Yamaha RX-Z9 vs NEW RX-A3080

[snakeeyes]

And Sonos says there’s no BS you stream at the highest quality that the provider provides

Not sure worth $350 or not but I might try one at some point and return it if it wasn’t a big difference.

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

Not sure worth $350 or not but I might try one at some point and return it if it wasn’t a big difference.

You won’t be disappointed, I would not stream without it. The Sonos app is great. I use Amazon music now and cancelled Pandora. Pandora’s streaming is stuck at 192Kbps

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I stream 9216 kbps music from my phone and iPad to my Yamaha CX-A5100 using MusicCast.

The music sounds awesome.

From Yamaha:

MusicCast support Lossless WAV, FLAC, and AIFF up to 192 kHz/24 bit and DSD up to 5.6 MHz.

https://usa.yamaha.com/products/contents/audio_visual/musiccast/faqs.html

Music CD is 44kHz/16 bit = 1411 kbps.

High Resolution Music = 192 kHz/24 bit = 9216 kbps (WAV, FLAC, AIFF)
96 kHz/24 bit = 4608 kbps (Apple Lossless)

There is a setting in MusicCast for Lossless vs Compressed Music. The default setting is for Compressed (MP3) music. So if you want Hi-Res music up to 9216 kbps, set it to Lossless.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

All streaming devices are limited to 128 kbps.

Not all streaming devices.

I stream 9216 kbps from my phone and iPad to MusicCast.

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

You are talking about streaming Compressed files like MP3?

Because Lossless files like FLAC are up to 9216 kbps.

I don't know why they would limit compressed files to 128 kbps, instead of 320 kbps when they allow 9216 kbps for lossless files.

Where in the MusicCast settings do you go ? According to Pandora they won’t go any higher than 128 themselves they claim even if you pay for premium when streamed through any device except for Sonos then they will go up to 192 ,

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Where in the MusicCast settings do you go ? According to Pandora they won’t go any higher than 128 themselves they claim even if you pay for premium when streamed through any device except for Sonos then they will go up to 192 ,

I'd have to go back to check. But I know when I was initially setting up MusicCast using my iPad/Phone there was a setting for Lossless vs Compressed.

I don't use any streaming services, though. I stream directly from my iPad/Phone to MusicCast.

 

[Good4it]

I use my iPad to stream also but can’t find any lossless setting.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[JOHN FICKEL]

I found it it’s not what you think mine was always set to uncompressed but like Yamaha told me and Pandora , if the provider is not streaming uncompressed it will not be

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I found it it’s not what you think mine was always set to uncompressed but like Yamaha told me and Pandora , if the provider is not streaming uncompressed it will not be

I see what you mean. The bottleneck is the streaming service. If they don't stream lossless, you can't get lossless. But if you stream lossless from iPad or phone, then MusicCast will accept the lossless file up to 9216 kbps.

I knew there was a good reason I never use any of those streaming services - I like my 9216kbps music quality.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I use my iPad to stream also but can’t find any lossless setting.

Any help would be appreciated.

Room Name --> Link --> Audio Quality --> Uncompressed

 

[snakeeyes]

Room Name --> Link --> Audio Quality --> Uncompressed

I think I’ll try that on my iPhone and iPad. Does the Yamaha app or menu see the bitrate?

 

[Good4it]

Room Name --> Link --> Audio Quality --> Uncompressed

When I use it it says “Link not available “

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Here is the audio signal info on MusicCast.

192 kHz/ 24-bit = 9216 kbps.


WAV file:

FLAC file:

Apple Lossless.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

So clearly MusicCast is capable of playing 9216 kbps. But it depends on the ORIGINAL content.

If the content (Pandora or whatever) only streams 128 kbps, then that is what you get.

 

[snakeeyes]

So clearly MusicCast is capable of playing 9216 kbps. But it depends on the ORIGINAL content.

