Old Marantz SR7002 receiver DAC, bad? good? 24 bit/192 kHz audio D/A converter

[Thad]

I have an old Marantz SR7002 receiver. Year~2008
I'm using HDMI in for streaming.
Is its DAC, bad? good?
It's specs read 24 bit/192 kHz audio D/A converter.
I'm wondering if I should be shopping for a better DAC?

Marantz SR7002 is an AV receiver with a 24 bit/192 kHz audio D/A converter. It supports Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, and dts-HD formats via HDMI. It also has dedicated 7.1 analog inputs for legacy DVD-Audio and SACD players.

Marantz SR7002 Receiver Review

Marantz has a winner in the SR7002 AV receiver. This product is powerful, yet simple - something not easily accomplished in today's era of endless configurability.

www.audioholics.com

.

 

[Meticulous G]

HDMI in from where? Arc back from tv? 24/192 is far from bad

Does yer source at the other end, have anything to send in higher bit rate/bit depth than that?

 

[Thad]

HDMI in from where? Arc back from tv? 24/192 is far from bad

Does yer source at the other end, have anything to send in higher bit rate/bit depth than that?

Thank you Meticulous for your response and caring.
My apologies for slow response.. my family and I have gotten sick.
I've been doing a bit of research and learning since my original post.
I am currently using high speed ethernet hardwired, Amazon Fire, into the old Marantz described originally. SR7002. The current sound is quite nice..
I will check in further when we are less ill.
God bless you and yours for being willing to lend advice.

 

[lovinthehd]

Sorry for your troubles with the family illness. Hope you are well soon!

As to changing dac, not much advantage to be had, at least audibly, plus you'd still run the signal thru the Marantz so no advantage if the dac is more capable. Also consider that for processing your avr will resample it anyways (and is transparent anyways, not a real worry). Higher res than 16/44.1 is generally overrated IMO.

 

[Meticulous G]

Ya. No problem, I'm in no hurry

And yeah, I agree with our friend lovinthehd that 44.1/16 (cd quality) isn't bad at all

I didn't look at the reciever before answering, but knew in the back of my mind that one's a l'il old to have arc, so of course you were talking about just having hdmi from a device, since there's no wifi or Bluetooth involved

...which would leave sound quality solely on what yer listening to (source)

Obviously 192/24 streams/files
Should be ideal, as per specs

...but I am faaaar from the expert around here

 

[Thad]

Thank you for the responses. Family and I are recovering well.
I'm realizing you gentlemen are helping me to answer my own questions. Thank you for this.

The old Marantz has a pretty nice sound with its onboard 24 bit/192 kHz DAC. (equipment links below)
Speakers are Carnegie CST-1's with upgraded crossovers (planer tweeters) Nice upgrade from SVS ultra bookshelves. Decent speaker cables.
Sub is SVS SB-1000 (12-inch sealed ~300w)
The room is setup fairly well.
This has been my first setup in which I can hear nice details and imaging.

It took me a while to realize to recently upgrade from bluetooth. This was an audible improvement.
As I failed to realize how much I was missing with bluetooth, I'm wondering if I'm missing much with this current setup.
I'm using Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max. All-new Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max streaming device
Connected Ethernet (1-Gigabit-fiber) and into the Marantz HDMI. Correct, no HDMI-ARC on my aging equipment.

Amazon Ultra HD tracks are doing this, So I realize this is the max capable of the equipment.
I realize now that this is better than CD quality 16-bit / 44.1 kHz
Track Quality: 24-bit / 192 kHz
Currently Playing at: 24-bit / 192 kHz
Device Capability: 24-bit / 192 kHz

As I'm realizing now, to your great thanks, well recorded tracks with these lower numbers also sound great.
Track Quality: 16-bit / 44.1 kHz
Currently Playing at: 16-bit / 44.1 kHz
Device Capability: 24-bit / 192 kHz

I guess I got caught up in reviews in newer DAC's (I've been eyeing Gesheli Labs), "New J2S DAC", "Sabre DAC", "AK4499" , OpAmp upgrades... etc....

Am I thinking correctly that further upgrades would be only very slight improvements if any?


Marantz SR7002 Receiver Review | Audioholics,
Carnegie Acoustics CST-1 Leaning Transmission Towers A very tantalizing $2k two-way speaker. Review By A. Colin Flood (enjoythemusic.com)
SVS SB-1000 Pro Subwoofer | 12-in Driver | 325 Watts RMS (svsound.com)
DAC I don't have yet, JNOG2 SOCKETED [J2S] – Geshelli Labs LLC.

Audio: xHE-AAC, AAC-LC, AAC+, eAAC+, AAC-ELD, MP3, AMR-NB, FLAC, PCM/WAV, Vorbis, Dolby AC3, eAC3 (Dolby Digital Plus), Dolby Atmos (EC3_JOC), Dolby AC4, Dolby MAT, Dolby TrueHD pass-through, MPEG-H pass-through, DTS passthrough, DTS-HD passthrough (basic profile);

 

[lovinthehd]

You might want to look at this review of the JNog2 dac https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/geshelli-jnog2-review-balanced-dac.34811/
Tons of dac reviews on that site, as well as some good threads on audibility of dacs like this

That laundry list of options Gesheli offers....meh. Odd to offer USB as an option, tho.

Personally I'd just use the Marantz. If you were setting up a separate 2ch system then perhaps it would make sense to have a stand-alone dac.

 

[Thad]

Thank you all!
Ship sailing, "Happy as she goes!"
This system sounds good, you have helped me to understand that I'm probably not missing much in sound quality, and no more money spent!
Happy Holidays to you all!

 

[Meticulous G]

Thank you all!
Ship sailing, "Happy as she goes!"
This system sounds good, you have helped me to understand that I'm probably not missing much in sound quality, and no more money spent!
Happy Holidays to you all!

Yep, seeing the high numbers is fun, but it doesn't guarantee each of us can tell the difference in our respective circumstances

According to my phone headset setup/hearing tests, I've definitely got a l'il hearing loss in certain ranges & cd quality is always a pleasure to hear for me

I'm over 40, and have spent obscene amounts of time at concerts and jamming at home at ~120 dB...it's prolly a miracle I don't suffer from deafening tinnitus, and/or aren't just flat out deaf

It makes me feel good to see that little hi-res badge on my listening selections & to have a wired signal path

...but tbh, opportunities for me to listen at volume at home are fewer & further between than I'd like, so I use those times to enjoy, instead of "wasting" it with critical listening, which I doubt I'm physically qualified to do in any serious manner at this point anyway

I certainly can't tolerate knowing that I'm hearing anything out of place, which never happens consistently w/o being quickly corrected, & hasn't come up since I was listening to mp3's over 20 yrs ago

Happy ta hear yer enjoying yours

 

[Thad]

Yep, I understand. I knew a musician that could no longer hear his fingers rubbing together near his own ear.
I'm over 50. My hearing is fairly decent. It is eye opening to play a frequency generator and hear that 13KHZ is my upper limit.
Thanks again everyone for the advice and guidance.

Now I'm experimenting with speaker angles upward and inward slightly. Angling upward is improving soundstage.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yep, I understand. I knew a musician that could no longer hear his fingers rubbing together near his own ear.
I'm over 50. My hearing is fairly decent. It is eye opening to play a frequency generator and hear that 13KHZ is my upper limit.
Thanks again everyone for the advice and guidance.

Now I'm experimenting with speaker angles upward and inward slightly. Angling upward is improving soundstage.

That is a far better use of your time/effort, taking care of what you can with your speakers/room.