I have been thinking about my near-future setup and was wondering how to get the best multichannel music + home theatre experience but keeping for now my old AVR.
For the moment I envision the following:
source 1: network connected NUC running Roon -> HDMI to AVR
source 2:
Panasonic DP-UB9000 -> HDMI to
LG 4K TV + AVR
AVR:
Yamaha DSP-Z7 -> preouts to LCR + SW ; ->
SL,SR,SBL,SBR internally amplified
External power amp: monoblock for
C speaker
L+R and SW are active speakers
(bold = already in my possession)
In this configuration I can use Roon for bass management and advanced EQ which means I can switch the AVR to Pure Direct to maximise it’s performance.
Looking at how I could do better, the Okto8 Pro DAC looks interesting. I imagine two different ways of integrating it to the system:
1) NUC -> USB -> Okto8 -> 7.1 DSP-Z7 analog input (pure direct) -> speakers
2) NUC -> USB -> Okto8 -> 8 channel switch -> L+R+SW active speakers / monoblock to C speaker / 7.1 DSP-Z7 analog input for surrounds
solution 1) would be the easiest to implement but I am afraid of limiting the performance gain by going through the AVR even if staying In the analog domain?
solution 2) is more complicated but should unleash maximum performance for the LCR channels. However the surrounds will be limited by the AVR and the volume control gets more complicated as the AVR will have to be set to a fixed volume?
Of course a third solution would be to add a 4 channel external amp for the surrounds and run the AVR in preamp mode only, enabling full switching with the Okto8 and enabling maximum performance ?
On top of these sources I also have an LP turntable which is connected to the AVR and I want to buy a pair of good headphones.
In the future (in about a year or so) I will switch to a modern 3D-Audio AVR or processor (maybe a Denon X-8500H) and add 4 active height speakers.
Any feedback and other suggestions appreciated
