The Audio Source Shootout

[iaudio]

yeah,been waitin a while myself for a detailed and eloquent review courtesy venkat.was good to get impressions from sri,psycho,and others who were in attendance.oh well,the wait goes on.cheers

Rallynut, It seems all of us are missing Venkats detailed review on the audio sources, cdp vs dvdp.

Srikarkav, So why would you prefer an Oppo over DV99 or vice versa( based on audio, video performance)?

 

[srikarkav]

Hi guys,

I don't think venkat is going to give his review for this particular shoot out.But its only me.

@iaudio I have heard the DV99 and Oppo at the shoot out.With the given amp the DV 99 edged out both the Marantz CDP and the Oppo 983. I have never seen the video performance of the DV99. So cant make a comparison with the Oppo. I love the video from my Oppo 980H.Great colour combo and fine depth in the PQ.The 5.1 sound from DVDs is also great and even music CDs sound very decent thro my Onkyo AVR .But the Oppo is not as good as my Marantz CDP for music.But as an all in one player Oppo is great VFM.

cheers,
sri

 

[rallynut]

sri,thanks for the earlier inputs as well.enjoying ur setup??excellent.what happened regarding the review??esp knowing just how eloquently venkat might have put it across,not to mention the effort spent??aaargh!!recent unpleasant events leave a bad taste in everybody's mouth ??atleast for sure seem to see a lot less feedback from the more learned ones here.cant blame them,can only imagine.cmon people!!cheers

 

[srikarkav]

Hi rallynut,

You don't have to thank me for my 'impressions' on the shoot out. I know it does not amount to much:lol:.

As for as venkat, only he can answer why he has not come out with the review.I have a good guess why, but i may be totally wrong.

cheers,
sri

 

[spirovious]

well Venkat promised to give detailed rev & post pictures too.

 

[iaudio]

Hi rallynut,

You don't have to thank me for my 'impressions' on the shoot out. I know it does not amount to much:lol:.

As for as venkat, only he can answer why he has not come out with the review.I have a good guess why, but i may be totally wrong.

cheers,
sri

Sri, dont be so modest. You have been very helpful with your inputs. I asked you about the Oppo and dv99 because I came across somewhere( here in the forum itself) that they share same hardware! I am more concerned with their audio quality. If you check my signature you can see I am using my comp, laptop as source, onkyo 506 as amp, mission m33i speakers. I am not happy with the stereo performance( its only natural isnt it?) So this thread is very informative for me as to decide what should be the first component to change in my set up.

Rallynut, The recent silence on the part of many of our senior, knowledgeable members is quite unfortunate.
Venkat ji's absence here maybe due to other reasons too. Though he is quite generous in taking out time to help us on the forum, he must be busy with his own engagements, family etc. So we will wait hopefully, patiently for his inputs.

Till then Srikarkav, Psycho, sushant etc who were present can chip in with their own detailed inputs!

 

[srikarkav]

Hi iaudio,

Thank you. It is a pleasure to share what ever i have gathered at the shoot out with the forum members.

As for as your quest for a source, I will stick my neck out and say going for either a DV 99 or Oppo 980H will be a good decision. After changing my DVDP from the Philips model to the Oppo the audio cds sound very decent thro' my Onkyo.I was playing Boney M Gold yesterday evening and i could hear the entire CD.There is absolutely no fatigue. It may not match in detail and sound stage of a CDP+Stereo Amp combo.But for music CDs which have some good bass like dance rock albums my son says the Oppo+onkyo gives better results than my stereo set up.

So if you don't want to go for the CDP+AMP way the above said DVDPs are an excellent choice as an all in one player.

cheers,
sri

 

[iaudio]

Hi iaudio,

Thank you. It is a pleasure to share what ever i have gathered at the shoot out with the forum members.

As for as your quest for a source, I will stick my neck out and say going for either a DV 99 or Oppo 980H will be a good decision. After changing my DVDP from the Philips model to the Oppo the audio cds sound very decent thro' my Onkyo.I was playing Boney M Gold yesterday evening and i could hear the entire CD.There is absolutely no fatigue. It may not match in detail and sound stage of a CDP+Stereo Amp combo.But for music CDs which have some good bass like dance rock albums my son says the Oppo+onkyo gives better results than my stereo set up.

So if you don't want to go for the CDP+AMP way the above said DVDPs are an excellent choice as an all in one player.

cheers,
sri

Sri,
Retaining my Mission m33i's, which one component if i change would improve stereo music quality the most? I cant go for both together right now( cdp/source and stereo amp). So which should I go for first that would give me more improvement?
I feel a stereo amp with current speakers and laptop as source would make most improvement rather than using cdp or ca dv99 with lnkyo 506. What do you think?

 

[srikarkav]

Sri,
Retaining my Mission m33i's, which one component if i change would improve stereo music quality the most? I cant go for both together right now( cdp/source and stereo amp). So which should I go for first that would give me more improvement?
I feel a stereo amp with current speakers and laptop as source would make most improvement rather than using cdp or ca dv99 with lnkyo 506. What do you think?

Yes you are right.Going for a stereo amp will bring a smile on your face even with the laptop as the source.Lot of forum guys say mission pairs well with the Marantz amps.I think that is the one change you can do for now.

cheers,
sri

 

[iaudio]

Yes you are right.Going for a stereo amp will bring a smile on your face even with the laptop as the source.Lot of forum guys say mission pairs well with the Marantz amps.I think that is the one change you can do for now.

cheers,
sri

Yes, thats what i thought. Here in Kerala I see classified ads for sale of used Marantz stereo amps, like pm40. Gotta try to pick up a marantz that will suitably power the m33i's, which i guess is not a tough job as the speakers are sensitive enough.

