Use DAC on receiver or buy external

M5

Hi all,

I currently use an Intel NUC that is connected to my receiver by HDMI.

For optimum music quality should I get an external DAC or will the dac in the receiver (Anthem MRX510) suffice? Would an external DAC provide noticeable improvements?

andy1249

What format is your music in and are there any formats the anthem cannot handle natively? For example very high res PCM or DSD?

Feeding the analog outs from an external DAC into a receiver invariably results in the analog signal being re-digitised, room correction or processing applied, and then going through the receivers own DAC, which will always degrade the signal.

So while an external DAC can be a big improvement in some situations, this is only the case if the analog out is fed directly to a power or stereo amp.

Anthem are pretty good receivers, so if the digital outs from the nuc are being handled correctly by the receiver and your not interested in formats it cannot handle, then stick with what you have.

M5

andy1249 wrote: »

What format is your music in and are there any formats the anthem cannot handle natively? For example very high res PCM or DSD?

Feeding the analog outs from an external DAC into a receiver invariably results in the analog signal being re-digitised, room correction or processing applied, and then going through the receivers own DAC, which will always degrade the signal.

So while an external DAC can be a big improvement in some situations, this is only the case if the analog out is fed directly to a power or stereo amp.

Anthem are pretty good receivers, so if the digital outs from the nuc are being handled correctly by the receiver and your not interested in formats it cannot handle, then stick with what you have.

Thanks for the reply Andy

I am using my own flac rips predominantly, the odd downloaded one too

I use XBMC using WASAPI passthrough which is a raw digital stream to the receiver IIRC

You have pretty much confirmed what I was thinking myself, I am happy enough with the sound, just wondered I i could eek a little more from the system

SachaJ

I'd say the Anthem DACs are probably well up to the job and it could be a case of diminishing returns to get an external DAC. In other words, to do better than the Anthems DACs you'd have to spend a lot of money for a small increase in clarity.

If you really want to do something I'd change the player. Have a look at the Oppo 105D Blu-ray/media player. It has excellent internal DACs - one set of DACs for the analog 7.1 out and another set for pure stereo analog outs.

Looking at just shy of £1100.
http://www.ideal-av.co.uk/ItemPages/oppo105.htm

Allan, the guy that runs Ideal AV linked above, really is brilliant to deal with.

M5

SachaJ wrote: »

I'd say the Anthem DACs are probably well up to the job and it could be a case of diminishing returns to get an external DAC. In other words, to do better than the Anthems DACs you'd have to spend a lot of money for a small increase in clarity.

If you really want to do something I'd change the player. Have a look at the Oppo 105D Blu-ray/media player. It has excellent internal DACs - one set of DACs for the analog 7.1 out and another set for pure stereo analog outs.

Looking at just shy of £1100.
http://www.ideal-av.co.uk/ItemPages/oppo105.htm

Allan, the guy that runs Ideal AV linked above, really is brilliant to deal with.

cheers sacha!

I really like the interface in XBMC and the handiness of that would likely stop me going for a media player at the moment, will keep it in mind though!

SachaJ

M5 wrote: »

cheers sacha!

I really like the interface in XBMC and the handiness of that would likely stop me going for a media player at the moment, will keep it in mind though!

As do I. I'm using XBMC as my main media player but looking to get an Oppo 103D for the projector role. The "D" model has additional video processing which I had in a stand alone unit so that's the attraction.