upgrading to digital audio

[leosan]

Hi, I've been happy with my Yamaha RX-V850 and Infinity Kappa 7 and Polk Audio SRS-SDA 2B quad-speaker setup with a multi-disc carousel DVD player (there is no digital audio input in this player, just the output.)

Now I'm hoping to get into digital audio (I'm transferring all my CD collection to a PC), and thought about two possible choices:

1. Upgrade to an equivalent digital receiver
2. Buy a DAC with optical audio connection

Do I need to get to Yamaha RV10XX series to get equivalent sound with my speaker setup? That may set me back around $1000, and my RX-V850 is still working perfectly. My speakers are in excellent condition.

If I go for a DAC instead, would a $200 range (like Audioengine D1) be good enough for my setup? If I have to spend over $500 for a DAC, I'm thinking I might as well save another $500 to upgrade the receiver, since that's what I'm hoping to do in the long run.

Any other options or suggestions? Any experiences in a similar situation?

 

[sholling]

You don't say where you're from but that receiver is getting long in the tooth and it's time to move on. If you live in the US then this factory refurbished Onkyo TX-NR709 can be had for $420 and is a good receiver. This refurbished Onkyo TX-NR809 is even better and less than $600. They are last year's models but come with a one year factory warranty. I've had good luck with their refurbs but they do need good air circulation because Onkyos run very warm.

You can plug an external USB drive into those receivers and play directly from there or you can setup a DLNA server (software) on your PC and play rips across your network. Just be sure to make backup of your rips because drives do die and it sucks to rip a large collection twice. Also do yourself a big favor and think through the way you want your rips filed on your PC, the naming convention, and tagging before ripping. I rip to a lossless format and there are a couple to choose from - the choice will depend on if you're a pod person or a non-pod person (ALAC vs FLAC). Once you rip to lossless for playback on your network you can make copies in MP3 or whatever you like for your portable.

 

[leosan]

Thank you for the reply. I had no idea they had receivers with network connections. Guess I need lots of time to catch up. You gave me a good lead to search in the right direction.

I started ripping in flac format, but I just stopped since my hard drives no longer have enough space. Yes, I do back them up on a second PC. It's about time to upgrade my hard drives too (I use Linux, which shows how old the PCs can be.)

I'll have to find a receiver that has enough power to drive Infinity that goes down to 2-ohm, and I'll check the models you mention. I also found Yamaha RX-V671 which seems to have enough power at 2-ohm, but not sure it can detect upnp mediatomb server or minidlna.

Anyway, I'll have to tread carefully, since it's going to be another major investment for me (and I still need approval from my ministry of home finance.)

 

[j_garcia]

There is no receiver in existence that can handle a true 2ohm load, but the specs don't mention that so it should not be an issue:

Kappa 7 / 7A

Introduced: 1987
Dimensions: 94 x 43 x 31 cm
Bass: 1 x 30 cm
Mids: 1 x Kappa-Polydome
Highs: 1 x EMIT
Suggested for amplifiers with: 40-200 Watts per channel
Frequency range: 37 Hz - 45 kHz
Crossover frequencies: 800 Hz, 4500 Hz
Suggested price (pair): 1500 $


Nominal Impedance: 4 to 6 ohms
Power Rating: 40-200 watts RMS
Efficiency: 88 dB @1 watt, 1 meter
Crossover Frequencies: 800Hz, 4500Hz
Frequency Response: 37Hz-45kHz +/-3dB
Introduced in 1987
Discontinued 1989

Also, few if any players have digital inputs.

I have what I consider to be a pretty good primary source and I use a $30 dac that has an optical out connected to my laptop and the sound is quite good already. The D1 will likely exceed all of your needs and sound great doing it.

 

[leosan]

Thank you all for the feedback. Here is my follow-up after a couple of years of researching (procrastinating.)

I found Yamaha TSR-6750 on sale a few months ago and decided to purchase that. Today, after finally moving my old Yamaha RX-V850 upstairs and having listened to both for comparison in a room without much furniture on a wooden floor, I can safely say TSR-6750 is a good replacement.

Although I'd have liked RX-A1040, it looked like RX-A850 was more equivalent to RX-V850, and TSR6750 had similar power to RX-A850 with less connectivity. Besides, I couldn't refuse the low sale price of $420 (for MSRP$850) that included a separate wi-fi adapter. It has an option to set 6-ohm, and the dynamic power can go up to 240W at 2-ohm, so it was enough to drive my Kappa 7's. The old one will still drive Kappa 7's, and the new one will drive Polk Audio SRS-SDA 2B, but I'm very satisfied.

It took about 4 months total duration to rip all my audio CDs (sadly I found 5 scratched CDs that publishers no longer make.) I'm happily listening to my flac music collection over ethernet from a mediatomb DLNA server running on Raspberry Pi with 32GB USB stick (enough space for my critical collection.)

One thing I noticed is that all new Yamaha receivers has a power rating using 0.06-0.09% THD, but my old RX-V850 has power rating using 0.015% THD. This probably doesn't mean much since it seems that at a range below 0.1% THD, the difference is pretty much inaudible. But just curious.

 

[rojo]

That selectable 6 ohm switch is like a power limiter. You should leave it on the 8 ohm setting, regardless of your speakers' ohm rating.

You might be able to polish the scratches out of your damaged cds with toothpaste. There are probably some YouTube videos demonstrating this.

 

[leosan]

That selectable 6 ohm switch is like a power limiter. You should leave it on the 8 ohm setting, regardless of your speakers' ohm rating.

Thank you. I should've known better. I changed it back to default 8 ohm.

You might be able to polish the scratches out of your damaged cds with toothpaste. There are probably some YouTube videos demonstrating this.

I did all I could (I did try toothpaste, and many other methods found on the Internet) but they were beyond repair, given that they had been banging around in a car unprotected for so long, and it wasn't me playing them in the car.

I'll probably buy newer performance CDs when I get a chance, although they seem to be more expensive (and some now have to be imported from outside the US.)

 

[ImcLoud]

I like this thread, 2 years later, I love it...

Anyway, be careful with scratched dc's I cooked a $300 pair of tweeters with one, my wife was playing "rolling in the deep" on cd the cd was scratched and made a crazy sound then restarted, the tweeters were both fried? It was a nasty noise and the volume level was up there, BUT I didn't think it would cook a tweeter, so after the tweeters started making noise, I figured it was the cd, so I took it out and tried aother one, one tweeter was dead and the other was crackling and scratching...

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

If you already have an iPad or Tablet, just get an Apple TV or Roku for $100. Then stream music from your iPad/Tablet to the Apple TV/Roku/AVR.

I stream lossless music (ALAC) from my iPad to my Apple TV or Roku. Sounds as good as a CD.