If the content (Pandora or whatever) only streams 128 kbps, then that is what you get.

So as far as a service, is Apple Music with ALAC a good one to try out over Apple iPhone or iPad over Musiccast to the Yamaha?

Or is it like iTunes files that are sent over musiccast?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

So as far as a service, is Apple Music with ALAC a good one to try out over Apple iPhone or iPad over Musiccast to the Yamaha?

Or is it like iTunes files that are sent over musiccast?

I don’t ever use any kid of music services to stream music.

I’ve only streamed local music files stored on my phone and iPad.

But if the Streaming Service provides and streams ALAC files, then you will get the 96 kHz/24 bit on MusicCast.

 

[everettT]

I don’t ever use any kid of music services to stream music.

I’ve only streamed local music files stored on my phone and iPad.

But if the Streaming Service provides and streams ALAC files, then you will get the 96 kHz/24 bit.

I'm in the same boat. Have TBs on my server along with ripped video. I do have sirrus xm that I use mostly for talk radio in the car and some channels are used in the house for partys.

 

[snakeeyes]

I don’t ever use any kid of music services to stream music.

I’ve only streamed local music files stored on my phone and iPad.

But if the Streaming Service provides and streams ALAC files, then you will get the 96 kHz/24 bit on MusicCast.

So ya I can copy a cd into my laptop iTunes as a playlist then drag and drop that to my iPad and play over musiccast as PCM 44.1 / 16bit / 2.0 channel and it displays that on my Yamaha. So this is 44.1 x 16 x 2 = 1411.2 ? (Not sure of the math actually)

Over airplay the same file says “digital 44.1” and I can’t tell if it’s the same.

On mp3 streaming all I see is mp3 44.1 on app but simply “MP3” on Yamaha info.

Over streaming I’m not sure what options there are though. Not sure Musiccast supports this other than as “MP3” with the limited bandwidth. I will need to research.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

So ya I can copy a cd into my laptop iTunes as a playlist then drag and drop that to my iPad and play over musiccast as PCM 44.1 / 16bit / 2.0 channel and it displays that on my Yamaha. So this is 44.1 x 16 x 2 = 1411.2 ? (Not sure of the math actually)

Over airplay the same file says “digital 44.1” and I can’t tell if it’s the same.

On mp3 streaming all I see is mp3 44.1 on app but simply “MP3” on Yamaha info.

Over streaming I’m not sure what options there are though. Not sure Musiccast supports this other than as “MP3” with the limited bandwidth. I will need to research.

Yes, 44kHz/16-Bit = 1411 kbps.

I don't trust AirPlay. At least on MusicCast, it actually says "44kHz/16-bit".

I don't know about MP3. For MusicCast, the MP3 just reads 44kHz or 48kHz, but it doesn't say the Bitrate like "320 kbps" or "192 kbps" or the Sample Rate/Bit depth like "48 kHz /2 bit".

48 kHz/2 bit = 192 kbps (MP3 range is 96-320 kbps).

 

[snakeeyes]

Yes, 44kHz/16-Bit = 1411 kbps.

I don't trust AirPlay. At least on MusicCast, it actually says "44kHz/16-bit".

I don't know about MP3. For MusicCast, the MP3 just reads 44kHz or 48kHz, but it doesn't say the Bitrate like "320 kbps" or "192 kbps" or the Sample Rate/Bit depth like "48 kHz /2 bit".

48 kHz/2 bit = 192 kbps (MP3 range is 96-320 kbps).

Well I have a DVD-A currently playing at 48/24 5.1 MLP and my Sony player shows the Mbps flexing between 3.8 to 5.0Mbps. Earlier a Blu-ray Audio disc in DTSHDMA 5.1 was flexing over 8.2Mbps.

If you like to “see” the bandwidth the Sony x800 and x700 players are cool with their display button.

Edit: They don’t display the real-time bandwidth of SACD though, just the format and frequency and sampling