If the Stereo 70s only had some form of Audyssey, I may have kept my order in place. If there's a sensible solution to implement proper room correction, then I may be persuaded...
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Marantz Cinema 70s AVR Review
- Thread starter amirm
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If the Stereo 70s only had some form of Audyssey, I may have kept my order in place. If there's a sensible solution to implement proper room correction, then I may be persuaded...
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So you see the 70 as a very good processor for price vs performance?
Absolutely, based on measurements I have seen, I am no longer concerned about the mediocre dac chips used, because as @GXAlan mentioned many times, it is the low level output SINAD performance that matters for people like me who never listen to anywhere close to 10-20 dB below reference, so to me the Cinema 70, Stereo 70, DRA-900H will be good for preamp/processor use.
Instead of waiting for the Marantz Stereo 70 to go on sale, I have put the Denon DRA-900H in my Amazon cart while thinking about whether to "buy".
What do you guys think, should I do it?
My application will be stereo two channel, mainly with my notbook PC running DLBC.
For $763, CAD, that is about USD 570, I have never seen that kind of price before, not even for the DRA-800H. Amazon does not say "sale", so I wonder if they somehow got a huge volume discount.
I am reading the owner's manual now, and so far I can see anything different than the Stereo 70 except it is not slimline. I actually think it may measure slightly better than the Stereo 70 because iirc, the Stereo 70, unlike the previous model NR1200, that to me does not help in my application at all, only hurt, potentially.
What do you guys think, should I do it?
My application will be stereo two channel, mainly with my notbook PC running DLBC.
For $763, CAD, that is about USD 570, I have never seen that kind of price before, not even for the DRA-800H. Amazon does not say "sale", so I wonder if they somehow got a huge volume discount.
I am reading the owner's manual now, and so far I can see anything different than the Stereo 70 except it is not slimline. I actually think it may measure slightly better than the Stereo 70 because iirc, the Stereo 70, unlike the previous model NR1200, that to me does not help in my application at all, only hurt, potentially.
No Audyssey with the Denon, I assume? Because that is tempting... could one add a miniDSP to implement some form of EQ?
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No, nothing at all but I don't need it because I will use DLBC anyway. Yes you can add a minidsp but there is no point. I actually have a minidsp 2X4HD hooked up with my windows and my preamp/power amp but I only use it for crossover, so if I get the Denon, I will remove the minidsp that doesn't add value for my setup, only add distortions.
If no one has anything negative to say about the DRA-900H, I will likely proceed with "buy" by the end of the day, for C$763, the risk is quite low vs C$1,299 for the Marantz Stereo 70, that a difference of C$605 tax in. As much as I prefer the Stereo 70's size, look and weight, I can't justify C$605 more.
I did try search for reviews but there are hardly anything worth reading. There are a 20 reviews on Crutchfield, all 5 stars, the only 1 one star rating given is useless, the person simply say "did not do what i had hoped for returning it". Amazon got a bunch but were for the DRA-800H, that we already know isn't too good, no preamp mode, and no pre outs, the 900 H has both features.
I did try search for reviews but there are hardly anything worth reading. There are a 20 reviews on Crutchfield, all 5 stars, the only 1 one star rating given is useless, the person simply say "did not do what i had hoped for returning it". Amazon got a bunch but were for the DRA-800H, that we already know isn't too good, no preamp mode, and no pre outs, the 900 H has both features.
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ban25
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For your use case, why not get something like a Bluesound Powernode instead? It's a much smaller footprint and has eARC and optical inputs for your PC. The only negative in my mind is that you don't get USB input, but for a stereo/PC setup, it doesn't really seem necessary.
I looked at them before, and didn't think it has what I want, i.e. analog and hdmi inputs, can be use with DLBC/windows, bass mangement, and 2.2 or 2.1 preouts. Will take another look in case they actually have things I want. Price is a factor too, at USD 570, the Denon is hard to beat
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I am going to try this wiim amp have anyone heard of this. I got a gift card that I applied to it..so it's like 175. It's size and features seem really interesting and would do almost everything but room coterrectiom. It's I bought a used 3045d amp from Safe and Sound Audio that had similar features and it died right away. Maybe I should stick with the larger ab amps.
What would one use to EQ speakers and subwoofer with either the Stereo 70s or the Denon DRA-900H? I'm also looking at the NAD C3050 (which does have Dirac, but no HDMI inputs for my source devices: cable, PS5, RPi and Switch).
Also, the price of the DRA-900H has jumped up to $926 on Amazon...
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As I said, I would use DL with BC and windows, or MacOS. I only need to use the DRA-90H or Stereo's 2.1 preamp/dac, the power amp will be external. I already have DLBC, all paid for.
And how would you get the corrections from DLBC to the 900H? I'm used to having everything bult into the system, so external DSP is something I'm not familiar with so much.
Also, I just saw that the price of the DRA-900H jumped up to $926...
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The notebook PC window or MacOS will take care of that. Basically, everything the runs on Win10 win 11 or MacOS will work. The one thing I am not 100% sure about the D or M is a) will DL be able to ping/ie send the chirp to the subout, and b) will the sub out be active in direct mode. b) is nice to have but a) is a must, if that does not work, I will have to return the receiver. Cinema 70 or the AVR-X1800H will work for sure, but I prefer the DRA and Cinema's differential dac implementation. If that's work well enough, I can sell some of my desktop dacs.
It's too bad that there don't seem to be any DRA or NR 2 ch receivers users who use them with DLBC, so no one has answered my questions. The only way for me to find out seems to be to buy one. I can try and ask tech support but I don't they have the right answers or even understand my questions.
I just checked, I had it in my cart and it had been at $763 until just now. May be it was a mistake that they finally caught. Well then, I guess I'll waiting for other opportunities.
ban25
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Ah, so if you don't need amplification, then a Node would do better. You get the same inputs (optical, eARC), stereo pre-outs, 1 sub-out, a 12V trigger, and an IR in (or bluetooth remote if preferred). Crossover is configurable in-app. If you want a higher quality DAC, then the NODE X has the ES9028Q2M.
I think I may be having a difficult time understanding the connection chain with what you're describing. If I were to go with a stereo receiver - since they typically don't have any RC software - I would be looking for something that I could take some measurements with REW on my Mac Mini, apply whatever EQ filters I need to apply, and upload that information without requiring my Mac to be connected to my HT. What you're describing with DLBC makes it seem like you need to have a computer somewhere in the chain to get any kind of DSP for the system, which I cannot do. The NAD C3050 might fit that bill since it does have Dirac, but I would be unsure how to get all of my source devices to fit (my TV only has so many HDMI ports).
The prices of things do tend to bounce around based on demand, so it could be they had a bunch of people place some orders for it, and Amazon bumped up the price based on the demand.
The note may work, I don't like/need MQA, and don't like it's style, for some reason I tend to associate them with Bose but will take another look, price seems reasonable. Thanks anyway.
I have an AVR right now, so all of my source devices are connected to that.
There isn't enough HDMI ports on my TV to be able to connect all of my source devices. If the device you've link works, then that could be a consideration.
I understand that the simplest thing would be to stick with a traditional AVR, but I am looking at alternatives since I don't necessarily need anything more than a 2.1-capable processor.
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