Just used Heos for the first time

[MacCali]

Kind of in shock right now. I’ve had my Marantz for almost 4 months now, it is my very first AVR.

This is the first time I used heos via Air Play 2 to play music and holy crap it’s like I changed my speakers. I never heard this much detail, bass extension, soundstage like this come out of these speakers from my PC connection.

Not really sure the reason why this is but I am completely shocked. Anyone else have this experience? Is AirPlay not Bluetooth? Always thought Bluetooth hurt sound quality and made it lossy.

Literally just listened to like 30 mins of music and everything sounds way better than usual. Thought it was just one song. Literally wanted to jump on here and figure out what’s going on

 

[Trebdp83]

Bluetooth vs AirPlay 2: What's the difference and which works better

What's the difference between Bluetooth and AirPlay 2? In some respects, a lot. In others, not so much! It's time to find out!

www.google.com

 

[lovinthehd]

Hard to know from your description. Could be a few things. Sometimes just a higher level input can yield that sort of preference. Could be setup/settings perhaps. Airplay is wifi based, bluetooth is it's own thing (and generally less fidelity, altho they've improved on BT codecs over the years). Personally I don't get huge differences just because of the streaming method.

 

[MacCali]

It says that airplay is lossless, and maybe just some interference from the PC. Nothing else change but it sounds damn good, like everything went up in performance. The tower speakers were making the ground vibrate from the bass. Never has it done that, just like everything got some kind of boost.

Imaging, soundstage, detail, decay, even more so it feels even more 3D.

I had to check and see if my surrounds were on, cause it literally sounded like sound was coming from the side and behind my ear. But it was only on stereo.

Only using YouTube might I add, I use Quboz too for high res but I wasn’t even using that.

 

[simmsaudio]

Funny I haven't seen any Apple fanboys here yet.

You have to remember that the entire system, is wireless when setup this way and despite what you may think, the communication used UDP which has little overhead. In most cases, interference issues are minimized.

I think what is helping you here is that you are probably delivering lossless audio. Check the audio codec. If you are using reference speakers, the effect would be even more obvious.

 

[MacCali]

Funny I haven't seen any Apple fanboys here yet.

You have to remember that the entire system, is wireless when setup this way and despite what you may think, the communication used UDP which has little overhead. In most cases, interference issues are minimized.

I think what is helping you here is that you are probably delivering lossless audio. Check the audio codec. If you are using reference speakers, the effect would be even more obvious.

Hell no I hate Apple, I only got this phone because it was a promotion which was BOGO. So my girlfriend bought one and got another free. This is my first and last Apple product or I should say I would never give Apple my money. Maybe another BOGO deal

Yes, I was unaware it’s lossless. But definitely a key factor. Unfortunately I don’t think Quboz does hi res on iPhones. Only CD quality, but still it’s crazy how good it sounds. I’m not even using my pc anymore to play out of my speakers.

 

[Montucky]

Huh. Interesting take. I use Airplay regularly and haven't perceived really any noticeable difference from standard BT. Except I'd argue that BlueTooth when utilizing aptX surpasses Airplay. Both however, seem subpar to my highest quality vinyl, SACD, and hi-res digitial content though, but then again there's more underlying issues with those too that ultimately boils down to recording quality, etc. Glad you're enjoying your Heos w/ Airplay either way, though! Good products.

 

[sterling shoote]

Kind of in shock right now. I’ve had my Marantz for almost 4 months now, it is my very first AVR.

This is the first time I used heos via Air Play 2 to play music and holy crap it’s like I changed my speakers. I never heard this much detail, bass extension, soundstage like this come out of these speakers from my PC connection.

Not really sure the reason why this is but I am completely shocked. Anyone else have this experience? Is AirPlay not Bluetooth? Always thought Bluetooth hurt sound quality and made it lossy.

