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Best AV Receiver for headphones (watching movies) Denon, Onkyo, HK, Yamaha, Pioneer??

post #1 of 17
11/12/11 at 4:50am
Thread Starter 

 

Hey,

 

I've got a good dac/amp that I use for music along with my headphones, but the unit doesn't decode dolby digital or DTS so movies don't have that depth that I want.

 

I recently purchased a Yamaha RX-V471 5.1 channel receiver with Silent Cinema to try the headphone out (some reviewers compared the Silent Cinema verses Dolby Headphone and I guess the Yamaha's were preferred..)

 

Now, I run my PS3 through the receiver for blu-rays and the occasional game, but I'm not amazed with the Yamaha, I was wondering if anyone else has been through this situation and what current systems they recommend. From reading specs, the $300-400 receivers are all pretty similar and none of them, except for Yamaha put any emphasis on explaining the benefits of their headphone out (at least on their websites) and I couldn't find too many forum postings about this, at least not any current ones.

 

Thanks.

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post #2 of 17
11/12/11 at 5:01am

The headphone outputs on all entry level A/V receivers are likely to be equally bad. The vast majority of the money goes to the power supply, amplifiers, and switching. The $2 that's left over goes to the headphone output.

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post #3 of 17
11/12/11 at 3:18pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveBSC View Post

The headphone outputs on all entry level A/V receivers are likely to be equally bad. The vast majority of the money goes to the power supply, amplifiers, and switching. The $2 that's left over goes to the headphone output.



Well, I have to disagree with you, while the dac/amp may not be that great for playing music through a A/V receiver, thats not what I'm using it for. I'm just using it for movies (only-not music) and it does movies much much better than my 1000 amp/dac... and thats because the A/V receiver is able to decode DTSHD and Dolby HD and translate that into 2-channels with synthetic surround (hence my headphones sound like a surround sound system instead of just two channels. No dec/amp is capable of decoding DTS/Dolby because music lovers don't care about decoding them. I really didn't either until I thought.. hmm my awesome headphones might benefit from some surround sound/better audio for movies and in my experience anything non-A/V sounds pretty awful when compared to an A/V unit for "movies." 

 

I don't know if you have had any experience comparing the two types of units for movies, or if you just posted a reply based on technical performance that you believe is the case... But, your reply wasn't that helpful to me and didn't answer my original posted question. I just want to know if anyone has experience with the receiver brands listed and which is able to reproduce true movie audio the best.. thanks.

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post #4 of 17
11/12/11 at 4:15pm

An Astro Mix-Amp might be of help to you, cheaper then a new receiver.

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post #5 of 17
11/12/11 at 4:38pm

Your really not going to get an answer here for your question. Most just don't do that in Head-Fi. I have tried using headphones with my Yamaha Silent Cinema output. You may have better luck trying to use the Yamaha as a processor and somehow route the signal to an off board amp. I never could get Silent Cinema to sound all that great going directly out. There may be some great synergy with a certain headphone that I didn't try. The amp section is a high current level amp which does not do well at headphone warmth and detail.

 

I ended up just going out of the DVD player directly to my Woo Amp. The results are far superior. Very few folks around here use AV equipment to get the sound they are looking for. Don't get me wrong, your processor in front of a multi-amp/sub/speakers system sounds fantastic decoding DTS but it's just not that great with headphones. I really love the Yamaha cinema DSPs!

 

 

Take your headphones and DVD player to a show and plug them into some amps and you may see. The Silent Cinema can only go so far. 

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post #6 of 17
11/12/11 at 4:50pm

Try asking the receiver questions on the AVSforum website, that's where i ask mine.

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post #7 of 17
11/12/11 at 5:21pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Redcarmoose View Post

Your really not going to get an answer here for your question. Most just don't do that in Head-Fi. I have tried using headphones with my Yamaha Silent Cinema output. You may have better luck trying to use the Yamaha as a processor and somehow route the signal to an off board amp. I never could get Silent Cinema to sound all that great going directly out. There may be some great synergy with a certain headphone that I didn't try. The amp section is a high current level amp which does not do well at headphone warmth and detail.

