Pioneer 94 txh - 7.1 set up - I am royally pissed

[RedCharles]

A friend of mine referred to rca inputs as phono inputs, but I looked it up after I read your comment and found out phono is old school stuff.

Anyway, I hooked up the rca connections to the receiver and the db difference between multi-channel in and hdmi was about 8 db. 79.6 vs 71.9 to be exact. I think that this explains some of the loudness difference. Why would multi channel in be so much louder than Hdmi?

Once I equalized the volume, I fired up St. Anger because it has terrible snare drums, but I can hardly hear the difference between HDMI and RCA. I listened to Wham Last Christmas and focused in on the sibilance of "christmas" and I couldn't hardly tell the difference between multi and hdmi. I feel like HDMI has an edge; the mid-bass is punchier and there's more separation in the cymbals of St. Anger, but I don't think that my observations would pass a blind test.

I think the difference in the treble is due to the different receivers. I'm going to hook up the DA2 tomorrow and see if the treble is not harsh.

 

[lovinthehd]

You can listen to Wham? Seriously impressive...sort of, sort of like wanting to listen to Metallica . Don't read too much into your analysis the way you're going about it unless you're using a pure direct type mode at minimum, but different types of inputs can have different levels. Multi-ch in is analog, hdmi is digital so I'd think differences would be in your source transmitting different levels for the two.

 

[RedCharles]

George Michael has a great voice. And Metallica is awesome. But in this case, I was looking for higher pitched sounds that bother me like Lar's beating on trash cans and sibilance. I wanted to see if the ZXR would trim off those sounds, and it didn't, which isolates the difference I'm hearing to the receivers.

 

[lovinthehd]

George Michael has a great voice. And Metallica is awesome. But in this case, I was looking for higher pitched sounds that bother me like Lar's beating on trash cans and sibilance. I wanted to see if the ZXR would trim off those sounds, and it didn't, which isolates the difference I'm hearing to the receivers.

LOL just that not everyone can share particular recordings for comparison. If you like those acts that's fine, can't stand either myself. The object of the gear is to pass the signal thru as recorded as faithfully as possible....which can lead to trouble with acts that are more glam than substance

ps the use of phono vs rca is somewhat a brit thing

 

[RedCharles]

So I tested the DA2ES against the 94txh back to back. I made a video, but it's not worth watching.

Both the 94 and the DA2 emit background noise/interference at max volume. I hooked the 94txh up to a different, modern, grounded (2008 remodel) circuit, but the noise did not change.

Here's where it gets interesting, at 92ish DB of Donna Summer, the DA2 does not emit audible noise when I press pause. However, the 94txh does emit audible noise at 92ish db when I pause the music.

And here's where it gets even more interesting. When I flip the dial to pure direct on the 94txh, the noise/interference gets really low, but not quite to the level of the DA2ES. Very close, but not inaudible.

I also tested multi-channel on the 94 in the same configuration as DA2, which was analog cords running from a ZXR soundcard to the RCA inputs of the receiver. The noise level was similar to Pure Direct, but not as low as the DA2, which is inaudible on pause even at a loud, but normal listening volume.

I also just burned the living hell out of some lasagna while making the post. I'm focused on the right things in life.

So, the DA2 is emitting a cleaner sound. What is going on here?

 

[RedCharles]

I installed a different graphics card and the interference noise issue went away.