Suggested setup for xpa-3 from you expert

[dcmiltown]

Hi all, appreciate your feedback here! Here's what I have - Denon 3313, xpa-3 and polk a9s. Short term goal is to have great stereo sound from my MacBook Pro in my office. The reason I bought the denon is because my long term goal (say 6mon to 1 yr) is to extend the office into a combo office and home theatre room. I bought the xpa-3 because I'm impatient and the 2 wasn't shipping yet, but figured it would be good in the long term to power a center channel.

My dilemma is whether I should save the cash in the short term and get the xda-2 instead of the denon since I won't need the majority of functionality of the denon for a while. Or, if bi-amping the denon will provide a significant benefit for the a9s. Or can I get away with just using the pc and the amp?

I'm a total home audio amateur, just looking for good sound. My sources are going to be almost all streaming (spotify,rdio) plus some iTunes songs using Match (256kbps I believe).

Advice? Speakers come tomorrow and I have the denon and xpa-3 all within the return window. Thanks!!!

[reaper60]

So I don't have specific experience with the Denon, but it sounds to me like you are paying for amplification you don't need. If you plan is to use separate amplification anyways, why pay for it in your receiver when it will go unused? I would consider going the XDA-2 route for optimal 2 channel listening for the time being. When the opportunity presents itself to build the ultimate home theater, you are just an XPA-2 or pair of XPA-1's away from 5 great channels of amplification. There are many home theater processors on the market. I think you will find most here would recommend the UMC-200 (half the cost of your Denon) or the Outlaw, but there are certainly many more options available. I think for the best sound possible, I would get the XDA-2, pipe your tunes through that in to the XPA-3, and enjoy a great stereo. Hopefully by the time you are ready to invest in a full home theater the XMC-1 will be out for similar money ($1599) to the Denon and you can have the cream of the crop all the way around.

Again, I haven't used the Denon specifically, but I know many forum members here have. I hear many great things about it, but it seems to me you are paying quite a bit for the amplification that you aren't going to be using anyways? Features like Airplay and DLNA certainly are nice to have too and should be considered.

[dcmiltown]

Thanks reaper60! Thinking that's the way I might go. Good point on the XPA-2 later - never thought of that... was thinking I'd just go without an amp for the rears in the HT. Perfect.

The receiver seems pretty great but I keep getting that buyer's remorse feeling that I'm putting money into something that I don't quite need yet and the products a year from now are going to be that much greater for the same price... Just wanted to hear that I'm on the right track and at this moment for me the Denon won't provide significant advantages over a XDA-2. I keep reading that A9s are power hungry.

I'm still curious if XDA-2 will provide advantage over a computer output to amp setup. Someone from Emotiva support said that I could run it that way although not sure if it's the right thing to do. Again, I listen to "crappy" sources in the audiophile world so not sure how much the XDA will do.

I do use Airplay a lot but an XDA-2 + AppleTV/Airport Express is 1/2 to 1/3 of the cost of the Denon.

Thanks again, appreciate your guidance!

[roadrunner]

The XDA-2 is tailor made for what you are wanting to do. It will be far superior to connecting the computer directly to the XPA-3. I would have given you exactly the same advice as Reaper60 in his post.

[garbulky]

First, since you already got the XPA-3, I would reccomend a UMC-200 or even a used UMC-1 (if you don't want 3d). They are both very good and will save you money in the long run.
But currently I am a huge two channel fan. Especially with full or near full range speakers two channels help you pour most of your money into where it counts for music (2 speakers vs 5 etc).
So I would reccomend an XDA-2. It still appears to have some teething issues but would work quite well with the SPDIF output from your MAC. Then buy a bit perfect software for your mac to avoid it resampling sound etc. An eg would be audirvana.
There are some cool options where the XDA-2 would fit great with whatever HT system you are building.
With an XMC-1 you could use it's direct analog path to connect your XDA-2 to it. (Same with the UMC-200.)
Another option would be (not reccomended due to price if you are going for XMC-1) to get an XSP-1. It allows you to connect the XDA-2 but also the front channels of your home theater to it using HT bypass mode. So it will work seamlessly.