Benefits to upgrading

A

ams511

Audiophyte
I have an older Yamaha RX-V596 which I bought back in 2001. I run two optical connections to it. One from the TV and another from the Blu-Ray player. I connect the Blu-ray to the TV using an HDMI cable. My Blu-ray player has networking built in so I don't need that feature. Is there any point to upgrading?I am more interested in sound quality than anything else.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
Welcome to the forum!

An HDMI connection from the blu-ray player to a receiver would give you access to the newer lossless audio codecs. I'm glad that I have that, but I don't know how much of a difference you would hear compared to Dolby Digital/DTS that you already have.

One big change in receivers since you bought yours is auto calibration. A lot of receivers come with a microphone that will help calibrate your speaker system. I had a Yamaha from 1997 before buying a much less expensive Pioneer receiver in 2005 - and I loved the Pioneer because it's MCACC auto calibration system worked wonders on my NHT speakers in my room. For me, it was a huge benefit.

Some people think that Audyssey is a better calibration system than either YPAO (Yamaha's system) or MCACC (Pioneer's system). Audyssey is available on Denon and Onkyo (and maybe others - I haven't shopped in a couple of years). I like MCACC, but it's the only one that I've ever used.
 
racquetman

racquetman

Audioholic Chief
I have an older Yamaha RX-V596 which I bought back in 2001. I run two optical connections to it. One from the TV and another from the Blu-Ray player. I connect the Blu-ray to the TV using an HDMI cable. My Blu-ray player has networking built in so I don't need that feature. Is there any point to upgrading?I am more interested in sound quality than anything else.
Absolutely. You are not getting lossless audio from optical connections. Upgrade to a receiver with HDMI and enjoy some DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD audio from your blu-ray player.
 
jonnythan

jonnythan

Audioholic Ninja
Audyssey is not just room calibration - it also has Dynamic EQ, which can be a very cool feature. It boosts the surround and bass according to the absolute volume level, which preserves the full experience at less than reference volumes.

Audyssey plus lossless audio is a major reason to upgrade.
 
avnetguy

avnetguy

Audioholic Chief
I did a similar AVR upgrade, older non-HDMI yamaha to newer HDMI yamaha with YPAO a little while ago. The biggest improvement was made by the YPAO which was easily noticed but I don't think the new lossless codec support really made any significant improvement in my 5.1 setup. Another thing I should note is I moved up the model lines a bit in my upgrade and I do believe the sound quality at higher volume levels improved due to this.

Steve
 
A

ams511

Audiophyte
Thanks for the advice. The receiver I am thinking of purchasing (if I can find one reasonable) is a Denon 1712 which has Audyssey XT. My room acoustics are pretty bad so hopefully automated setup would help.
 
jonnythan

jonnythan

Audioholic Ninja
I just got the Denon 1712 recently. Great receiver. MultEQ XT is really awesome.
 
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