Would I have better sound quality by upgrading amps?

[turtsmagurts]

I currently have a yamaha rx-v377 5.1 receiver for 2 channel music listening from an iPod. My speakers are psb image t6s. Would my systems sound quality improve much by upgrading to the emotiva ups-200 power amplifier and the marantz 1504 as the preamp? Even if i am still using the ipod as the music source? So instead of 70 watts per channel I would have about 150 wpc.

 

[ImcLoud]

No

Unless you find your self pushing your current volume control past say 80 percent than look for something with more power but if you don't do that you most likely have enough headroom..

 

[slipperybidness]

You have pretty good gear and speakers. But you're feeding it with an ipod as the source!

If you want better sound quality, get a better source hooked up, ditch the iPod. That will improve your sound greatly, and it will be much cheaper than upgrading to separates.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

You have pretty good gear and speakers. But you're feeding it with an ipod as the source!

If you want better sound quality, get a better source hooked up, ditch the iPod. That will improve your sound greatly, and it will be much cheaper than upgrading to separates.

I feed my system with my iPad-4 using Apple Lossless Audio Codec files (ALAC). Lossless = original quality. Sounds awesome. I would never go back to playing CDs.

You guys just need to update yourselves to the digital age.

These days when people go to audition speakers at dealers, all they need are their iPhones to stream the music to the processors.

 

[3db]

+1 on what slipperybidness is saying,

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I currently have a yamaha rx-v377 5.1 receiver for 2 channel music listening from an iPod. My speakers are psb image t6s. Would my systems sound quality improve much by upgrading to the emotiva ups-200 power amplifier and the marantz 1504 as the preamp? Even if i am still using the ipod as the music source? So instead of 70 watts per channel I would have about 150 wpc.

Usually you won't notice any difference at all. However, different amps may have different voltage gains. So some amps are louder than others. But as long as you level match, you probably won't notice a difference in SQ.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I currently have a yamaha rx-v377 5.1 receiver for 2 channel music listening from an iPod. My speakers are psb image t6s. Would my systems sound quality improve much by upgrading to the emotiva ups-200 power amplifier and the marantz 1504 as the preamp? Even if i am still using the ipod as the music source? So instead of 70 watts per channel I would have about 150 wpc.

Your speakers and amp seems to be fine. Your room may be an issue and your source may be, depending on the quality of the source and the recorded music wasn't compressed to h***.

 

[timmay8612]

the iPod is only a problem if you're using heavily compressed mp3s. Personally my ears can't tell the difference between most 320 kbps mp3s or higher encoded tracks and CD tracks. YMMV. That's also assuming you're not doing anything crazy like overloading an analogue input with gain from the iPod or anything like that.

 

[j_garcia]

Sort of depends on how loud you listen. It will certainly be louder before you reach distortion, but "better" is difficult to say without knowing how you listen or any other details about your room or system. If you aren't reaching the limit of your current amp with your listening levels, then the answer is you won't hear a night and day difference.

 

[Acoustat]

You have pretty good gear and speakers. But you're feeding it with an ipod as the source!

If you want better sound quality, get a better source hooked up, ditch the iPod. That will improve your sound greatly, and it will be much cheaper than upgrading to separates.

Have you guys heard of Neils' new PONO yet?
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/neil-youngs-pono-music-system-almost-ready-to-rock-in-100182858224.html
HD source but daggone, the DATA space it uses. WOW!
If I had an auditioning studio, PONO would be welcomed.

turtsmagurts, have you tried a CD player source yet or CD in a DVD player?
Barrow one and see if it doesn't fill in the blanks, then go from there.
That may help to begin the process of elimination of what's causing the lack of quality.
Directional cables or high quality interconnects could make a difference on the CD player as well...

 

[ImcLoud]

I feed my system with my iPad-4 using Apple Lossless Audio Codec files (ALAC). Lossless = original quality. Sounds awesome. I would never go back to playing CDs.

You guys just need to update yourselves to the digital age.

These days when people go to audition speakers at dealers, all they need are their iPhones to stream the music to the processors.

