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Post by brubacca on Aug 28, 2014 14:19:29 GMT -5
If you value music above all else and don't care as much about TV/movies go for the XPA-2. If you are willing to compromise ever so slightly on music to have the best HT/TV then go for the XPA-5. If it is impossible to actually run the wires back to the rear speakers, then XPA-3.
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Post by garbulky on Aug 28, 2014 15:45:50 GMT -5
Hey guys - another newbie question. I just plugged my DAC straight into the amp, just to see what it would sound like instead of going through the Yamaha AVR to see if the AVR was playing a factor in the sound. Surprinsgly, I did notice a difference - it was a cleaner, straight forward sound I heard bypassing the AVR, with a bit more bass. Is this usual? I'm now thinking the preamp on the Yamaha is causing some of my issues! I'm not sure what Yamaha AVR you have but a lot of AVR's digitize the signal that it's given. So what that means is your DAC converts the signal from digital to a really nice sounding analog. Then the AVR converts the analog back into digital. And THEN the AVR converts that digital BACK into analog. So at this point, you are limited to the sound quality of ....not your DAC but of the AVR's DAC. So going from the DAC to the amp direct would bypass that limiter and possibly enhance your sound quality. Also your DAC may have a superior analog stage than your AVR. (This is different from the DAC conversion). So that may also be reflected here. |
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Post by mikeemotivafirst on Aug 28, 2014 18:42:46 GMT -5
Really? Why would the AVR convert my good signal back to digital and back to analog??? Are there preamps out there that will pass through the signal straight? Hm, Since I do enjoy HT, I'm leaning toward the XPA5. Just now waiting for a nice used one for a good price  |
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Post by garbulky on Aug 28, 2014 22:20:46 GMT -5
Really? Why would the AVR convert my good signal back to digital and back to analog??? Are there preamps out there that will pass through the signal straight? Hm, Since I do enjoy HT, I'm leaning toward the XPA5. Just now waiting for a nice used one for a good price It's because of level matching and room correction. They do an analog to digital conversion and back again. This way the volume control is in the digital realm. Which also means that the softer you listen with a digital volume control the more detail you lose because a digital volume control loses resolution at lower volumes. BUT.... there are modes called "pure mode" or direct mode or direct stereo that sometimes bypasses all this processing. It depends on your AVR. But yes, I found that interesting as feel it negates the benefit of a dac (if an ADC is done)! Usually if volume control is performed on an AVR there is some sort of analog to digital conversion. But some rare units have an analog volume control. I think the XMC-1 may have a pure analog passthrough, so does the UMC-200 which uses an analog resistor ladder. The XSP-1 is a dedicated pre-amp that does not have any analog to digital circuitry in it and stays analog. So is the USP-1 and the now discotinued sherbourne Pre-1 which appears on sale in the emporioum from time to time. The idea behind these units is that they can integrate with your curent avre, but also allow your DAC to have a separate input so it doesn't have to go through an AVR. Just through dedicated analog circuitry. Good stuff Also the DC-1 has a dedicated analog in but it's a DAC in itself. What's your DAC by the way? |
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Post by mikeemotivafirst on Aug 29, 2014 16:06:18 GMT -5
I'm using a Peachtree iTx connected via usb from my mac mini. Do you think a better AVR (top of the line Denon for example) would employ a better DAC? I notice a big difference between the Peachtree and the Yamaha.
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Post by garbulky on Aug 29, 2014 16:21:44 GMT -5
I'm using a Peachtree iTx connected via usb from my mac mini. Do you think a better AVR (top of the line Denon for example) would employ a better DAC? I notice a big difference between the Peachtree and the Yamaha. If you are looking for excellent stereo performances then an AVR is not where you should be looking at. (You should be looking at dedicated stereo DACs - like your peachtree. I happen to use the very nice DC-1.) A dedicated stereo pre-amp. And a nice power amp. Of course this all costs $$ People use pre-amps like the XSP-1 or USP-1 which have different inputs. So this way both the AVR's (for multichannel sound) and dedicated stereo DACS can connect together and still be separated from each other and not have to go through each other. So this way what you do is select between "input 1" for your DAC and "HT bypass" for your home theater depending on what you are listening for. Dedicated stereo pre-amps like the USP-1 and the XSP-1 (when I have used it), IMO, has also for some reason improved and stregnthened the sound and dynamics as well. The XSP-1 which is priced higher just happened to do it slightly better than the USP-1. If you don't want to mess with all that then you can look for standalone pre-processors that don't have amplification in it. An XMC-1 would bring the best of both world's together as much as possible if you don't want to go the pre-amp route. It pays special attention to sound quality for good stereo sound and also has good multichannel sound at the same time. The same sentiment goes for its less expensive UMC-200 which essentially does the same thing just with different parts. |
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