First the AppleTV... The reviewer (Steven Stone) seems to be a bit of an Apple apologist throughout most of the AppleTV review. He concludes that the AppleTV is a worthy addition to even the most high-end systems, but passes off issues like the necessity of having it connected to a video monitor. In fact, he did NOT install it in his high-end system at all but in his home theater for just that reason. Still, he decided it was too much trouble to fire up his hi-def projector just to listen to music, so he bought a 17" LCD TV to use with the AppleTV. And even after doing this, he ends up manually switching video cables whenever he wants to watch video from the AppleTV!
He then goes on to say that the 40GB hard drive is woefully inadequate for storing a music library, and even the more expensive 160GB system is on the small side. Here he also forgets how to do simple math, because he twice states that the 160GB drive will hold 2500 uncompressed CDs. Sorry Steven, it won't. It will hold about 250 uncompressed CDs. But, he says a big advantage to having the files on the playback device itself is quicker response times when selecting music - then he later contradicts this by saying the Duet Controller was just as responsive. He also says that copying your music library to the AppleTV could be useful as a backup in case your computer drive fails, then laments the fact that Apple doesn't allow you to move files OFF the AppleTV. It's a one-way street. During the initial transfer of his library, he first wasted an hour trying to connect the AppleTV to his PC via ethernet cable. Unable to get this to work, he used the wifi connection and was pleasantly surprised to find that the whole 65GB library transferred in 45 minutes. This seems extremely fast for wifi, but I guess it's possible. But then he says that every time he fires up iTunes, it has to sync with the AppleTV and this often takes 45 minutes OR MORE, especially if he's added more than 10 new CDs. Something there doesn't add up. Maybe it's just Steven's version of the New Math. One other thing that seems strange about the AppleTV is that it doesn't feature the nifty CoverFlow interface of iTunes. It does show cover art, but only when the music is playing, and then IT FLIPS AND MOVES THE COVER TO PREVENT SCREEN BURN-IN. So, the thing forces you to connect a monitor, then flips the cover art upside-down? ICK. Mr Stone goes on to say that the AppleTV doesn't really turn off when you hit the power button, it just goes into sleep more. And whether powered up or in sleep mode, it "generates a substantial amount of heat." He suggests finding a way to raise it off the shelf to allow better airflow. And if you really want to be "green" and pull the AC plug every time you finish using it, expect several minutes of bootup before it becomes usable. As for sound quality, Steven says don't bother using the analog outputs as they are decidedly lacking. The AppleTV has only a Toslink optical connection for digital, which he says is probably for the best because it isolates your audio system from the "copious amounts of power supply noise" that computers generate. And I had to laugh out loud at the statement: "After a couple of weeks of burn-in I settled down to serious listening." Wow. It's a computer, not a loudspeaker - methinks you wasted 2 weeks waiting for it to sound its best. He does conclude by saying that, once burned in (LOL again) the AppleTV sounded every bit as good as his high-dollar transports, and that in 2 months of use he never ran into any operational glitches. It worked smoothly and sounded excellent. Next: the Duet review... -- Pale Blue Ego ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pale Blue Ego's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=110 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=49614 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
