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Krell S1200 or Yamaha CXA5100?

These 2 seem to be close in used price 1500 for Yamaha and 2K for basic S1200 Krell.  I am looking for best quality performance through HDMI DTS MA and Dolby TRU HD. I am using a Panasonic UB900 which seems to be a good digital transport compared to the other BR players I"ve had and since it has dual HDMI outs I don't care about video capabilities of the processor and don't care about the atmos feature since I'm only using 5.1 speaker setup. Just audio from HDMI is mainly all I'm concerned about.
nak127
nak127 OP
9 posts
 
Thanks for detailed thorough overview of the equipment. I knew 8802 was trop notch but thought it was hovering in the 3K range which is out of ,my ballpark. If I had that much to spend Id probably get a non 4k foundation since I've heard it's best out there. . I do prefer the HTS type sonic signature for movies just not as much for 2 channel. That's one reason I had considered Yamaha-had compared a Yamaha rx-a3010 in preamp mode to the HTS on movies. In regular DTS and dolby the Krell killed it but when I put Yamaha with the Hi res audio stuff it was almost dead even HTS winning by a hair. So with Hi Res but basically same preamp section as HTS the 1200 sounds like the one to get for me. I could run through 250P in theater mode if I don't like 2 channel as much as old ones. I'm also decent at working on Krell processor and CD stuff if it has problem but not so much on the Denon/Marantz.
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

By the way, the bugs I mentioned above are for the newer "3D" version of the S1200, which has an HDMI 1.4 board (same as 707). 

I don't know if this affects the older non-3D version of the S1200, which had the HDMI 1.3 board.  These two versions also have completely different firmware.

auxinput
2,920 posts
 

Ah, when you send hi-res audio to the HTS 7.1 using the digital COAX input, the Krell will automatically down-convert any sampling rate to a maximum of 48Khz before sending it to the DAC. Both 24/96 and 24/192 are downconverted to 24/48. The 24/88.2 and 24/176.4 are down-converted to 24/44.1. This could be the factor of why the HTS was similar to the Yamaha receiver.

The S1200 has this same behavior through the digital COAX input. However, when you play hi-res audio such as 24/96 from a bluray player and send it through HDMI using a "HDMI A" configuration on the Krell S1200, the Krell will receive and do DAC conversion on the full hi-res sampling rate.

Just for your information, many receivers and processors will downconvert sampling data to 48khz anyways because it’s internal DSP bus is limited to 48Khz communications. This can be happening even though the receiver/processor is displaying "24/96" or "24/192". It’s a little known fact.

There are a few HT processors out there that will truly do full bandwith DAC processing. Bryston SP3 is one of them. I think the Krell S1200 could be another.

nak127 OP
9 posts
 
Yes I realize this. What I was saying is the 16bit DTS on Krell sounded about same as the 24bit DTSMA signal on Yamaha and when comparing apples to apples (both DTS only) the Krell won easily. I'm sure due to much better gain stages of Krell. I think this particular Yamaha can take up to a full 192khz and really do it-I remember reading about it somewhere. Higher end Yamaha's receivers are not slouches on DSP just not great preamps (older Z9 being the exception).
nak127 OP
9 posts
 
Just thought I'd give a late update to direction I went here. I ended up going with Yamaha CX-A5000 since after doing research it was about same unit as 5100 minus the Atmos and a few other features I didn't care about. The CX-A5000 also has comprehensive Internet radio section which was discontinued on the 5100. It was also about 500 bucks cheaper and I think excellent value for a grand. When using this as a HT processor it easily bests anything I've ever heard although I haven't heard anything newer than it so just wanted to be clear about that. I did see in some reviews that the 5100 did match the high end Marantz in HT just not in 2 channel so guess you pay the extra money to have both. I was pleasantly surprised at the 2 channel of this unit. It was much better than their 3030 receiver which has some of the same chips as this unit. Much smoother than that receiver which I thought a bit bright. Compared in 2 channel to the Krell AVS the Krell does beats it although the Yamaha is still very good. I never got to hear a S1200 which I probably would have preferred but just went this route due to price and good reviews I've seen. .
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