Would I benefit from the addition of a DAC?

[PHANofPHUNK]

I have read a few threads on this topic but still wonder if with my current setup I would benefit at all. I would mainly use it for the music on my external HD.

All the audio file are lossless, and play through a laptop HDMI output. I've been looking at the Music Hall 15.2 and the Musical Fidelity V-DAC.

Thanks for your insight,
Michael

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

No. You don't need external DAC. Your AVR's internal DACs are already excellent. As long as you bitstream to your AVR, it will be fine.

 

[PHANofPHUNK]

No. You don't need external DAC. Your AVR's internal DACs are already excellent. As long as you bitstream to your AVR, it will be fine.

Thanks Now i need to figure out how to output bitstream. Im 99% sure it is outputting PCM. Maybe even analog.

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks Now i need to figure out how to output bitstream. Im 99% sure it is outputting PCM. Maybe even analog.

I can see there is a possibility you might be confused as to whether it is outputting PCM or Bitstream. But for the life of me, I can not see how you could in any way confuse a digital with an analog connection! That really stretches credulity, but I have to assume you are not making this up.

 

[agarwalro]

The Marantz cannot decode HD audio. If you bitstream a BD, there will be no sound.

 

[PHANofPHUNK]

I can see there is a possibility you might be confused as to whether it is outputting PCM or Bitstream. But for the life of me, I can not see how you could in any way confuse a digital with an analog connection! That really stretches credulity, but I have to assume you are not making this up.

HA!! Im not confused one bit about the difference between analog and digital connection. But thanks for asking.

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks Now i need to figure out how to output bitstream. Im 99% sure it is outputting PCM. Maybe even analog.

I'm sorry, but this post says to me you don't know if your player is outputting PCM or analog!

 

[PHANofPHUNK]

TLS guy, sorry if I my post was confusing. I was kidding about the analog over hdmi. You must not have seen my first post.

" the audio files are lossless, and play through a laptop HDMI output. Thank you for your help though.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Thanks Now i need to figure out how to output bitstream. Im 99% sure it is outputting PCM. Maybe even analog.

I usually listen to music via USB on my Denon, not via PC.

But when I used Window Media Player for music, it sounded bad - like PCM instead of bitstream. I think PCM is default on WMP.

I think Winamp media player will bitstream by default.

Just like PowerDVD is PCM by default unless you configure it to bitstream.

 

[PHANofPHUNK]

I usually listen to music via USB on my Denon, not via PC.

But when I used Window Media Player for music, it sounded bad - like PCM instead of bitstream. I think PCM is default on WMP.

I think Winamp media player will bitstream by default.

Just like PowerDVD is PCM by default unless you configure it to bitstream.

I use media monkey, ill tinker around and check the defaults of both the computer and mediamonkey. I understand the Ian is the way to go in order to bypass the computers sound card. I wish my Sr7001 had a usb input.

 

[PHANofPHUNK]

No. You don't need external DAC. Your AVR's internal DACs are already excellent. As long as you bitstream to your AVR, it will be fine.

Getting the laptop to bistream isn't as easy as i thought. Still looking for an easier method.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

" the audio files are lossless, and play through a laptop HDMI output.

Your receiver can't decode naively lossless files formats, so PCM stream must stay as it is. No FLAC bitstreaming for you, unless you upgrade to much newer AVR or pre-pro

PCM stream is still a digital stream and still does needs to be d/a to played on your speakers..

You Marantz DAC are way more than just OK for this duty.
Unless you imagine your media monkey does bad job of decoding or hdmi interface error possibly creating sync errors (which PCM stream is not immune to) than stick with your current setup.

 

[PHANofPHUNK]

Your receiver can't decode naively lossless files formats, so PCM stream must stay as it is. No FLAC bitstreaming for you, unless you upgrade to much newer AVR or pre-pro

PCM stream is still a digital stream and still does needs to be d/a to played on your speakers..

You Marantz DAC are way more than just OK for this duty.
Unless you imagine your media monkey does bad job of decoding or hdmi interface error possibly creating sync errors (which PCM stream is not immune to) than stick with your current setup.

The files are decoded to WAV. I dont know if that makes a difference? Can you bitstream WAV?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

The files are decoded to WAV. I dont know if that makes a difference? Can you bitstream WAV?

lol yes. uncompressed wav files contain sound in lpcm format Linear pulse-code modulation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - so if stream a wav file or decode lossless Flac - it'll stream to receiver exactly same data, only flac will take about half the space.

If you want to improve the sq, stop worrying yourself about bitstreaming, dacs etc... but start saving money to add/change speaker and/or sub and doing room audio treatments.