Hello there,
I have just ordered a pair of M5HPs and now shopping for something to power those speakers. The primary objective is to deliver excellent musical experience within reasonable budget. My audio sources include a collection of CDs (most ripped to FLAC), Tidal, Spotify and Internet Radio. The basement, where M5PH will be installed, also hosts 50" TV, 4k blu-ray player and a gaming console. I'd like all of that connected to and played by a single receiver which would power the set of M5HP. We are not super-high on surround idea, though we do not exclude it in the future.
After some research I ended up with 2 potential directions:
Option "1": get a stereo amplifier with HDMI inputs and ability to play digital formats/streams. The candidates are
Denon DRA-800H and
Marantz NR1200. Denon's output is 100W and Marantz 75W. Their list of features is almost identical and both can play most of digital/streaming sources. Marantz is $100 CAD more, probably there is a reason.
Option "2": move with fully fledged AV Receiver, such as
Yamaha RX-A780 or
Denon AVR-X1600H. They are almost head-to-head though Yamaha seems to be slightly ahead in terms of inputs, supported digital formats and output power.
Since the price range of all those 4 systems is similar, the pros for stereo systems may be higher quality build, but I do not really know. The pros for AV Receiver is certainly a future opening for surround, but again, not primary goal.
Could anyone on this forum provide a helpful hint what would make most sense from the perspective of musical quality? Are AV Receivers capable of delivering the same sound experience when you downmix their output to classic stereo, or there will be a noticeable improvement going with stereo-amplifiers?
Thanks in advance!