CD's are digital, lol...
I use ipods and ipads for music all the time, it sounds great BUT, the way in which you get that digital signal {lossless or not} to your amp is normally the downfall of using an ipod for critical music listening...
I use Pure I20 docks or my cambridge id100 to dock the ipod or ipad, then feed the digital signal through either a fiber optic cable or digital comp cable to a decent DAC, then from the dac right to the amplifier or pre amp.... The different between doing that and plugging a dock right into an avr or the ipad right into an avr is easily noticed...

 

[Acoustat]

.... The different between doing that and plugging a dock right into an avr or the ipad right into an avr is easily noticed...

+1
There ya go. I think connections would be a lot less expensive
a troubleshoot than a new amp
So if a CD sounded better, there's a good chance, that the connection could be culprit
if the file isn't overly compressed to save space on the iPod.

 

[turtsmagurts]

+1
There ya go. I think connections would be a lot less expensive
a troubleshoot than a new amp
So if a CD sounded better, there's a good chance, that the connection could be culprit
if the file isn't overly compressed to save space on the iPod.

Well my ipod's music is the least compressed as possible, and the ipod's internal dac is bypassed so I use the receiver's dac and it does sound good. I'm really just wandering if that stronger amp could produce more mid bass and produce a more defined bass?

 

[3db]

Well my ipod's music is the least compressed as possible, and the ipod's internal dac is bypassed so I use the receiver's dac and it does sound good. I'm really just wandering if that stronger amp could produce more mid bass and produce a more defined bass?

Only at volumes that your current receiver cannot handle. At volumes 85db and below , you would not be able to hear a difference.

 

[markw]

Doubling your power might give you just a widdle bit more headroom for musical peaks, but not much else. As for the different electronics, I wouldn't expect an epiphany.

 

[slipperybidness]

Directional cables or high quality interconnects could make a difference on the CD player as well...

No, No, No. This is complete rubbish!!!

 

[slipperybidness]

CD's are digital, lol...
I use ipods and ipads for music all the time, it sounds great BUT, the way in which you get that digital signal {lossless or not} to your amp is normally the downfall of using an ipod for critical music listening...
I use Pure I20 docks or my cambridge id100 to dock the ipod or ipad, then feed the digital signal through either a fiber optic cable or digital comp cable to a decent DAC, then from the dac right to the amplifier or pre amp.... The different between doing that and plugging a dock right into an avr or the ipad right into an avr is easily noticed...

IMC nailed it. Assuming that the "source is an iPod", that means that most people will simply plug a 3.5mm to dual RCA cable in. That is the worst way to handle this. IMC has given the only way to use an iPod for anything remotely approaching critical listening.

 

[RichB]

IMC nailed it. Assuming that the "source is an iPod", that means that most people will simply plug a 3.5mm to dual RCA cable in. That is the worst way to handle this. IMC has given the only way to use an iPod for anything remotely approaching critical listening.

+2.

I can demonstrate differences in sound quality stream by altering the streaming format (bit-depth only) sent to the HA-1 and BDP-105D USB DACs.
Something is going on in the driver, USB interface, or DAC that is causing this change.
Using a driver monitor, it is clear that the bitstream format is different even thought he bits are all properly sent.

This is likely device specific.

- Rich

 

[j_garcia]

Have you guys heard of Neils' new PONO yet?
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/neil-youngs-pono-music-system-almost-ready-to-rock-in-100182858224.html
HD source but daggone, the DATA space it uses. WOW!
If I had an auditioning studio, PONO would be welcomed.

turtsmagurts, have you tried a CD player source yet or CD in a DVD player?
Barrow one and see if it doesn't fill in the blanks, then go from there.
That may help to begin the process of elimination of what's causing the lack of quality.
Directional cables or high quality interconnects could make a difference on the CD player as well...

PONO? Should have called it OHNO or NONO. Good idea destined to fail.

Directional cables? LMFAO. I own some directional cables from AQ and can honestly tell you they make zero difference.

 

[Acoustat]

No, No, No. This is complete rubbish!!!

Perhaps, and you're probably right. The monster interconnects I have on my system are labeled "directional" by Monster.
Cannot remember what their marketing scam was back then, but the idea was in synch with IMC
to provide the quality connections, thus the "or high quality interconnects" part of that statement
designed to steer away from the typical 3.5mm plug a lot of folks use on their devices.
Are standard economic RCA cables just as efficient and lossless as higher end ones?