How many of you can play MC flac files directly?

[HomerJAU]

My Receiver does not have HDMI input, Only SPDIF or Mch Analogue inputs, I could get a good 6ch analogue sound card for the Kodi box but I don't believe the difference will be audible, I'm a Hi-Rez audio skeptic!

It's not so much of a pain as I've written linux shell scripts to take Flac's, DVDA Iso's & SACD Iso's and automattically convert to DTS(sd) Wav's and also DTS(hd) AVCHD Iso's I can play on the BluRay players 192kHz analogue outputs

The world of discs I left behind along time ago

Since this thread is about playing MCH files, I’m going recommend you find an AVR with HDMI to play your hires lossless files. Honestly, I couldn’t think of anything worse than dealing with hundreds of discs, loading, shuffling. It’s just so eighties

 

[gene_stl]

Time for a USB, firewire, or thunderbolt connecting audio interface.

There are a few such things , mostly professional.
You can find info on them over at Audio Science Review. The ones I am thinking of are the Okto Research ones and also RME ADI pro. There are probably others too. I only keep a "lite" awareness of them because I am not in a big rush to run out and drop the money on them , but may do so eventually. There are even lower priced ones that probably don't measure as perfectly as the aforementioned ones but you probably can't hear a lot of difference because there are a lot of them that measure really well without actually being the best ones. Even the Okto Research and RMI considering they measure unbelievably well, don't even bump the scale needle of "audiophool pricing".

 

[jimfisheye]

Some words on audio interfaces...

About 20 years ago there was almost night and day difference in DA converter quality. You either bought Apogee or Prism or you had a blanket over your speakers. The consumer home receivers during the time had the 'blanket over the speakers' quality going on or worse.

Starting about 10 years ago, even the modest professional audio interface models all have very high quality AD and DA converters. Good luck picking the converter out in a shootout anymore. And that's in a treated room with excellent speakers and balanced audio connections all around between devices. A lot of the consumer home receivers are still in blanket land but a budget pro interface is shockingly affordable. The interfaces by the likes of Tascam, MOTU, Focusrite, and Presonus should not be overlooked. Might be the best $100 you spent in years on your sound system. If you're already in the audiophile club with boutique gear, Apogee, Prism, and RME have a number of choices.

The converters in the more frugal interfaces will still have that extra bit of clean at HD sample rates vs SD. Boxes like Apogee or Prism will sound every bit as good at SD sample rates. (It's part of what you pay for!) Again, good luck picking that out of a shootout in ideal conditions. SD can still be prone to edge cases and generational issues. HD is bulletproof.

An audio interface is kind of aimed at recording musicians and as such it will also have inputs and AD stages. You could just buy for the output stages and have better sound than most home receivers deliver and still save a lot of money.

There's a lot of grifter fare out there in the big box stores like Worst Purchase. You could spend thousands and come home with pure garbage like soundbars and restricted format disc players. And even though I made the comment about average converter quality being magnitudes better nowadays, somehow the Worst Purchase products really surprise you with the low mark of quality they achieve.

Note that one of the specs in an audio interface is how low of latency you can achieve from input -> through the computer -> to the output. This is a concern for live sound and live performance. The thunderbolt and older firewire models have lower latency. This is meaningless for playing back pre-recorded music! You don't need to shop for that for a playback-only system.

 

[ssully]

The real catch-22 is the consumer surround receivers that were/are made with literally no discrete surround capable input. Such models ONLY have a SPDIF or TOSLINK digital input and can ONLY receive lossy dts or dolby encoded surround. Crap like this really was sold! Crap like this is STILL sold! It's aimed at people only watching movies and considered plenty good enough for those soundtracks. And you're kind of screwed if you want to move forward and listen fully to your discrete media. Time for a USB, firewire, or thunderbolt connecting audio interface.

What AVRs being marketed today lack HDMI?

 

[quicksrt]

What AVRs being marketed today lack HDMI?

The older ones I saw lacking HDMI had six analogue inputs to make up for that.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

What AVRs being marketed today lack HDMI?

None, really.

The older ones I saw lacking HDMI had six analogue inputs to make up for that.

Some of them but not all.

 

[Owen Smith]

My problem is modern AVRs are enormous. I'm using an Arcam AVR350 with the multi channel analogue ins fed from an Oppo 95. I'd like to replace the AVR with one with HDMI audio in. But the audio quality I'm currently getting is excellent so I can't buy any old rubbish. And every time I look I find all modern AVRs are far too large, I literally cannot fit anything in that is larger than the AVR350.

