AirPlay is very convenient to bring up the sound on my big stereo speakers, but I am wondering whether the AirPlay protocol preserves audio quality, e.g. bitrate?
I understand that if the WiFi is poor, audio may be interrupted, but when it is good, shouldn't it be possible to transfer the exact copy, considering the relative low bitrate of e.g. Apple Lossless? The other possible option is that Apple transcodes audio before it goes over AirPlay, e.g. to AAC.
Anyone got a clue?
Best Answer
I always thought that the Express had a decoder inside, so it could just receive the digital data. Much more robust against bad connectivity.
Also, from Wikipedia: