[SurroundSound] Re: same old story, hoping for different ending this time

I'm coming into this thread late, let me offer some opinions.

I used to work for one of the two big companies in the US providing
DLNA middleware to hardware manufactuers and we had several well known
products on the market, the best selling being the Netgear MP101 audio
player.

Unfortunately the problem with most of these network players, from the
cheapest to the most expensive, is limited codec flexibility and
limited tech specs. Most of them are also short-sighted as far as
technological prowess (i.e. "most people have MP3s, that's good
enough") and don't allow for future formats like FLAC to come along,
let alone multichannel and advanced resolution material. That's why
I've mostly given up on these set-top boxes and do home theater PCs in
most places -- maximum flexibility.

In my house I've become somewhat of an Apple convert, so I will extoll
some of its virtues here.

You can buy one or more Apple TVs (the new small black one) for $99
and hook it to your receiver. It works with iTunes and does allow for
lossless playback, albeit of Apple Lossless (ALAC) not FLAC. It's
easy enough to convert between WAV, FLAC, and ALAC so it's not an
issue. iTunes also does support WAV. My only concern with this
solution is I think the Apple TV may be forcing all audio to 48/16,
but for CD quality stuff only I wouldn't worry too much. There is a
remote app for the iPhone & iPad that lets you control the playback.
ALAC does also support high resolution and multichannels like FLAC but
I haven't had the time/energy to try porting my entire hi-res
collection to a second iTunes library and seeing if the ATV2 handles
hi-res/multichannel correctly. Maybe I'll do a few songs as an
experiment.

I've embraced this solution as my in-home audio and my family was
quite overjoyed this past Christmas to have the music playing in every
room in the house and controllable with big beautiful album art from
the iPad. Apple's solution is remarkably cheap especially compared
against high end stuff like Sonos.

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