Literally just listened to like 30 mins of music and everything sounds way better than usual. Thought it was just one song. Literally wanted to jump on here and figure out what’s going on

Airplay 2 is independent of HEOS. If you have iTunes on your phone you can press the play icon in iTunes after setting iTunes for Airplay and your AVR should just start up and begin to play the music. Now, this I know for sure, I enjoy Apple Music from iTunes on my laptop via Airport Express connected to my OPPO optical S/PDIF input, whereby the 16/44.1digital stream is up sampled to 24/192 and processed for 2.1 and then sent to my 2.1 preamp. This results in music sounding as good as any of my other means to the music. In other words, it's awesome; and, being lightyears more convenient to access and play Apple Music is now preferred over LP, CD, and stereoSACD. I wish the service just had multi-channel capabiltiy.

 

[MacCali]

Like I said, I don’t know if my PC is just providing a dirty signal. Which is effecting the sound quality.

however using Quboz hi res flac files vs my phone the phone is way better. Vocals, everything is being elevated. My speakers actually provide slam now bass wise. Best way I described it is it’s a completely brand new speaker.

Maybe it’s just the speakers I am using, and they are not expensive or high end either.

 

[lovinthehd]

Sounds like perhaps simply higher input level? Can't imagine why such distinct changes otherwise....

 

[Bernie Williams]

Just started using HEOS also, I stream Amazon HD (CD quality). I cannot tell the difference between HEOS and the Cd. Haven't tried bluetooth, airplay etc.

 

[MacCali]

Sounds like perhaps simply higher input level? Can't imagine why such distinct changes otherwise....

I mean the only other thing, but wouldn’t make sense because either way it’s the same output is I still have not ran Audyssey.

But either way those effects aren’t applicable.

Second, when I first brought my receiver home I did a factory reset. My unit was open box as @lovinthehd you may recall. Haven’t done much to play with the settings or make any adjustments, everything is back to default.

Power hasn’t changed and they[speakers] are receiving the exact recommendation for maximum power.

Last thing which maybe a factor is that from my PC to receiver I am using 3.5 mm to rca.

I have optical out on my PC but for some odd reason no sound is coming out of it. I’ve tried using my dac and receiver to connect to it and it doesn’t work.

 

[MacCali]

Just started using HEOS also, I stream Amazon HD (CD quality). I cannot tell the difference between HEOS and the Cd. Haven't tried bluetooth, airplay etc.

Try airplay, see what you think.

connect your receiver to WiFi if it already isn’t.

On Apple go to the home APP and manually add the receiver. There’s a video on YouTube.

You can use whatever you want to stream, even if heos does not support the platform. And it will switch to heos on your AVR. You don’t even need the heos app open.

 

[lovinthehd]

I mean the only other thing, but wouldn’t make sense because either way it’s the same output is I still have not ran Audyssey.

But either way those effects aren’t applicable.

Second, when I first brought my receiver home I did a factory reset. My unit was open box as @lovinthehd you may recall. Haven’t done much to play with the settings or make any adjustments, everything is back to default.

Power hasn’t changed and they[speakers] are receiving the exact recommendation for maximum power.

Last thing which maybe a factor is that from my PC to receiver I am using 3.5 mm to rca.

I have optical out on my PC but for some odd reason no sound is coming out of it. I’ve tried using my dac and receiver to connect to it and it doesn’t work.

LOL no don't really recall your avr. I would set it up properly, tho, as default in a multich system is not a good way to go. Good plan to start with a reset for a clean slate, tho. The only times your speakers receive the maximum power would be at extremely loud levels and often don't sound good at their limits either. All the pc to receiver thing tells me is you're using the dac in the pc. Why not just stream it to your avr? Only times I've noticed much difference between various sources (streaming or otherwise) is level, tho. They all sound pretty much the same as they're generally playing the same things....

 

[MacCali]

LOL no don't really recall your avr. I would set it up properly, tho, as default in a multich system is not a good way to go. Good plan to start with a reset for a clean slate, tho. The only times your speakers receive the maximum power would be at extremely loud levels and often don't sound good at their limits either. All the pc to receiver thing tells me is you're using the dac in the pc. Why not just stream it to your avr? Only times I've noticed much difference between various sources (streaming or otherwise) is level, tho. They all sound pretty much the same as they're generally playing the same things....

Didn’t you say last time that the final dac is the sound we hear from a chain of dacs? Doesn’t the dac on the Marantz overriding the PC?

