Apple universal docking station upgrade

[chicubs]

Howdy Ascend Fans,

It's pretty cool that one can easily purchase high bit-rate mp3's these days. It presents this question to me. What is the best route to upgrade from my apple universal docking station for mp3 playback through my HK AVR-254? There must be a more elegant and not too expensive solution out there, but I have not seen much. What I want to avoid is purchasing apple tv, I do not really want the video features. Everything connected to my receiver is by HDMI but the docking station. It's a shame because I listen to music at least 70% of the time and an rca connection just does not seem optimal.

Chicubs

p.s. Thanks to everyone for the sage advice on this forum, it's a great group!

[curtis]

If you have a wireless network at home, try an Apple Airport Express and connect it to the HK via the optional digital cable. You can then play all your MP3's directly from iTunes on the PC or Mac.

[BradJudy]

If you want a digital output ipod dock, your options are very limited. I haven't looked in a while, but the Wadia (170 iTransport) might be your only option.

[bdfin]

I think Curtis is right, the airport express @ 99.00 bucks would be about as cheap as I think you would find a solution for that. If your listening is mp3 oriented I don't think any of these alternatives are going to make things sound noticeably that much better, but if you wanted the wireless convenience I'd just probably do the airport express.

[chicubs]

Thanks guys, I have a couple of great options now :)