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Not to Open a Can of Worms? - Pure Direct Mode on AVR vs Integrated Amp


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11 hours ago, 08Boss302 said:

I'd like to pick up a NAD 3020 one day, this would make a nice 2nd amp for me i think.  Seems to be an amp that conjures nothing but positive words.

I agree, although the v1 spec was a lot more useful to me than the v2. Not enough room in that tiny chassis to keep everyone happy. 

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  • 1 year later...

Regarding the original title of this post I just wanna say I found the difference between a usual $1000 AVR Amp in Pure Direct Mode compared to a usual say a similar Integrated to be BUCKLEYS! For me and not worth buyin a dedicated Integrated if your happy with Pure Direct AVR! As ive ran the same CD player on both amps Denon AVR  1500 something and Yamaha 701 something through same pair of speakers A/B switched real time and yeah :D 

 

The Scotch n cokes been downed early this NYE ;)

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On 24/07/2018 at 7:32 PM, A9X said:

Because 'burn in' for electronics is audiophile folk lore.

 

Electronics has a cute name for burn in already - but at the other end of lifespan it happens again which few want to know about .  It is called a bath tub curve. At the beginning just like hopping in a bath components take time to settle in to their task so do well and others do not do so well , but if the design team has done their work most components,  then happily work and coexist well for a certain lifespan - sadly though there comes a time,  they then do their utmost to exit the bath again.    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve

 

                         "Many electronic consumer product life cycles strongly exhibit the bathtub curve."

 

A good manufacturer will exhaustively test your intended purchase to have minimal burn in period, others less so. 

 

In greater detail the tempco ( temperature coefficient ) of devices can be followed in theory for each electronics component. 

Here as example temperature tracking of semiconductors    https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/solid-state/71534-semi-thermaltrak-27.html

 

This may directly relate to how much detail, or indeed how little detail you require as an individual . A excellent reference book to assess where you dwell in terms of needing or discarding detail in your life, and self examining the options of each  is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance.    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance

 

 

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My experience with an Oppo 205 and a Yamaha RXA 2030 is that the analogue out on the Oppo was vastly superior to the AVR. But quality was destroyed if the analogue out was fed to the AVR. 

 

I think if you run an Oppo 205 but pass audio via HDMI to an AVR you may as well have bought the 204 or 104 if not running 4k.

 

Unless you are hooked up on ATMOS (205 passes through HDMI but no ATMOS analogue out) etc you're better off ditching the AVR and running a stack of integrated amps fed off the 205 which has trim and delay settings for up to 7.2 HT. A few well picked $100 Gumtree integrated amps plugged into the 205 will probably smash your AVR. Other than room correction stuff which I prefer to set up the room physically instead, the 205 is basically an AVR with preout only. 

 

You can set up the 205 with variable output volume on the decoded analogue outputs.

 

I've ended up a step further. While the 205 is well regarded sonically, reviews had it as equivalent to most $5k CD players, I found the Konverter from Gieseler Audio and any of Clay's recent DACs to be a level up again. I now feed my fronts off the 205s coaxe digital out via the Konverter. This coaxe digital out is downmixed stereo but at a fixed level, I manually calibrated the volume control settings to balance the fronts with the rest of the HT. Currently running HT in 4.0 with Lenehan ML2+R fronts and ML1+R rears as this is where my budget ran out for speakers and electrical gear. At some point I will need a bigger sweet spot and may add a centre speaker to fill in a bit. 

 

JLTi do a 205 upgrade, it has a great chip but it has a few weaknesses through the output stage from what I gather. However in stock form it was way better than a $2400 AVR. 

Edited by DrSK
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