 

I ended up just going out of the DVD player directly to my Woo Amp. The results are far superior. Very few folks around here use AV equipment to get the sound they are looking for. Don't get me wrong, your processor in front of a multi-amp/sub/speakers system sounds fantastic decoding DTS but it's just not that great with headphones. I really love the Yamaha cinema DSPs!

 

 

Take your headphones and DVD player to a show and plug them into some amps and you may see. The Silent Cinema can only go so far. 


Thanks for input, I did try directly connecting my PS3 to my Peachtree but because the inputs are processed by the dac, its unable to decode DTS and Dolby and all i get is fuzz/noise. For it work I have to turn those functions off on my PS3 to get any audio output.. turning them off really hindered the audio performance. Maybe in your case the signal is going strictly though the Woo amp and avoids the processing problem allowing the PS3 does all the dac work. Might just return my receiver and use that money towards a Woo ;).

 

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post #8 of 17
11/12/11 at 5:22pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by PurpleAngel View Post

Try asking the receiver questions on the AVSforum website, that's where i ask mine.



there is little to no info about headphone outs on the AVS forum, I did some searches... I feel like most people don't really use these outputs (from the looks of it).

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post #9 of 17
11/12/11 at 6:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ahzari View Post
there is little to no info about headphone outs on the AVS forum, I did some searches... I feel like most people don't really use these outputs (from the looks of it).


Looks like there is very little market for Stereo receivers to output 5.1 out of the headphone jack.

I've looked around myself.

Yamaha appears to be the only main stream manufacturer that has 5.1 headphone output on their receivers.

I believe most PS3 users use the Astro mix-amp or Turtle Beach Earforce DSS for 5.1.

 

 

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post #10 of 17
11/12/11 at 6:33pm

Silent Cinema on Yamaha receivers is hard to beat from my direct experience. But Dolby headphone is pretty good too. I agree that good receivers that use these DSP's are better than direct 2-channel amps with headphones for movies. It's just more engaging.

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post #11 of 17
11/13/11 at 2:44am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by PurpleAngel View Post


Looks like there is very little market for Stereo receivers to output 5.1 out of the headphone jack.

I've looked around myself.

Yamaha appears to be the only main stream manufacturer that has 5.1 headphone output on their receivers.

I believe most PS3 users use the Astro mix-amp or Turtle Beach Earforce DSS for 5.1.

 

 


Went ahead and ordered the Turtle Beach Earforce DSS, going to compare it to the Yamaha Silent Cinema to see which one does a better job.. I hope the Turtle Beach unit works well, it'll save me a decent chunk of change; just worried the TB won't be a able to drive my Ultrasones too well, I don't think the amp is that great.

 



Quote:
Originally Posted by tim3320070 View Post

Silent Cinema on Yamaha receivers is hard to beat from my direct experience. But Dolby headphone is pretty good too. I agree that good receivers that use these DSP's are better than direct 2-channel amps with headphones for movies. It's just more engaging.


Thanks for the post, if Silent Cinema is one of the stronger contenders I think I'd just leave it here and keep the Yamahas... going to compare it to the TB Earforce and post some comparison for which is more "engaging," 

 

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post #12 of 17
11/13/11 at 9:19pm

What you really want here is the Smyth Realiser, nothing else is really going to compare.

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post #13 of 17
11/13/11 at 9:51pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bcwang View Post

What you really want here is the Smyth Realiser, nothing else is really going to compare.



Just looked this up.. really interesting concept but for 4k I think I'd rather use the money to get a better home theater system and accept my headphones aren't going to get that true surround sound..

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post #14 of 17
11/14/11 at 1:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ahzari View Post



Just looked this up.. really interesting concept but for 4k I think I'd rather use the money to get a better home theater system and accept my headphones aren't going to get that true surround sound..


In this case, the $4k can get you a system that sounds better than what you can get with a real surround sound system at that cost level.  It does have the disadvantage of being a system only for one.  But if you can calibrate in a world class home theater system worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, that is the sound you will get with your headphones. 

 

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post #15 of 17
11/14/11 at 2:04pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bcwang View Post


In this case, the $4k can get you a system that sounds better than what you can get with a real surround sound system at that cost level.  It does have the disadvantage of being a system only for one.  But if you can calibrate in a world class home theater system worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, that is the sound you will get with your headphones. 

 



have you tried this out, or do you own it yourself? I looked it up, there is nowhere in Socal I can try the system.

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