Thought that’s what you mentioned that time the guy wanted to buy a dac for his pc because his friends and pc was amazing and sounded different when connected the same way

 

[lovinthehd]

Didn’t you say last time that the final dac is the sound we hear from a chain of dacs? Doesn’t the dac on the Marantz overriding the PC?

Thought that’s what you mentioned that time the guy wanted to buy a dac for his pc because his friends and pc was amazing and sounded different when connected the same way

Well your last analog conversion was the last one....and would be the one you heard the most direct results of altho generally the recordings we listen to have been thru a couple already. The avr may do a conversion to apply dsp even if you provide an analog signal, tho you can also bypass it in your Marantz if you want I'd think. The dac in a pc can be fine, altho would depend on implementation as to whether it could have issues. Hard to know when informally comparing gear what's going on, too.

 

[MacCali]

Well your last analog conversion was the last one....and would be the one you heard the most direct results of altho generally the recordings we listen to have been thru a couple already. The avr may do a conversion to apply dsp even if you provide an analog signal, tho you can also bypass it in your Marantz if you want I'd think. The dac in a pc can be fine, altho would depend on implementation as to whether it could have issues. Hard to know when informally comparing gear what's going on, too.

Well I got 3 external dacs I use for my headphones and they are all better, might as well give those a shot and see if I get any difference.

I wasn’t cause I thought it was going through the Marantz dac. Yet I think I forgot that when it is going to rca rca is analog, right? So the receiver won’t be converting that analog signal

 

[lovinthehd]

Well I got 3 external dacs I use for my headphones and they are all better, might as well give those a shot and see if I get any difference.

I wasn’t cause I thought it was going through the Marantz dac. Yet I think I forgot that when it is going to rca rca is analog, right? So the receiver won’t be converting that analog signal

Not necessarily. To apply dsp there may be a conversion. If you use something like the analog multi-ch inputs which tend to bypass avr processing, that could be "purer". Either way I wouldn't worry about it as being audible.

 

[TLS Guy]

Kind of in shock right now. I’ve had my Marantz for almost 4 months now, it is my very first AVR.

This is the first time I used heos via Air Play 2 to play music and holy crap it’s like I changed my speakers. I never heard this much detail, bass extension, soundstage like this come out of these speakers from my PC connection.

Not really sure the reason why this is but I am completely shocked. Anyone else have this experience? Is AirPlay not Bluetooth? Always thought Bluetooth hurt sound quality and made it lossy.

Literally just listened to like 30 mins of music and everything sounds way better than usual. Thought it was just one song. Literally wanted to jump on here and figure out what’s going on

I just tried it. I think you are misled by a sleight of hand. The most obvious thing is that the level is much higher, than other sources. So you have to equalize levels.
I'm pretty sure there is also dynamic compression going on as well.

I am not impressed at all. It is nowhere near as good a streaming from my DAW ot HTPC, and certainly not as good as CD SACD BD etc.

 

[MacCali]

I just tried it. I think you are misled by a sleight of hand. The most obvious thing is that the level is much higher, than other sources. So you have to equalize levels.
I'm pretty sure there is also dynamic compression going on as well.

I am not impressed at all. It is nowhere near as good a streaming from my DAW ot HTPC, and certainly not as good as CD SACD BD etc.

Like I said man I wish I had the answer.

The only thing that comes to my mind is that 3.5 mm to rca isn’t on par with pure RCA that is split. I am going to test out my external dacs.

I wasn’t doing that because I thought the Marantz dac got the final or only conversion. Second, I didnt want to add more to the chain.

But I am telling you without a doubt using AirPlay, which puts my unit on Heos. I am not using the heos app. My setup was strictly airplay, it is far better than using hi res Quboz from my pc.

What you said maybe 100% accurate, but my pc isn’t producing that. I’m guessing you are using an external streamer or dac and you are getting similar performance. Which I have not done and I will try. Probably having the same results as you, experiencing no difference between airplay and the external dac. Which is when I will go back to using my PC.

Testing which is best for me will be easy, I can have both sources playing the same song and switch inputs