to-be-announced new MacBook complete with 802.11n. I will  
upgrade to the latest AE at that stage so as to be completely 802.11n.

Jim MacCormaic
Dublin, Ireland