2. amps-preamps
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Picking an amplifier

I have the following speakers:
NHT 2.1 Front LR 200W @ 6ohms
NHT AC1 Center 150W @ 8 ohms
NHT SW2 Subwoofer 200W @ 8 ohms
The rear speakers are inconsequential (and boxed up) they might come out to play when I move to bigger digs.
I’ve been using NHTs 214s and 216s, (think lightbulbs) but the market is drying up. I remain unconvinced they are worth the shipping & costs to repair.
My (current) short list of replacement amps:
Outlaw Audio model 770 7 (7 channels)
Bryston 9B ST (5 channels) (2 years left on warranty)
Parasound 5125 (5 channels)
The budget is $1000, I have located sources for all three at or below $1000.
Any/all discussion of suitability, repair outlook, and peanut shells welcome. From a listening perspective, I've been fine with the NADs, but am priced out of the newer models. Nuts, I might even repair the NADs if I find the right person with the skills & tools.

shalmaneser
shalmaneser OP
62 posts
 
Yes, that's my sense of humor. 
As for the Krell, the chip is only part of the story - otherwise they would all sound the same, would be a good deal less expensive, and we all would be running PC cards like the STX II. I found the B&H listing. Still mulling over the following: 
I'm holding off at least till the Anthem amp gets here to do some A/B testing with the current system. Still kicking around PC card versus pre/pro. The litmus test for the pre/pro is quality of sound over the card. It appears that the card holds its own in most catagories, but comes up short in catagories such as soundstage. Secondarily will be Bluray formats - still getting up to speed on how who is releasing what music formats on bluray. Back in the dark ages, when Fleetwood Mac released The Dance on DVD, my state of the art Pioneer LD-DVD, just a few months old, needed rechipping to handle it. 
The anthem 50 pops up occasionally, sales range from 800 to over $1k. There may be opportunity there - it looks to me like prices in the component market are softening. 


auxinput
2,920 posts
 

Hey there, I totally understand wanting to wait and do things one at a time.

It appears that the card holds its own in most catagories, but comes up short in catagories such as soundstage.

You might be reading about the card's analog output.  I am guessing this is due to the op amps used (STX II uses the MUSES op amps, the original ST/STX used the LM4562 op amps).  The soundstage would be improved by upgrading them to something like OPA2211 or AD797, but that's not what you would be using the card for.  You would only use the card for digital COAX output.  As far as I know, this is the best solution that supports Windows 10.  There are other cards, but they are older and limited to Windows 7 (such as M-Audio) or they might not have a proper COAX (using a 1/8" plug for spdif), or they are insanely expensive like the RME Audio card at $1,000.

Secondarily will be Bluray formats - still getting up to speed on how who is releasing what music formats on bluray.

No problem.  As I said, you would need an HDMI interface for the bluray audio formats.  HDMI is the only licensed interface that will support Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA formats.  You could do this by getting a video card with HDMI output.  I read a little that VLC will support audio through the HDMI output.  Other players, such as JRiver or PowerDVD, should support it to.

If you used COAX or optical output, the player software would have to down-convert the Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD MA to the older compressed Dolby Digital or DTS formats before sending the bitstream data out.  COAX will still support 2-channel PCM audio up to 24/192.

auxinput
2,920 posts
 
By the way, I use a Xonar Essence ST (PCI version).  I have played around with upgrading op amps and this definitely improves the audio.  However, I am using the Essence card just to do digital COAX output to my external DAC.  I do not have any problems with soundstage and the audio is excellent!  At this point, the sound quality would depend on the DAC or pre/pro used.
shalmaneser OP
62 posts
 
auxinput: Have you seen this review? Unfortunately they used headphones. Looking forward to your take on it.  http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/high-end-pc-audio,3733-18.html
shalmaneser OP
62 posts
 
People after my heart... 
"... Since HDMI carries only digital data, streaming these high resolution formats amounts to pulling the digital bits off the Blu-Ray disc and outputting them via HDMI — a simple task that could, should, and probably will soon be done by most... "

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Xonar_HDAV
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