My first "real" home theater.

[Seth=L]

No, please, really, don't get the Onkyo 805 or the Sony 4300.
I don't want ANYONE to experience DTS-MA BEFORE I do.

But I don't wanna.

Don't worry, I am not competing to hear it first, you may have the honors good sir.

 

[Petro]

Now if you got the Onkyo TX-SR805 this wouldn't be a problem.

Petro, how much can you get the STR-DA4300 for? It decodes the bitstreams.

You'll have to forgive me if I'm not really willing to start posting internal prices on the internet. I'm not sure that'd be "a good thing" to do.

That being said, I chose the receiver that I did with the full knowledge of the specs of the rest of the line, and a pretty solid grasp of the other receivers competing in the same area of the marketplace. I was just under the mistaken impression that it'd be easier to find a high-def playback transport that'd pass the new audio formats as a PCM bitstream.

Of course, with all of that being said, I'm seriously giving some thought to the Onkyo. I'd really like being able to decode DSD too - I've been buying up a lot of SACDs at good prices, since the format is considered dead to so many people. (And I don't do any of the video processing within my receiver, at all - all of my sources are HDMI, which the 3300ES just passes, untouched.)

I don't know though - I'd lose the spiffy HDMI-based control from my TV, and the super-cool GUI. I'll have to think this one over a bit.

 

[Seth=L]

You'll have to forgive me if I'm not really willing to start posting internal prices on the internet. I'm not sure that'd be "a good thing" to do.

That being said, I chose the receiver that I did with the full knowledge of the specs of the rest of the line, and a pretty solid grasp of the other receivers competing in the same area of the marketplace. I was just under the mistaken impression that it'd be easier to find a high-def playback transport that'd pass the new audio formats as a PCM bitstream.

Of course, with all of that being said, I'm seriously giving some thought to the Onkyo. I'd really like being able to decode DSD too - I've been buying up a lot of SACDs at good prices, since the format is considered dead to so many people. (And I don't do any of the video processing within my receiver, at all - all of my sources are HDMI, which the 3300ES just passes, untouched.)

I don't know though - I'd lose the spiffy HDMI-based control from my TV, and the super-cool GUI. I'll have to think this one over a bit.

Just trying to help, those prices don't help anyone but you. It's not like I can get in on those same deals just because I know the price. Just trying to get a grasp on what you can and can not do. If the 4300 is over $200 more I would just keep what you've got, if it is less I might try to nab one.

The 3300 should be able to handle DSD streams, isn't they 3300 HDMI 1.2 or 1.3?

 

[Petro]

The 3300 should be able to handle DSD streams, isn't they 3300 HDMI 1.2 or 1.3?

While the 3300ES supports 1.3a, it doesn't actually have the internal logic to interpret the DSD bitstream. (It's explicitly stated in the manual, in fact.) Of course, I found this out only after trying to input DSD and in turn having it automatically renegotiate and swap to LPCM. (Which impressed me. I'd normally guess that it'd just fail and maybe return an error.)

You'd think that Sony would support DSD in their own receivers, considering SACD is their own format, yano? I'm sure that group would give the electronics group competitive pricing on the licensing.

 

[Seth=L]

While the 3300ES supports 1.3a, it doesn't actually have the internal logic to interpret the DSD bitstream. (It's explicitly stated in the manual, in fact.) Of course, I found this out only after trying to input DSD and in turn having it automatically renegotiate and swap to LPCM. (Which impressed me. I'd normally guess that it'd just fail and maybe return an error.)

You'd think that Sony would support DSD in their own receivers, considering SACD is their own format, yano? I'm sure that group would give the electronics group competitive pricing on the licensing.

Sony can be a big oaf sometimes.