New AVR help

[chris6878]

Im looking for a new receiver for 4k hdr pass through. I currently have a pio 92thx with the oppo 205 and 7.1 hooked up via analog. Ive been looking at the anthem 720, but i see it only has 5 analog inputs. So I assume 7.1 analog with the anthem is out the question??

Are there any comparable avr's to the anthem that can run 7.1 analog? Or should I just give up on 7.1 analog.

Thanks

 

[PENG]

Im looking for a new receiver for 4k hdr pass through. I currently have a pio 92thx with the oppo 205 and 7.1 hooked up via analog. Ive been looking at the anthem 720, but i see it only has 5 analog inputs. So I assume 7.1 analog with the anthem is out the question??

Are there any comparable avr's to the anthem that can run 7.1 analog? Or should I just give up on 7.1 analog.

Thanks

Marantz SR7012, 7013, or the higher end SR8012, and Denon AVR-X8500H. For 7.1 only, SR5012 will do the trick and save you a lot of money. If you can forget about the 7.1 analog that really offers no benefits, only disadvantages, then there are more choices. I have the 105, and I found absolutely no urge to use the 7.1 analogs available to all my previous AVRs and AVPs (processors) so I finally went with one that don't have them.

The Oppo no doubt has better DACs build in but DACs are no longer the bottleneck in a system that is based on mid to high end AVRs/AVPs.

 

[chris6878]

Marantz SR7012, 7013, or the higher end SR8012, and Denon AVR-X8500H. For 7.1 only, SR5012 will do the trick and save you a lot of money. If you can forget about the 7.1 analog that really offers no benefits, only disadvantages, then there are more choices. I have the 205 also, found absolutely no urge to use the 7.1 analogs available to all my previous AVRs and AVPs (processors) so I finally went with one that don't have them.

The Oppo no doubt has better DACs build in but DACs are no longer the bottleneck in a system that is based on mid to high end AVRs/AVPs.

Yea I kinda figured the 7.1 analog was going the way of the dino. I really just wanted to get the best sound outta the oppo. Plus ill probably end up expanding one day to atmos or dts x.
What are your thoughts on the anthem sound wise to the oppo?

 

[PENG]

Yea I kinda figured the 7.1 analog was going the way of the dino. I really just wanted to get the best sound outta the oppo. Plus ill probably end up expanding one day to atmos or dts x.
What are your thoughts on the anthem sound wise to the oppo?

Understood, you can still take advantage of it using the analog outputs for 2 ch music.

 

[lovinthehd]

How and, to an extent, why would you compare the "sound" of an avr to a universal disc player, tho? What "sound" would you expect an avr brand to have?

 

[chris6878]

How and, to an extent, why would you compare the "sound" of an avr to a universal disc player, tho? What "sound" would you expect an avr brand to have?

Well from what ive read, the Anthem has excellent sound quality. in other words, would I be better off if I were to buy the anthem, routing my music through the oppo first to use the oppo dacs.

 

[lovinthehd]

Well from what ive read, the Anthem has excellent sound quality. in other words, would I be better off if I were to buy the anthem, routing my music through the oppo first to use the oppo dacs.

All my avrs have excellent sound quality, IME/IMO. I haven't found my Oppo dacs to be different compared to my avr's (and my avr that I use the Oppo with does have multi-ch inputs, a Denon), so I just use hdmi. Do you listen to a lot of multi-ch music to need a set of multi-ch inputs, tho? Especially 5.1 vs 7.1?

 

[chris6878]

All my avrs have excellent sound quality, IME/IMO. I haven't found my Oppo dacs to be different compared to my avr's (and my avr that I use the Oppo with does have multi-ch inputs, a Denon), so I just use hdmi. Do you listen to a lot of multi-ch music to need a set of multi-ch inputs, tho? Especially 5.1 vs 7.1?

I have quite a few sacd's and dvd audios, even tho i havent cranked them in a while, so yea I probably dont need the 7.1

 

[lovinthehd]

I have quite a few sacd's and dvd audios, even tho i havent cranked them in a while, so yea I probably dont need the 7.1

Not that many blurays for music have 7.1 either

 

[PENG]

Well from what ive read, the Anthem has excellent sound quality. in other words, would I be better off if I were to buy the anthem, routing my music through the oppo first to use the oppo dacs.

