Should I upgrade my Blu-ray player now?

What does price have to do with it, Bob? The reviews I've read suggest a Marantz AV7005 does not have the same quality of sound a Bryston SP3 is capable of delivering. I decided to go analog rather than climb the slippery slope up the processor ladder from the Cary 11a, a sonically very good processor with digital bugs,, a slope that changes too frequently. Thus, I use analog from the Oppo 105 and Sony XA5400ES to the Parasound JC-2. As an alternative, the 105 can send all its channels directly to the amps.

I do agree with you that audiophiles are a superstitious lot, grabbing onto popular myths as they come along. I also agree that the transduction process, converting acoustic energy into electrical and electrical back to acoustic, is the source of most distortion.

Isn't there a saying that ignorance is bliss? Maybe I'm there.

db

Bob, a look at the versions of used Meridian pre/pros is revealing of the upgrades that have occurred along the way. I have a Proceed PAV/PDSD pair, and the idea Madrigal had was that the PDSD would be essentially a card cage into which the latest and greatest technology could be inserted. Of course, that died with Madrigal. The technology of analog preamps seem much more stable so that's where I hang my hat.

Funny thing is that I didn't notice much a difference when I moved the Oppo 105 from the Cary 11a to the Parasound JC-2, but for the Sony XA5400ES it was as though a veil had been lifted.

db

Db,

If you're correcting for ROOM INDUCED effects, the benefit of room correction shouldn't vary whether the system is good, great, greatest. Of course, that assumes that there are room induced effects to correct AND that the correction software causes no "collateral damage".

In every listening room in which I've done an A-B (+/- 6) there is no question re: the former. Others may debate the latter, but - as a practical reality - I believe that the benefits of fixing the room swamp any delta in the "native" (that is, uncorrected) performance of virtually any two pre-pros, regardless of the price delta. That judgement will surely vary from individual to individual, but I suspect that it will vary much less with increased exposure to A-B testing. I know that some who claim extensive A/B experience remain unconvinced, but I gotta confess that that always baffles me. One man's meat, I guess.

BTW, I still own a Theta Casablanca which has wonderful "native" SQ, but IMHO it can't touch the eq'd performance of the relatively inexpensive Integra AVR which replaced it in my HT room. But, hey, I can also succumb to audiophelia disease. The Theta soldiers on valiantly in a vinyl-based, multichannel, dual-use system in my den (because the cognitive dissonance of vinyl to ADC to DSP to DAC diminishes the "philosophical satisfaction" I get from LPs), but IMHO it is never going to provide the SQ I get from the less expensive replacement.

As always, YMMV.

Marty,

I discovered that I could compare the Oppo 105 direct to the amps or through the preamp by connecting one to the XLR and the other to the SE inputs of the amps, and switching between them. I left that arrangement connected so I can choose either. It occurred to me that I could do the same with a processor that had functional ARC if I could find one cheap enough to try. A used Marantz or Integra might do. Output from the 105 and 5400ES could be HDMI to the processor and analog to the preamp. I wouldn't want to digitize analog from the phono stage, so it would go only to the preamp.

Thanks for implanting the idea. Now to find an inexpensive processor.

db