Best Value One Box Solution?

[wrevilo]

Hi All,

I am looking to upgrade my living room amplifier for a couple of reasons; convenience and power. I have the following requirements:

• HDMI ARC for single remote use with TV
• More power than my Denon PMA-50 (25W 8 Ohm, 50W 4 Ohm)
• Bluetooth aptX or streaming connection
• Optical input for other sources

I am considering the following devices

• NAD D 3045
• Bluesound Powernode
• Sonos Amp

I have read threads relevant to each. Any recommendation or further options to consider would be most welcome!

 

[gags11]

Check this out. If we are talking about 1 box, this comes to being one the best bang for the buck and does not give too much to anything else out there. ASR has reviewed it, and it is 2x more powerful than the Denon.

Yamaha WXA-50 MusicCast Wireless Streaming Amplifier​

Review and Measurements of Yamaha WXA-50 Streaming Amp

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Yamaha WXA-50, multi-function DAC, pre-amp, power amp, streaming and multi-room unit. It is on kind loan from a member. Even though it came out a few years ago (2016?), it is widely available. Amazon shows it costs US $478. Success of SONOS...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[abdo123]

Budget?

 

[wrevilo]

Check this out. If we are talking about 1 box, this comes to being one the best bang for the buck and does not give too much to anything else out there. ASR has reviewed it, and it is 2x more powerful than the Denon.

Yamaha WXA-50 MusicCast Wireless Streaming Amplifier​

Review and Measurements of Yamaha WXA-50 Streaming Amp

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Yamaha WXA-50, multi-function DAC, pre-amp, power amp, streaming and multi-room unit. It is on kind loan from a member. Even though it came out a few years ago (2016?), it is widely available. Amazon shows it costs US $478. Success of SONOS...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Thank you. I have seen that product and noted the positive review, but sadly it has no HDMI ARC connection for TV.

Budget?

Tricky one this. The amps that I noted are in the £600 to £850 range and I don't think I would be able to stomach any more to secure a NAD C700 for example.

 

[gags11]

If you really need an HDMI input, I would steer away from all these 2 channel Hi-Fi stuff. I would get one of the Denon receivers and call it a day. You cannot go wrong. 3700H is a great candidate.

Denon AVR-X3700H AVR Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of Denon AVR-X3700H 9.2 channel 8K Home Theater AV Receiver (AVR). It is kindly loaned to me by a local member and costs US $1,199. Visually, if you have seen one AVR, you have seen the look of the AVR-X3700H: The input selector is plastic and...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[abdo123]

If you really need an HDMI input, I would steer away from all these 2 channel Hi-Fi stuff. I would get one of the Denon receivers and call it a day. You cannot go wrong. 3700H is a great candidate.

Denon AVR-X3700H AVR Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of Denon AVR-X3700H 9.2 channel 8K Home Theater AV Receiver (AVR). It is kindly loaned to me by a local member and costs US $1,199. Visually, if you have seen one AVR, you have seen the look of the AVR-X3700H: The input selector is plastic and...

www.audiosciencereview.com

it's not a great candidate when it has the worst room correction out there.

 

[gags11]

it's not a great candidate when it has the worst room correction out there.

I understand, but others that you mentioned do not fair better in room corrections, do they?
The newer Yamaha RX-a6a has 64 bit DSP that can be tweaked in any way as a MiniDSP can, frequency, Q factor, etc. This is first for any receiver not having Dirac. So you can do your own REW measurements and input the EQ. It also produces gobs of power, and yes costs more.

Power vs THD+N into 8 Ohm

 

[abdo123]

I understand, but others that you mentioned do not fair better in room corrections, do they?
The newer Yamaha RX-a6a has 64 bit DSP that can be tweaked in any way as a MiniDSP can, frequency, Q factor, etc. This is first for any receiver not having Dirac. So you can do your own REW measurements and input the EQ. It also produces gobs of power, and yes costs more.

Power vs THD+N into 8 Ohm

View attachment 167115

It's just that the Denon's DAC chip has been changed since the AKM factory fire and the room correction is 'okay' and hasn't been updated in like a decade or so.

We need to stop blindly recommending it when there are other options and most AVRs measure the same anyway.

 

[gags11]

It's just that the Denon's DAC chip has been changed since the AKM factory fire and the room correction is 'okay' and hasn't been updated in like a decade or so.

We need to stop blindly recommending it when there are other options and most AVRs measure the same anyway.

I completely agree with you. But look, asking for 1 box doing everything was your criteria, so compromises are given. You could always spend more and increase the number of components to achieve better outcomes. You could also use the before-mentioned Yamaha WXA streaming amp with an HDMI audio extractor.

Monoprice makes good HDMI audio extractors up to 7.1 channel. It's not e-ARC though. Again, only recent AVRs support e-ARC if you need atmos / spatial audio through ARC.

Monoprice Blackbird 4K Series 7.1 HDMI Audio Extractor - Monoprice.com

This HDMI® 7.1‑Channel Audio Extractor allows you to extract the audio material from your HDMI audio/video source. It then converts the HDMI‑based audio to both Digital Optic

www.monoprice.com

 

[David Harper]

IMO any middle of the line AVR from most mainstream brands will do everything you need and do it very well. I've got a $600 yammy and I love it.

 

[wrevilo]

Thanks for all of the replies. I don't think a large AV receiver style device is the way forward in my lounge. I'll try to do more research!

 

[wrevilo]

As an update to this thread I found a good deal on a new Bluesound Powernode (£640 compared to the RRP of £850) and ordered one today. It seems like this should be pretty similar internally to the NAD C 700, which is much more expensive.

I'll update this thread with thoughts once I've received and used it.

 

[tmtomh]

It's just that the Denon's DAC chip has been changed since the AKM factory fire and the room correction is 'okay' and hasn't been updated in like a decade or so.

We need to stop blindly recommending it when there are other options and most AVRs measure the same anyway.

What would your recommendation be?