I don't believe in subjective reviews and I suppose you don't either. In this hobby, most of the time, the owners of the brands they chose would typically say good things about them. Ask the Marantz fans, most will tell about the good warm sound they like, Denon fans might tell you about the neutral sound they prefer, and the NAD fans, the Yamaha fans...will all have something to say about their gear. I heard so many brands, including Anthem's, and like HD, all those talks of the specific sound are subjective, and best be ignored.

Think about this logically for a moment, if they all their own kind of sound, how could we know which one we prefer without doing properly set up AB comparisons of all of them? And how could the design engineers know what to do, who to please, who to ignore ? They couldn't simply design and build in a certain kind of tonal balance, impedance characteristics, distortions etc., into their products that would somehow behave well to all kinds of potential buyers who would in all likelihood own different speakers in different rooms with different acoustical characteristics right? So their best approach should be to design and build their products to be as neutral, faithful to the input, transparent, accurate as possible, and there is no reason (other than cost, as always..) to believe they would do the opposite.

Short answer is, Anthem makes good products and their ARC feature is top notch too Just don't expect the MRX720 or 1120 to sound better than D&M or Yamaha's comparable products typically sell for much less.. They don't have the sales volume advantage of D&M, Yamaha, Sony and Onkyo/Integra, so it is fair to say relatively speaking, they are very overpriced based on practical value.

As to routing music through the Oppo, I am not exactly sure what you meant. The only way to use it's internal DACs is to use the analog outputs and stick with pure direct mode to avoid double conversion (A to D and then D to A again in the AVR). Keep in mind the bass management, with or without REQ engaged, of a mid range AVR, is going to be superior to that of the Oppo's. So if anything, I think it would more likely be a net loss for using the 7.1 analog inputs with the 205 instead of sticking with HDMI. Even if just for fun though, you can always try (if not yet), using the 205 as external DAC via the Asynchronous USB port with you PC/laptop and the analog outputs to the AVR's analog inputs. Again, be sure to use pure direct mode to hopefully avoid double conversion.

 

[chris6878]

I don't believe in subjective reviews and I suppose you don't either. In this hobby, most of the time, the owners of the brands they chose would typically say good things about them. Ask the Marantz fans, most will tell about the good warm sound they like, Denon fans might tell you about the neutral sound they prefer, and the NAD fans, the Yamaha fans...will all have something to say about their gear. I heard so many brands, including Anthem's, and like HD, all those talks of the specific sound are subjective, and best be ignored.

Think about this logically for a moment, if they all their own kind of sound, how could we know which one we prefer without doing properly set up AB comparisons of all of them? And how could the design engineers know what to do, who to please, who to ignore ? They couldn't simply design and build in a certain kind of tonal balance, impedance characteristics, distortions etc., into their products that would somehow behave well to all kinds of potential buyers who would in all likelihood own different speakers in different rooms with different acoustical characteristics right? So their best approach should be to design and build their products to be as neutral, faithful to the input, transparent, accurate as possible, and there is no reason (other than cost, as always..) to believe they would do the opposite.

Short answer is, Anthem makes good products and their ARC feature is top notch too Just don't expect the MRX720 or 1120 to sound better than D&M or Yamaha's comparable products typically sell for much less.. They don't have the sales volume advantage of D&M, Yamaha, Sony and Onkyo/Integra, so it is fair to say relatively speaking, they are very overpriced based on practical value.

As to routing music through the Oppo, I am not exactly sure what you meant. The only way to use it's internal DACs is to use the analog outputs and stick with pure direct mode to avoid double conversion (A to D and then D to A again in the AVR). Keep in mind the bass management, with or without REQ engaged, of a mid range AVR, is going to be superior to that of the Oppo's. So if anything, I think it would more likely be a net loss for using the 7.1 analog inputs with the 205 instead of sticking with HDMI. Even if just for fun though, you can always try (if not yet), using the 205 as external DAC via the Asynchronous USB port with you PC/laptop and the analog outputs to the AVR's analog inputs. Again, be sure to use pure direct mode to hopefully avoid double conversion.

well I couldnt agree more. In your opinion do you think the ARC is worth the price of the anthems as compared to marantz and others? THe anthem is 20% off now so the 720 is 2k.
thx

 

[lovinthehd]

well I couldnt agree more. In your opinion do you think the ARC is worth the price of the anthems as compared to marantz and others? THe anthem is 20% off now so the 720 is 2k.
thx

Unless you think ARC is worth $1k extra, I would go with Audyssey XT32 with app....

