2. home-theater
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DAC VS AVR

Greetings,

I'm having a problem.  I am very close to having my ideal setup but am having second thoughts about direction.  I've been building my home theater based on only using two channels.  So I started with a pair of Zu Omen Def being fed by a Marantz PM6005 with built in DAC being fed by the optical out of my Samsung plasma tv.  I'm living in a house where surround sound is not in the cards.  So I figured to just have an amazing two channel system and use it for 75% movies and the other 25% for music(vinyl and spotify). 

So going along with that I wanted to replace the Marantz with a Vinnie Rossi LIO.  A modular integrated amp with some great modules like a mosfet amp for my very effecient Omen Defs and a pretty darn good DAC.  I figured such a nice piece of equipment would outshine my entry level Marantz. 

So right now my Marantz is in the shop for repair.  Most likely a cheap potientiometer is broken.  So until that's fixed I'm borrowing a Marantz slim avr.  So now all my sources are going to the avr and one hdmi to the tv.  Now the avr is doing all the decoding and i'm liking what i'm hearing.   My question is this:  Is the AVR doing a better job of decoding and down mixing into two channels than the Marantz built-in DAC section? 

I'm looking for the best of both worlds I guess.  I want something that is strong with movie soundtracks and good with 2 channel music.  But I also want something that costs as much as my speakers.  So I'm stuck between a Vinnie Rossi LIO and a Marantz AV8802A.

Pardon my typos and tangents,
-Patrick
bokkusbokkus

Showing 1 response by mahler123

mahler123
3,024 posts
 
Presumably the AVR has a built in DAC for digital sources. What your are basically saying is that you prefer the overall sound of the combination of the amplication/preamplification from the AVR and the DAC in the AVR compared to the previous Amp/DAC combo you were using.
I am also presuming the AVR you are using is cheaper than the Vinnie Rossi. My recommendation would be to try to get the Vinnie Rossi for a
comparison against the AVR in your system in your room . Then you decide based on price and sound quaity.
What are you going to play vinyl with? Do the AVR and the V.R. both have phono pre amps included, and if so are they compatible with your vinyl set up? Or will you be using a seperate Phono Pre Amp?

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