Questions about my new Yamaha A-501S Integrated Amp

[Chris9472]

After growing tired of the mediocre, lifeless sound quality I was getting from my previous Sony A/V receiver, I decided to get back to basics and replaced it with a new Yamaha A-501S Integrated Amp. I chose this amp because I wanted to simplify a bit and still have a good compromise between movies and music, with the ability to hook up a Blu/Ray player and TV to it's digital optical and coaxial inputs. It also has a decent phono stage for my vinyl, which is also important to me that my old Sony was lacking.

There appears to be a lot of Yamaha fans on this site so I thought I'd join and post a couple of questions:

1. This is in regards to the optical input. I'm not getting any sound from my Sony TV when hooking up via the optical input to the Yamaha A-501S. I'm either getting a whooshy sound or no sound at all. I had no issues getting sound out of my Sony receiver using the optical input with the same cable. When I checked with the Yamaha's manual, it said the digital inputs can only handle units that are PCM based. My Sony TV's model number is KDL-46EX500 and is 4 years old. Is this TV not PCM based? Why am I getting no sound? I want to make sure the problem is with the TV and not a bad input on the Yamaha.

2. Does anyone know what DAC chip is used in the Yamaha A-501S? I couldn't find any info from Yamaha's site or the manual, and very little info online. I'm assuming it's a standard 24/96kHz Burr-Brown chip, but I'm not sure. I'm currently using a Sony BDP-S6500 Blu/Ray player as a transport for my music CD's plugged into the Yamaha's coaxial input, and that one (thankfully) is working fine. It sounds pretty good, better then the old Sony receiver ever did. I intend on getting the matching stand alone CD player, tuner as well as a Yamaha Blu-Ray/DVD player in the near future to complete the system.

 

[PENG]

It has the TI (BB) PCM5101A DAC.

According to the TV's manual it should work but on page 53 it does talk about it may not have digital output if the HDMI input is used to play SACD or DVD-Audio.

 

[KEW]

Doesn't The Yamaha Blu-ray player also play CDs? You may not want to buy a CD player unless you have money to blow .

 

[Chris9472]

Doesn't The Yamaha Blu-ray player also play CDs? You may not want to buy a CD player unless you have money to blow .

I want a separate, stand alone, no nonsense CD player anyhow. I never cared for the way DVD/Blu-Ray players handle redbook CD, with their slow loading times and not being able to program tracks or access info easily without having to looking at a TV screen, and the ones I've owned never seemed to sound all that great. At around $250-$275 shipped, the Yamaha CD-S300 isn't an expensive player by any means, and is another nice matching component that will look good in my rack.

 

[Chris9472]

It has the TI (BB) PCM5101A DAC.

According to the TV's manual it should work but on page 53 it does talk about it may not have digital output if the HDMI input is used to play SACD or DVD-Audio.

Thanks for responding and providing this info. That is the DAC I suspected it had but wasn't sure. In regards to not getting any sound from the optical input, I only have one HDMI cable running to the TV for video, it is not being used to play CD or SACD as I know of now TV's that have that capability (???). Getting sound out of the optical output from the TV to my old Sony amp was never a problem. I will contact Yamaha to find out why it isn't working as no one here seems to have an answer.