 

[srikarkav]

hi,

Yes if you can get an used Marantz like the PM40, it will be an excellent choice.These vintage amps are very good indeed.But you have to make sure that it is a not a lemon of course.The only downside is, most of these amps do not come with a remote.

cheers,
sri

 

[thevortex]

Sri,
Retaining my Mission m33i's, which one component if i change would improve stereo music quality the most? I cant go for both together right now( cdp/source and stereo amp). So which should I go for first that would give me more improvement?
I feel a stereo amp with current speakers and laptop as source would make most improvement rather than using cdp or ca dv99 with lnkyo 506. What do you think?

Hmm...this one may be subjective to an extent. But if the source in itself is the same, there is not much that can be salvaged by the amplifier alone.

To test it, please see if you can borrow a CD player from a friend and listen to them with your speaker setup. With your current amplification. That should give you an accurate (reasonably) impression of which one you would love to upgrade.

One other thing. Do not think that your upgrading one thing at a time as a disadvantage. In fact that is the preferred way in the case of Hifi systems. Only then would you be able to assign the changes in sound signature to specific components. If you change too many things at a time, you dont really know what to attribute the changes to. All the best.

 

[rallynut]

iaudio,why not go for the norge amps with the missions?should be good sonically and very,very vfm.of course if ur playing thru foobar with asio/wasapi,cplay/jriver,etc you should be able to get good,eminently listenable sound.in trying to integrate a laptop into my setup,decided to get an external dac and am currently awaiting it.should be good.i found even low bitrate mp3 with foobar/wasapi sounded so 'clean' to me,unbelievable.was hoping to have posted some impressions by now unfortunately small delay in the arrival of the dac.cheers

 

[iaudio]

iaudio,why not go for the norge amps with the missions?should be good sonically and very,very vfm.of course if ur playing thru foobar with asio/wasapi,cplay/jriver,etc you should be able to get good,eminently listenable sound.in trying to integrate a laptop into my setup,decided to get an external dac and am currently awaiting it.should be good.i found even low bitrate mp3 with foobar/wasapi sounded so 'clean' to me,unbelievable.was hoping to have posted some impressions by now unfortunately small delay in the arrival of the dac.cheers

I have been quoted 6k for used PM-40s. i play high bitrate mp3s and flacs, with foobar n wasapi. But I use the analog out of my laptop, I mean, with the onboard sound I am not sure how good it is. There is clarity with well encoded rips. But I feel its the onkyo which stops the music from being 'enveloping', warm! I guess I have to check it out with a borrowed stereo amp to know for sure.

Rallynut, which Dac?

 

[dvdmk]

Look for Some used Arcams , They sound very good with the Missions. Also NAD amplifier is good with the Mission speakers.

 

[iaudio]

Look for Some used Arcams , They sound very good with the Missions. Also NAD amplifier is good with the Mission speakers.

Oh I didnt know Arcam goes well with Missions, but Arcams are hard to come by. Marantz and Nad are more common in the used market here.
Sorry for hijacking audio source thread with stereo amp discussion!

 

[rallynut]

@OP,excuse the sideline discussion.
@iaudio,the avr will always sound different from a true blue 2ch amp,so methinks it is the weakest link in ur chain(for music alone).look for used stuff if brand is important.like mentioned,nad with mission is preferred by many.try looking for a video on nad with mission on youtube .i decided to go the usb way as it was the most simple solution to me with a view of integrating my laptop into my setup.the proposed chain is toshiba a300 satellite-foobar/wasapi-usb dac-integrated-speakers.the advantage with the 'm' line i feel is the relatively high sensitivity tends not to put too much demand on amps so u should be good to go with any.they are neutral to forward spkrs so choose wisely.nad/ca/marantz would be my order of pref.norge if budget is paramount(dont discount the brand in any way pls,they offer stellar performance per paisa!).ur cables and such sorted?the planned dac is USB based-KECES DA 151 mk2,very good specs and even better user reviews.cheers

 

[iaudio]

@OP,excuse the sideline discussion.
@iaudio,the avr will always sound different from a true blue 2ch amp,so methinks it is the weakest link in ur chain(for music alone).look for used stuff if brand is important.like mentioned,nad with mission is preferred by many.try looking for a video on nad with mission on youtube .i decided to go the usb way as it was the most simple solution to me with a view of integrating my laptop into my setup.the proposed chain is toshiba a300 satellite-foobar/wasapi-usb dac-integrated-speakers.the advantage with the 'm' line i feel is the relatively high sensitivity tends not to put too much demand on amps so u should be good to go with any.they are neutral to forward spkrs so choose wisely.nad/ca/marantz would be my order of pref.norge if budget is paramount(dont discount the brand in any way pls,they offer stellar performance per paisa!).ur cables and such sorted?the planned dac is USB based-KECES DA 151 mk2,very good specs and even better user reviews.cheers

Norge is definitely on the list! I am using Eagle 16awg cable for the Missions and Bandridge mini stereo to rca to connect the laptop to onkyo. USB dac is something even I should consider as I am using my laptop and desktop as sources. Dayumn, I have to win the sweepstakes!

 

[murali_n]

Hai All,

Here is to the few pics taken during the shootout on 8-8-09 at Chennai,

Picasa Web Albums - NARAYANAN - Photos

N.Murali

 

[iaudio]

Hai All,

Here is to the few pics taken during the shootout on 8-8-09 at Chennai,

Picasa Web Albums - NARAYANAN - Photos

N.Murali

One quick question to bring the discussion back on topic:
Has anyone tried using portable media players like iPod, Creative Zen, Cowon D2, Zune, Sansa Fuze and the likes as source for their audio set up? Most of these play flac and other lossless. So hows the sound quality in comparison to other sources?

Edit: Murali thanks for posting the photos. Nice to see all.