Roku Ultra vs Nvidia Shield Pro vs Apple TV 4k - Which one to choose?

@Amarendra @Love4sound, I see both of you have nvidia shield. Have you tried apple music on the shield? Are you able to play Hi-Res music from apple music and is it possible to see the sample rate at which music is being rendered. I'm about to give up on appple music since I can get hi-res playback only on my macbook pro. If I connect my external dac to my google nexus 6p, I'm able to get 96KHz max (even for music that is with 192 KHz rate in the itunes store). ATV gives me just 48 KHz. I see on the Nvidia shield site that it supports apple music. So if it supports Hi-Res music, I could buy nvidia shield.
 
@Amarendra @Love4sound, I see both of you have nvidia shield. Have you tried apple music on the shield? Are you able to play Hi-Res music from apple music and is it possible to see the sample rate at which music is being rendered. I'm about to give up on appple music since I can get hi-res playback only on my macbook pro. If I connect my external dac to my google nexus 6p, I'm able to get 96KHz max (even for music that is with 192 KHz rate in the itunes store). ATV gives me just 48 KHz. I see on the Nvidia shield site that it supports apple music. So if it supports Hi-Res music, I could buy nvidia shield.
No I haven’t tried Apple Music on nvidia shield. Atmost I use apple music on my iPhone when driving. To be honest I love the way it sounds in the car or when using my headphones but haven’t done any critical listening yet.
 
@Amarendra @Love4sound, I see both of you have nvidia shield. Have you tried apple music on the shield? Are you able to play Hi-Res music from apple music and is it possible to see the sample rate at which music is being rendered. I'm about to give up on appple music since I can get hi-res playback only on my macbook pro. If I connect my external dac to my google nexus 6p, I'm able to get 96KHz max (even for music that is with 192 KHz rate in the itunes store). ATV gives me just 48 KHz. I see on the Nvidia shield site that it supports apple music. So if it supports Hi-Res music, I could buy nvidia shield.
I haven’t and don’t intend to.Apple for sure is going to be hectic if you want to make it work in another ecosystem
 
I haven’t and don’t intend to.Apple for sure is going to be hectic if you want to make it work in another ecosystem
indeed it looks like that and I won't be renewing my subscription. The lack of replies by apple fanboys to my query itself indicates that apple hasn't thought through the process. Does apple expect people to connect macbook, iphones/ipads to their amps through 3.5mm cable?
 
indeed it looks like that and I won't be renewing my subscription. The lack of replies by apple fanboys to my query itself indicates that apple hasn't thought through the process. Does apple expect people to connect macbook, iphones/ipads to their amps through 3.5mm cable?
I use Apple Music in my XR and use it while driving. Occasionally I use it for stereo listening via airplay with my HT system. In shield you can try Spotify. Serves my purpose well as I am not much in to music.
 
indeed it looks like that and I won't be renewing my subscription. The lack of replies by apple fanboys to my query itself indicates that apple hasn't thought through the process. Does apple expect people to connect macbook, iphones/ipads to their amps through 3.5mm cable?
I have a couple of DTS play-fi setups that support 96 bit and 192 khz sampling rates.
TBH, I cannot tell the difference between 44.1 khz and higher sampling rates.

This BTW is very different from 128 kbps/256kbps/320kbps/lossless bit rates (compression metric) - where the difference is noticeable, esp quite starkly between 128 and 256.
I can also hear a distinct difference between 256/320 and lossless although when paying attention.
However sampling rates over 44.1 seem to appear the same to me (good for me i suppose)

Streaming lossless from an iphone/ipad, if user is not concerned about the sampling rate is extremely convenient.
I can stream out from Apple Music to any of my rooms with max 2 clicks or with a voice command.
If however you want 96/192 khz sampling then it isn't convenient at all (requires wired)
 
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I have a couple of DTS play-fi setups that support 96 bit and 192 khz sampling rates.
TBH, I cannot tell the difference between 44.1 khz and higher sampling rates.

This BTW is very different from 128 kbps/256kbps/320kbps/lossless bit rates (compression metric) - where the difference is noticeable, esp quite starkly between 128 and 256.
I can also hear a distinct difference between 256/320 and lossless although when paying attention.
However sampling rates over 44.1 seem to appear the same to me (good for me i suppose)

Streaming lossless from an iphone/ipad, if user is not concerned about the sampling rate is extremely convenient.
I can stream out from Apple Music to any of my rooms with max 2 clicks or with a voice command.
If however you want 96/192 khz sampling then it isn't convenient at all (requires wired)
Yes. Streaming is extremely convenient. I'm currently using that with my airport express through a toslink cable. That gives me 44.1 sampling rate. Also I have my allo devices which have that shairport-sync application through which I can stream with 44.1 khz sampling rate.
I just realized that I can try using my mac mini A1347. Not sure if it has the new Apple Music App or the old itunes app. IIRC the max os supported is Catalina. So if it has the apple music app, it should be able to see my apple music subscription and play the Hi-Res music. The old itunes app shows only my purchased music and not my apple music subscription. Also I can connect my DAC to the usb port. Let me pull it out sometimes this week and try it out. The 3.5mm out also is an optical out, just like the airport express.

My new macbook pro has 3.5mm out but no toslink and supports playing hi-res through an external dac and the 3.5mm audio out. The newer macbooks have stopped supporting toslink. But using my macbook is not convenient as it is my primary laptop.
 
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Yes. Streaming is extremely convenient. I'm currently using that with my airport express through a toslink cable. That gives me 44.1 sampling rate. Also I have my allo devices which have that shairport-sync application through which I can stream with 44.1 khz sampling rate.
I just realized that I can try using my mac mini A1347. Not sure if it has the new Apple Music App or the old itunes app. IIRC the max os supported is Catalina. So if it has the apple music app, it should be able to see my apple music subscription and play the Hi-Res music. The old itunes app shows only my purchased music and not my apple music subscription. Also I can connect my DAC to the usb port. Let me pull it out sometimes this week and try it out. The 3.5mm out also is an optical out, just like the airport express.

My new macbook pro has 3.5mm out but no toslink and supports playing hi-res through an external dac and the 3.5mm audio out. The newer macbooks have stopped supporting toslink. But using my macbook is not convenient as it is my primary laptop.
I had picked up a bunch of airport expresses on ebay a few years ago.
Between them and a few ATVs and AVRs, I am able to get unified streaming control for all rooms.
I think Belkin has also recently released a Airplay 2 adapter (RCA out) although local availability may be an issue.

I have tried multiple methods for multi-room streaming in the past and eventually settled on this after a lot of trial & error (and wasted cash).
The addition of lossless has just been a welcome addition
But the primary driver is still the extreme convenience and a unified interface for all zones

Needless to say, The fairly low cost of implementation was also rather welcome
 
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