Why isn't there some manufacturer making something smaller? I'm willing to consider something with Class D power amps, my Dynaudio Xeo 3 remote speakers with them sound excellent.

 

[quicksrt]

I'm doing Oppo 105D six chans of luscious analogue into an old Denon. It just sounds wonderful and more liquid and musical than the Onkyo I was previously using, And the Onkyo sounded great until I compared back to back. In fact the Onkyo might have a cleaner phono pre or something....., I just like vinyl out of the Onkyo and multi-channel out of the Denon. In fact I'd not expect vinyl to get better out of any other AVRs, maybe an old but higher end Yamaha? I don't have the bucks to spend on really high end, I am tapped out from media purchases. I do love saving hundreds by not going for the latest thing new.

 

[HomerJAU]

@quicksrt Maybe try and audition an updated AVR which may have a better phono stage? Vinyl is on the ascension, it’s quite possible someone has put more effort into implementing a decent phono preamp?

 

[HomerJAU]

Why isn't there some manufacturer making something smaller?

Can you define smaller? Is it height, width or depth that’s the issue?

 

[Owen Smith]

Can you define smaller? Is it height, width or depth that’s the issue?

Height and depth, the Arcam AVR350 is literally the largest thing I can squeeze in. It's too close to the shelf above it really for heat dissipation, and it already hangs over the back of the rack. I could tolerate about 50mm wider, but it's a standard width and everything is likely to be that width anyway.

 

[quicksrt]

@quicksrt Maybe try and audition an updated AVR which may have a better phono stage? Vinyl is on the ascension, it’s quite possible someone has put more effort into implementing a decent phono preamp?

I’m sticking with analogue inputs for now, as I have three DVD-A / SACD players connected through a switcher box. Video goes directly to TV with HDMI connection.

I’m going to try an updated newer AVR but it’s still going to be an old one, I think a Yamaha, as I like what I have heard. And used it will cost me peanuts on the dollar.

Did you know that some newer AVRs digitize the phono input signal? That is true especially for more recent models. They think they are doing you a favor there. Oh and another thing I just don’t think analogue phono preamps took a giant leap in quality from say 1999 to 2020. They already sounded great and improvements in general come from cartridges and speakers once you hit a good high quality level. My Denon is a flawed dogged unit.

 

[PmikeK]

If you can play foobar to receiver 7.1, give me a bell, I have something for you.

 

[jaybird100]

None, really.

Some of them but not all.

There's no reason why they can't include multichannel analog inputs, along with the HDMI's. There are a lot of us out here who have older DVD-Audio/SACD players that we want to keep using. It doesn't take much to include those analog connections. And, while we're at it, let's see more receivers with phono inputs, too. Records are making a comeback, and it would be nice not to have to use a separate phono stage.

 

[Owen Smith]

There's no reason why they can't include multichannel analog inputs, along with the HDMI's. There are a lot of us out here who have older DVD-Audio/SACD players that we want to keep using. It doesn't take much to include those analog connections. And, while we're at it, let's see more receivers with phono inputs, too. Records are making a comeback, and it would be nice not to have to use a separate phono stage.

We're not a large enough market for it to be worth the manufacturers having such a model. For most customers the multi channel analogue inputs will never be used, so just subtract from profits.

 

[marpow]

We're not a large enough market for it to be worth the manufacturers having such a model. For most customers the multi channel analogue inputs will never be used, so just subtract from profits.

This is the back of my receiver. I use the 7.1 coax section in the middle, this takes the info from my Exasound38 DAC. Plus plenty of HDMI if I want.

 

[skherbeck]

This is the back of my receiver. I use the 7.1 coax section in the middle, this takes the info from my Exasound38 DAC. Plus plenty of HDMI if I want.
View attachment 46746

Wow!! What a gorgeous, frightening site!

 

[Owen Smith]

This is the back of my receiver. I use the 7.1 coax section in the middle, this takes the info from my Exasound38 DAC. Plus plenty of HDMI if I want.

That's a McIntosh, way too expensive for most of us I suspect. That's the kind of manufacturer that can afford to fit multi channel inputs.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

This is the back of my receiver. I use the 7.1 coax section in the middle, this takes the info from my Exasound38 DAC. Plus plenty of HDMI if I want.
View attachment 46746

Audio hardware porn

 

[Kal Rubinson]

That's a McIntosh, way too expensive for most of us I suspect. That's the kind of manufacturer that can afford to fit multi channel inputs.

It's not the manufacturer. Its the target market and the price. Here's my Marantz: