Toslink dac, need a streamer

[Anglofun]

Evening!

Approaching my final stages to getting everything setup and this one is biting my a$$ pretty hard.

I have an older dac, a Reimyo DAP 777, that is truly magnificent in 2 channel audio (hence I do not want the internal l yamaha dac of my aventage a4a). Like everyone, I stream music online, especially apple music on my apple tv 4K, but this streamer does not have a toslink out which my dac needs.

I bought an HDMI to Toslink converter that I added on hoping it would link to the dac. Tried every dip switch possibility ( I know what you guys are thinking right about now).

Funny thing is, the dac lights up green like it receives the signal.

Last thing, yes I changed the settings in my apple tv to stereo.

Your insights would be great on this one.

Thanks

 

[highfigh]

Evening!

Approaching my final stages to getting everything setup and this one is biting my a$$ pretty hard.

I have an older dac, a Reimyo DAP 777, that is truly magnificent in 2 channel audio (hence I do not want the internal l yamaha dac of my aventage a4a). Like everyone, I stream music online, especially apple music on my apple tv 4K, but this streamer does not have a toslink out which my dac needs.

I bought an HDMI to Toslink converter that I added on hoping it would link to the dac. Tried every dip switch possibility ( I know what you guys are thinking right about now).

Funny thing is, the dac lights up green like it receives the signal.

Last thing, yes I changed the settings in my apple tv to stereo.

Your insights would be great on this one.

Thanks

You're using an AppleTV into a special sauce DAC and you don't think the Aventage DAC is good enough? What's wrong with it? Are you comparing it with another one, or does it really sound bad?

Why would you convert from HDMI to TosLink?

 

[TLS Guy]

Evening!

Approaching my final stages to getting everything setup and this one is biting my a$$ pretty hard.

I have an older dac, a Reimyo DAP 777, that is truly magnificent in 2 channel audio (hence I do not want the internal l yamaha dac of my aventage a4a). Like everyone, I stream music online, especially apple music on my apple tv 4K, but this streamer does not have a toslink out which my dac needs.

I bought an HDMI to Toslink converter that I added on hoping it would link to the dac. Tried every dip switch possibility ( I know what you guys are thinking right about now).

Funny thing is, the dac lights up green like it receives the signal.

Last thing, yes I changed the settings in my apple tv to stereo.

Your insights would be great on this one.

Thanks

Stop sniffing Audiophile glue! That old Reipro will not be as good as a new DAC and almost certainly inferior to the DAC in your Yamaha. The reason your converted does not work is because it is a fraud and does not have the HDCP copy protection codes, which it is not allowed by law. HDMI is two way communication which Toslink is not.

Now just bite the bullet and send you old Reimo to the recycling center where it is its current destination.

 

[Wardog555]

Keep it simple and use a avr and speakers.
I just don't get it that people want to make things complicated.

 

[Anglofun]

Thanks for the input.

 

[Eppie]

Evening!

Approaching my final stages to getting everything setup and this one is biting my a$$ pretty hard.

I have an older dac, a Reimyo DAP 777, that is truly magnificent in 2 channel audio (hence I do not want the internal l yamaha dac of my aventage a4a). Like everyone, I stream music online, especially apple music on my apple tv 4K, but this streamer does not have a toslink out which my dac needs.

I bought an HDMI to Toslink converter that I added on hoping it would link to the dac. Tried every dip switch possibility ( I know what you guys are thinking right about now).

Funny thing is, the dac lights up green like it receives the signal.

Last thing, yes I changed the settings in my apple tv to stereo.

Your insights would be great on this one.

Thanks

Some pretty harsh replies considering the Reimyo was pretty good kit 20 years ago. The problem is that digital standards change and TLS Guy may be correct in that you are having HDCP issues as HDMI is two-way. The A4A is a good AVR though and while you may be reluctant to retire the Reimyo, you should give the A4A's internal DAC a try.

As a side note, to use only the Reimyo DAC requires the A4A to be in "pure" or "direct" mode to bypass any internal processing. If you are using any kind of room correction, EQ or bass management in the A4A, the analogue signals are being converted to digital, processed, and then converted back to analogue. So if you have room correction or surround processing enabled, you are already using the internal DAC on the A4A. It's better to leave the source in the digital domain and not have to convert from digital to analogue, back to digital and then back to analogue. Digital sources like the Apple TV should be connected directly to the AVR.

The Reimyo could be a good candidate for a 2 channel setup in another room.

 

[Trebdp83]

Assuming the A4A will be in Pure Direct mode for Stereo playback of the signals coming in from the DAC as @Eppie mentioned, the Apple TV 4K would need to be connected directly to a TV and it connected to the DAC via optical.

If the connected TV supports eARC, multichannel PCM signals from the Apple TV 4K will be available to the A4A via HDMI eARC when settings are changed back from Stereo. The TV’s digital audio output setting should be set to Passthrough.

 

[Anglofun]

Assuming the A4A will be in Pure Direct mode for Stereo playback of the signals coming in from the DAC as @Eppie mentioned, the Apple TV 4K would need to be connected directly to a TV and it connected to the DAC via optical.

If the connected TV supports eARC, multichannel PCM signals from the Apple TV 4K will be available to the A4A via HDMI eARC when settings are changed back from Stereo. The TV’s digital audio output setting should be set to Passthrough.

Totally, my other issue is it needs to be 27 inches or less amd 4k. So I bought a pc monitor without the optic out. Just bundles of joy. I'll have to look at where to put a bigger tv I guess.

 

[Anglofun]

Assuming the A4A will be in Pure Direct mode for Stereo playback of the signals coming in from the DAC as @Eppie mentioned, the Apple TV 4K would need to be connected directly to a TV and it connected to the DAC via optical.