 

[lovinthehd]

Not that additional adc/dac conversions are necessarily audible.

 

[PENG]

well I couldnt agree more. In your opinion do you think the ARC is worth the price of the anthems as compared to marantz and others? THe anthem is 20% off now so the 720 is 2k.
thx

In my opinion, no, if compared to Marantz or Denon's. My rationale is, let's assume Anthem ARC is really better, but for $20, you can use the Audyssey Editor App to:

- disable the mid range compensation dip (so called BBC dip) that Anthem ARC does not do.
- limit correction to below the room transition frequency, say 250 Hz.

If you do the above, given that Audyssey XT32 is very capable of dealing with room issues from 15-200 Hz, I highly doubt you can hear the difference between the two room correction system in that range.

You should be able to get the SR7012 or AVR-X4400H for under $1,000 and you get two extra channels of amplification. Based on past S&V bench test output data, the 3 should be very comparable in output into 8 and 4 ohm, 2 channel driven.

Edit: Forgot to mention that those newer Anthem AVRs, but still older being 2016 models, have class AB amps for the front 5 channels, the other channels are class D and are rated for much lower output.

Online or magazine reviewers, as usual would have high praise for such products, as they almost always do.... Why? YGMV, my guess is, 2 words, boutique brand expectation biased.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Or should I just give up on 7.1 analog.

Just forget about analog.

 

[chris6878]

Just forget about analog.

lol. I figured it would come to that.

 

[chris6878]

In my opinion, no, if compared to Marantz or Denon's. My rationale is, let's assume Anthem ARC is really better, but for $20, you can use the Audyssey Editor App to:

- disable the mid range compensation dip (so called BBC dip) that Anthem ARC does not do.
- limit correction to below the room transition frequency, say 250 Hz.

If you do the above, given that Audyssey XT32 is very capable of dealing with room issues from 15-200 Hz, I highly doubt you can hear the difference between the two room correction system in that range.

You should be able to get the SR7012 or AVR-X4400H for under $1,000 and you get two extra channels of amplification. Based on past S&V bench test output data, the 3 should be very comparable in output into 8 and 4 ohm, 2 channel driven.

Edit: Forgot to mention that those newer Anthem AVRs, but still older being 2016 models, have class AB amps for the front 5 channels, the other channels are class D and are rated for much lower output.

Online or magazine reviewers, as usual would have high praise for such products, as they almost always do.... Why? YGMV, my guess is, 2 words, boutique brand expectation biased.

Well Ill guess ill be looking into the D/M guys. Especially since I can hit best buy for sweet deals using my best buy card and no interest. Plus in the back of my mind, I always thought the anthems were homely.

Thanks for the help

 

[PENG]

Well Ill guess ill be looking into the D/M guys. Especially since I can hit best buy for sweet deals using my best buy card and no interest. Plus in the back of my mind, I always thought the anthems were homely.

Thanks for the help

The $999 amazon.com deal is no more. The AVR-X6400H could be a good alternative, but then you have to give up the 7.1 analog outputs.

https://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVRX6400H-Channel-Network-Receiver/dp/B072Z399G4/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=sr7013&qid=1557661953&s=gateway&sr=8-2

Or wait a few more months for the 2018 models (SR7013) to drop to similar price levels.

 

[chris6878]

I was looking at the AVRX6500H. Can get 24 month no interest financing at best buy. It has 6 analog inputs, but so i figure like you said, ill do analog for music only. Plus at best buy I can return stuff easier if need be.

 

[PENG]

I was looking at the AVRX6500H. Can get 24 month no interest financing at best buy. It has 6 analog inputs, but so i figure like you said, ill do analog for music only. Plus at best buy I can return stuff easier if need be.

If you can really get a good deal on it, go for it. It is a little more powerful than the SR7012 and is made in Japan. By the way, there are more detailed marketing info on the Japan site linked below (Google translated).

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=https://www.denon.jp/jp/product/hometheater/avreceivers/avcx6500h&prev=search

The X6400H and X6500H should rank between the SR8012 and the SR7013.