gooomz -
I am running a Slim Devices Squeezebox (SB3) and streaming FLAC (lossless) files from my computer's hard drive.

You can either stream over wifi (built into the SB3) if you have a wireless router, or hard wire an ethernet cable (which is what I do).

I programmed my Harmony remote so that it controls the SB3.

As for digital audio output, the SB3 has both coax and optical outs. I run my coax ditital out to an external DAC then into my preamp (at least I did till I sold my old stereo - in transition right now).

My parents actually bought 2 of them and introduced it to me a couple of years ago. They are quite amazing, and a lot of fun. You can actually sync them up if you wish.

The one catch to enjoying music off a hard drive is that you get your tags and format consistent/correct. I've spent hours and hours organizing my library so that I have consistent Genres, etc. My parents have a mess in their library, so it is a bit more difficult finding what you want. They have many forced playlists that they have created, which is not as efficient as sorting by tags. I hear that itunes has great software for this, but I used "tag and rename" for tags, along with "exact audio copy" for ripping.

if possible i guess it would be better to run a hard line from AppleTV to my imac correct?


and i have to ask, any loss in sound quality by using appletv? i know its all digital and the source depends and all, but any gitter issues or interference that could possible degrade sound quality?

You will want some sort of network connection to whatever device is near your 990 (be it an iMac, an AppleTV, a SqueezeBox, or something else entirely). That can be wired or wireless, and it shouldn't matter which.

The key factor for sound quality will be the original files - compared to the compression scheme used (or lack thereof if its lossless), everything else will be secondary. That's true for any of these devices.

Only problem I had with wireless in my last home was in the kitchen. Each time we used the microwave, our connection to the SB3 was lost. But like Gonk said, get the compression right when ripping music to your hard drive.

To throw another system into the mix, I have been using TVersity on my PC to stream music/video wirelessly to my PS3. The PS3 then sends the audio to the 990. The PS3 shows the computer's folders/file names for the songs on the TV screen. You just click to the album or specific song you want to hear.

It works great for MP3 files. I'm not sure about the high quality aspect of it though.

The drawbackis that the setup did take a lot of trial & error to get my network to recognize the PS3.

Oy

Yeah, I'm using TVersity with my 360. It works good, but it's not for the technophobe. The latest version is pretty solid.

It will also transcode from just about any type of file to what the 360 or PS3 can understand, so that's useful.

I think by default it transcodes from FLAC to wav on 360, but I'm not 100% sure on that. I've done the Pepsi challenge between FLAC and MP3 transcoded by TVersity and I can't tell the difference.

TVersity will also allow you to view videos and photos stored from PC on your TV.

This is another option, and both the PS3 and Xbox360 offer some capabilities in this regard. What I don't know is what lossless formats each will support.

I think that raw audio (wav) is the only lossless that 360 supports.

I should add that in order to transcode from a specific media format you have to have the proper codec installed on your PC. Usually not a problem for audio files unless you get into the more obscure types. TVersity has a codec pack that covers most of the usual file types you would deal with.

Yes, you can read at the FAQ http://tversity.com/support/faq/#troubleshooting-faq that they transcode to WAV since just about all media servers, including the PS3 and 360, handle the WAV format.

I'll throw in my 2 cents and recommend the Logitech Squeezebox Duet system. Each duet consists of one receiver box that sits next to your audio system and plugs in through a digital or analogue cable,and a handheld remote controller. The duet remote is the real beauty of this system..it is really well done.

It fits in your hand nicely and feels like a quality piece of work. It has a color LCD screen and a scroll wheel that allow you to access all of your music library..including the album covers and info. It also allows access to thousands on internet radio stations and music services such as Rhapsody.

The sound quality using the digital outs into your own systems dac...like those in the 990 for example, is superb. Every bit the equal of the sound from a high end cd player. And it's ridiculously cheap.