If the connected TV supports eARC, multichannel PCM signals from the Apple TV 4K will be available to the A4A via HDMI eARC when settings are changed back from Stereo. The TV’s digital audio output setting should be set to Passthrough.

I just tried this. The DAC is always green with some sort of signal. but still, no sound. This is nuts

 

[Anglofun]

Well, I got it to work. The appletv had to be inserted into the converter and then distributed back into the yamaha. Pretty stupid on my part.

I did a direct side by side comparison yamaha dac vs Reimyo; it was interesting

Without going into all the bla bla,

The Yamaha actually has better dynamic range, like by quite a bit actually. It has more detail too by not so much.

This comes at a harshness price though.

The Reimyo although 20 years old, has a finesse and musicality to my ears that just makes my foot tap.

 

[everettT]

Well, I got it to work. The appletv had to be inserted into the converter and then distributed back into the yamaha. Pretty stupid on my part.

I did a direct side by side comparison yamaha dac vs Reimyo; it was interesting

Without going into all the bla bla,

The Yamaha actually has better dynamic range, like by quite a bit actually. It has more detail too by not so much.

This comes at a harshness price though.

The Reimyo although 20 years old, has a finesse and musicality to my ears that just makes my foot tap.

Yup, our brains can trick us into all sorts of sighted auditory falsehoods.

 

[Anglofun]

Yup, our brains can trick us into all sorts of sighted auditory falsehoods.

I am not sure about what you are implying?

 

[everettT]

I am not sure about what you are implying?

I'm not implying anything, just stating a fact that when it comes to our eyes, used in conjunction with our ears, we are highly likely (some 90%) to trust our eyes not our ears. Sighted testing will always corrupt an auditory test, which is already difficult. Our auditory memory is insanely small, when you know which piece of gear you're listening to you're almost certainly like to choose the visual preference.

It's not a guarantee but statistically unlikely.

 

[Anglofun]

I'm not implying anything, just stating a fact that when it comes to our eyes, used in conjunction with our ears, we are highly likely (some 90%) to trust our eyes not our ears. Sighted testing will always corrupt an auditory test, which is already difficult. Our auditory memory is insanely small, when you know which piece of gear you're listening to you're almost certainly like to choose the visual preference.

It's not a guarantee but statistically unlikely.

Understood. Been in this hobby for 25 years, at the end of the day as long as I am happy that is all that matters. Enjoying my placebo effect now, lol.

 

[everettT]

Understood. Been in this hobby for 25 years, at the end of the day as long as I am happy that is all that matters. Enjoying my placebo effect now, lol.

I agree, and that is all that matters. Here is a video where the reviewer was shocked by preference or lack thereof and there are several that have been done (abx tests) where results are basically the same. In the end, it's speakers and our rooms that make all the difference in sound, at this point in time.

Spending money on that equipment will offer the biggest rewards and FWIW older players have been chosen over new ones as DAC technology has been mature for some 20 years.

 

[Anglofun]

I agree, and that is all that matters. Here is a video where the reviewer was shocked by preference or lack thereof and there are several that have been done (abx tests) where results are basically the same. In the end, it's speakers and our rooms that make all the difference in sound, at this point in time.

Spending money on that equipment will offer the biggest rewards and FWIW older players have been chosen over new ones as DAC technology has been mature for some 20 years.

Evolution in audio has been quite limited aside from DSP that has been added into the mix as of maybe 25 years or so. Open baffles, horns have been around since the 20's.

Personally, I found that because of today's trends as far as deco goes, audio has taken a very big hit in general.

 

[everettT]

Evolution in audio has been quite limited aside from DSP that has been added into the mix as of maybe 25 years or so. Open baffles, horns have been around since the 20's.

Personally, I found that because of today's trends as far as deco goes, audio has taken a very big hit in general.

The best outcome for speakers moving forward is to active and DSP, the advantages are tremendous. I say say this being completely satisfied with two of my passive stereo setups. The crossover designer of those two does a marvelous job and his cabinet designer is top notch.

That being said, after bouncing around, my next purchase will be fully active. Enjoy your listening, that's the best part!

 

[Trell]

Evolution in audio has been quite limited aside from DSP that has been added into the mix as of maybe 25 years or so. Open baffles, horns have been around since the 20's.

Personally, I found that because of today's trends as far as deco goes, audio has taken a very big hit in general.

That's a little harsh, I'd say. Today you can put together a transparent and performant audio setup for far less money than you could 25 years ago, not taking the room into consideration (which is a major factor). So, ironically, while the electronics/solid state, speakers and media have progressed technically, the content to take advantage of this have not.

 

[Anglofun]

That's a little harsh, I'd say. Today you can put together a transparent and performant audio setup for far less money than you could 25 years ago, not taking the room into consideration (which is a major factor). So, ironically, while the electronics/solid state, speakers and media have progressed technically, the content to take advantage of this have not.

Not wanting to be or sound harsh, but if I may expand on my short reply.

When you look at aspects such as , dynamic range, today's speakers in general being 92 db or less are dynamically impaired compared to high efficiency horns or high efficiency drivers ( 102db+) The agility in range is mind boggling when hearing these high efficiency systems. And, although the Klipsch of today has higher efficiency they suffer from the "HiFi trend of today". People in general put speakers in their living rooms, need to be WAF and they compete for precious floor space. Somehow, cies managed to focus as much as possible on soundstage and imaging instead of the more important aspects of music. Every topic and every audio show I go to, the number one aspect that comes to the table, Soundstage. This said, bookshelves and narrow baffle towers do indeed image quite well so if that is what matters, then so be it. For me, I enjoy the imaging as a cherry on the cake, not the prime focus.

Narrow baffles, which is almost every cie now, provide a level of transparency but lack weight and presence.

I am just saying out loud my view on today's HIFI.