Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Need sub-$700 receiver with good DAC & Phono

I am about to buy a pair of m22ti's because I really don't enjoy listening to music through my Apple Pro Speakers/Eyeballs (sidenote: "watts up" = worst pun ever). I do, however, enjoy using iTunes to navigate my otherwise rather unwieldy music collection, so I'm looking to get an Airport Express so I can stream my digital music files -- which I compress using the Apple Lossless codec or, at worst, 192 kbps AAC -- to my stereo wirelessly. The really rad thing about the Airport Express is that the audio-out mini-jack apparently somehow doubles as an optical Toslink, which brings me to my point:

I need a receiver for under $700 -– new, refurb, b-stock, doesn’t matter -- with a good DAC. Since my music collection is currently all digital and I plan to use this system almost exclusively for music (I will plug my TV into it, but I don’t watch much TV and I don't plan to do surround sound for quite a long time), it seems like the quality of the DAC is probably the most important factor to consider.

However, I do plan to buy a turntable and start buying some music on vinyl in the very near future, so it would be nice if the receiver I get has a good phono input, too.

I’ve been looking at some Denons and wonder whether the difference in the DACs between the 180x/280x and the 380x series justifies the additional cost. I've also looked at some offerings from H/K, Marantz, NAD, and so forth, but I am very interested in any other recommendations, too.

check the Onkyo 801.. it has phono, high DAC rate, and has the 'netcard' feature that can be linked directly to your computer..

look up its specs on the onkyo website and see if it has what you need.. you can find it online for around $600-$700 bucks. good luck.

bigjohn

Try the Yamaha RX-V1400 - It's got good (192khz/24 bit) DACs in it and a phono input jack.

It retails for $799 - but you'll never pay that online.

Or you could look for a Denon 985 which is the equivalent to the 2805 but is a little cheaper as it's for sale at less boutique like stores. It is however the exact same receiver as the 2805 and comes with the setup mike. I've seen it on E-Bay for less than $600 US.

Josh, first welcome, and Go Blue! Next, don't worry about DACs; as Alan and others have pointed out they've developed to the point of overall excellence and are available to manufacturers for about $1 each in OEM quantities.

The receivers that Adrien and Lorenzo have suggested would be excellent choices in your price range. The Denon 985 is identical(except it comes only in silver)to the 2805 at a lower price. The Yamaha 5790 is essentially the same as the 1400, again at a lower price.

Thanks, everyone, for your help. After some more research, I have almost decided to get a refurbished Denon 1804 since it does everything I need and can be had for around $300, leaving more money for music.

However, I'm still a bit unsure on the DAC issue. I've read here and elsewhere that all DACs are effectively created equal, but it doesn't seem like that would apply across different classes of DACs. For example, the Denon 1804 has a 24 bit/96 khz DAC, whereas the 3805 and several of the Onkyo models I looked at have 24 bit/192 kHz DACs. I am aware that CD (and even HDCD) audio is well below the quality of these DACs, but will there be any real quality difference between these two classes of DACs with other audio sources I may use in the future (vinyl, SACD, DVD-Audio)?

Also, the Apple Airport Express isn't shipping till mid-July and I'm itching to get this system, so I'm considering getting the Xitel Pro Hi-Fi Link instead. It will require me to run wire from my computer to my receiver, but I'm going to have to do that anyway to get a video signal to my TV from my iMac. Plus, it's cheaper and it comes with a ridiculous amount of wire. The reviews I've found seem quite good, but have any of you had any experience with this product? Is there any reason to believe the optical wire included could somehow be of a lower quality (whatever that means) than wire I would purchase elsewhere?

Oops, I forgot to enter the URL in the above link to the Xitel Pro Hi-Fi Link.

Hi Josh - welcome. Glad to have your presence here, and I'm very interested in your project.

I can't really help you with the DAC question. Sorry.

However, I can enthusiastically attest to the feature set and build quality of the Denon 1804. I am very well pleased by mine. Likewise Axiom speakers - no regrets whatsoever.

Thanks for the link on the Xitel thing. Keep us posted!

Hiya Josh. Welcome to Axiomville. You might check ecost, authorized Denon etailer. They have the 2803 for $425 and the 3803 for $550 (est). Both are steals at those prices. I moved from an 1803 to a 3803. No real reason other than I wanted the 3803. If you want to save a few $$$, the 1804 should be fine.

I don't know if you'll be able to take advantage of any superior DACs using that Apple box. The audio comes only from 2.5 mm headphone jack. I can't imange that you'll get REALLY clean audio from that, though you can probably use adapter cables to an analog RCA input on the receiver.

Another option would be to use a USB enabled receiver. I have a pioneer elite 45TX that has a USB port. I've hooked up my laptop to that port and Windows recoginizes the receiver. I run Jukebox or WM player on the laptop and the sound comes thru the USB into the reciever. Pretty slick. The 45TX is now replaced by the 53TX, I gotta imagine you can get that for under $700 online. Or try DocDVD on the avsforum. He can get one as an authorized dealer at a great price. Authorized means your warranty is in tact.