[jpelg]

With the proliferation of some very nice DAC's inside HT receivers these days, I've started to wonder if it makes any sense to purchase a quality HT receiver with the necessary digital inputs, and use it strictly as a source for a headphone system?

As in the thread title, I'm wondering who uses an HT receiver as only a DAC in their headphone system? At what point does it make financial and/or functional sense if the use is limited to as a DAC?

Discuss. Points earned for real-world examples.

 

[lordsegan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpelg /img/forum/go_quote.gif With the proliferation of some very nice DAC's inside HT receivers these days, I've started to wonder if it makes any sense to purchase a quality HT receiver with the necessary digital inputs, and use it strictly as a source for a headphone system? As in the thread title, I'm wondering who uses an HT receiver as only a DAC in their headphone system? At what point does it make financial and/or functional sense if the use is limited to as a DAC? Discuss. Points earned for real-world examples.

How do you use it as only a DAC? Line-outs to a headphone amp? I am not even sure if my HT has line outs..

 

[tuoppi]

I don't know how good DAC HT receivers have, but in your case you would be getting a lot of features that you don't use and those features take a slice from the receivers budget.

 

[jpelg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsegan /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am not even sure if my HT has line outs..

Possibly fixed tape-outs, or otherwise analog pre-outs.
Quote:

Originally Posted by tuoppi /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't know how good DAC HT receivers have, but in your case you would be getting a lot of features that you don't use and those features take a slice from the receivers budget.

My thought is that you might get a really good DAC that, through economies of quantity manufacturing, may be price competitive or better than dedicated DAC's, even if you don't use the other features.

 

[DaveBSC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpelg /img/forum/go_quote.gif My thought is that you might get a really good DAC that, through economies of quantity manufacturing, may be price competitive or better than dedicated DAC's, even if you don't use the other features.

Nope! Think about where the money is going. Modern receivers are stuffed full of crap, auto EQ systems, 7 channel amplifiers, DSPs, video scaling chips, etc. There's only so much money to go around, so the DAC section is going to suffer badly.

HT receivers are very much "Jack of all trades" components. If you want high quality two channel, you buy an integrated amp or separates. If you want high quality surround, you buy a SSP and a multichannel. If you want high quality scaling, you buy a video scaler. If you want high quality d-to-a, you buy a DAC. If you want a component that stuffs all of those things into one box and does none of them particularly well, you buy a receiver.

 

[The Monkey]

jpelg, good thread idea. Before I got my Parasound 1100, I was very tempted by a Parasound P/DD 1500 (that's the Dolby decoder HT version). It's got the nice chipses, so I figured that it would be at least close to the D/AC 1500, but I lost the darn auction. Someone around these parts compared the 1500 DAC to the 1500 DD, I'll try to recall who that is.

Regardless, despite some of the opinions expressed above, if it's executed well, there's no reason a quality HT receiver could not also serve as a satisfying standalone DAC.

And I love DACs...

 

[moodyrn]

Some ht receivers do have very good dacs. But I wouldn't purchase one just to use as a dac. I have a pioneer elite receiver, and I would say that it's as good as a 500.00 dac(based on the dacs I've owned). But that receiver is a 1500.00 receiver. On the other hand, 1500 would get me a much, much better dac. A 500 receiver may be on par with a 100-200.00 dac at best. So if you already have a high quality receiver, then it makes sense to also use the line out(if you have one) on a headphone amp, but it would be a wast to solely purchase one for a dac.

 

[jpelg]

[size=xx-small]Putting my money where my mouth is[/size]

Based on some of the intial responses to this thread, this post may constitute absolute heresy. However, last week I picked up a Harman Kardon 3490 receiver. It has a lot of neat features, particularly for a "stereo" (non-HT) receiver, including a DAC section using both RCA coax and optical SPDIF inputs.

Here's a pic from a review on Audiogon:

(image from Audiogon review here)

I won't duplicate that well-written & succinct review, or a few others spread around the 'Net. Suffice to say for now that it sounds pretty nice, operating soley as a DAC to my headphone setup. Actually, it's also being used as a phono stage for my TT too, also feeding my headphone amp. Sweet!

More later, if anyone cares.

 

[ciphercomplete]

I don't use it as a primary but my Harmon Kardon 254 has a excellent DAC, it caught me by surprise. My monarchy dac is being repaired right now and I plugged my transport into the Harmon and wow! It lacks a little detail and soundstage depth though.

 

[jpelg]

Thanks for the quick acknowledgement, CC!

Detail seems pretty good to me, except for maybe the deepest bass. There was a big improvement in some slightly excessive brightness & grain going away after 24-48hrs of burn-in. Soundstage & texture are helped quite a bit by a Yaqin CD-3 tube buffer using a pair of 6SN7's in between the receiver & my headphone amp.

 

[MisterMoJo]

I can use my Denon receiver as a dac, but it only outputs to the attached speakers. It won't do optical or coax in and then spit it out the analog (tape) out. I could use the headphone jack, but then it wouldn't be just a dac, would it? I don't know what dac it has (1708 receiver) but it sounds pretty good. Otherwise, I would do just that. If anyone knows what dac my receiver uses, I would like to know, too!

 

[lextek]

I use a B&K Ref 30 built in DAC with my Airport Express or Macbook optical. It's my HT set-up too.

 

[haloxt]

There's probably a lot of difference in receiver DAC quality, but one thing is for sure, all of them are going to be better than the computer motherboard integrated sound card

. If someone doesn't want to get a dac or get an amp he might try his luck with a used receiver, people often sell them cheap because they think newer models obsolete older ones.

 

[Fidelity Castro]

I´m using an older Harman Kardon AVR 5500 and not knowing this forum i´d never thought of getting or upgrading the DAC. It just sounds good, sometimes playing music really loud i think that a bit less forwardness and brightness would be pleasable having neutral to analytical speakers. Afaik the unit has built in AKM´s and Cirrus Logic parts and with the impressions of DAC´s using AKM like valab premium or Stello i conclude that this forwardness in sound is just their signature.

In the german hifi scene ( i´m living there ) older Harman AVR´s are loved by AV people sounding very good in stereo ( for an AVR ). I bought it for araound 250 bucks second hand and got a powerful Amp, nice DAC and of course multi channel capabilities ( i downgraded my setup to stereo though ). I never compared my AVR with a dedicated DAC but i can say that the AVR sounds far better in any regard then a old XFI music soundcard or connecting my sansa clip with an Y chinch directly to the AVR amp section.

possibly soon i´ll test it against a HLLY DKMIV DAC wich will be brought by somebody who´s interested how my setup sounds after we connected ina german forum and live in the same city. I´m really looking forward to this hour of truth. I´ll give a feedback here if anybody is interested in this comparison

 

[pcf]

I was using a Meridian 565 and later a 561 surround sound processor as a DAC for music listening. Nothing wrong with the sound at all.