[JoeKickass]

   
It's bit-perfect through the digital out, so you're talking about the distinction between one digital transport and another. To the extent those differences exist, they're going to be way minor compared to the other components in the system.
 
It's actually more likely that the TV is doing some processing to the signal (this is not uncommon), if the problem is upstream.

 
Yeah I just meant the Chromecast source file audio quality, I'm not sure what they use compared to something like FLAC or bluray.
 
That's a good point about the signal passing through TV, what do you guys think of HDMI audio extractors? Do they affect the source at all?
https://www.amazon.com/Extractor-Support-TOSLINK-Converter-VHD-H2HARC/dp/B00LKF6CPG

 

[mkozlows]

Ok then. I didn't have a tv connected to it until a year ago, tho I've had the stereo for decades. I have a hinged drywall room divider where my dartboard is mounted, and that is normally in front of the tv (between my stereo speakers). Darts + music= good.

 
So I think this is a thing, too: People of a certain age are used to having a TV as a separate thing from a stereo system; people under, say, 40 have probably never owned large freestanding speakers (i.e., not computer speakers or little Bluetooth things or whatever) that weren't hooked up to their TV.
 
(People under 25 probably don't own a television.)

 

[OldRoadToad]

  Hey guys, looking for a solution to connect my newly acquired active speakers (Genelec G four's) to my TV, I've been reading and searching all over the net and eventually I got interested in the new Schiit stuff coming out soon! I knew I could find a good discussion here on them and boy was I right! 
 
I read the past 10/15 pages here and some of the things you guys talk about, I don't even have any idea what they mean lol. My setup is super simple, Chromecast to TV, play through Tidal. Optical digital output from TV to something and then pre-outs to the speakers. For that something I've tried so far a 15 year old Rotel preamp and a new packed-with-features Marantz receiver. Both sound like **** to me! Hardly any improvement over the headphone out of the TV!!
 
Do you guys think I can go with the Saga/Bifrost combo and get a good sound out of this system? Or a different combo? 
 
Cheers, 
Hamed
 
 

 
You're joking, right?  Sounds like ****?  Really?  Why not just run the optical out of your TV to an optical input on your  new receiver and then hook up some passive speakers to that receiver?   I seriously doubt what you're doing sounds bad at all.  Bring someone over that isn't an "audiophile" and listen to some music or watch TV through the Marantz and see if they tell you it sounds like poop without being told it does.  Don't ask them how it sounds, don't make faces like you're in agony.   Don't comment on the sound at all.  Just let them watch and listen and see if they say anything. But you probably will not do this.  And why is that?  You are trying to justify a purchase.  And...
 
If you need to justify a purchase you don't really need the item, you just plain old want it.   You say your setup is "super simple" and yet you want to complicate it. 
 
 
By the way, you are claiming your setup sounds like **** (one assumes you were spelling either that or crap but used **** instead)  in a thread where people are trying to make it sound like Schiit.   If it is that awful then take the feature packed receiver back and put the money toward something, anything, that will make you feel better.
 
Schiit makes fine equipment.  Let us just hope that said equipment makes you happy.
 
ORT

 

[Jack Linguini]

  One could also always have two separate systems in one listening room.
 

 
 
Only 2 systems in the living room?
 
I have a 2 channel Sansui receiver based system for radio and podcast listening.
 
A 5.2 Onkyo/PSB system hooked to my TV area.
 
And a Yamaha/Schiit/McIntosh/ELAC system for stereo listening.
 
My friends are always teasing me about how many speakers I have in the living room.
13 +2 subwoofers. Hmm... mebbe that is a bit much.
 
Also as an aside. I have no interest in a HT bypass. My 5.2 system is self contained.
My stereo setups are self contained. Very rare that I want listen to movies on my stereo setup or music on my 5.2
 
JL

 

[oryan_dunn]

Dang, you are good, that is a Panasonic.  Weighs over 200 lbs.
Thanks, good to know, maybe I should not retire the tube.

r2

Derailing this thread yet again, I still like my HD CRT, as a poor college kid, the Philips was all I could afford, but I always lusted over a 34" Sony XBR960 with the matching stand. I think the Panasonic's were second best, and those were too expensive for me as well.

 

[madwolfa]

  I know I will miss the tube fullness and richness  Just can not get that with Solid State.

 
Plasma used to be the closest one you could get....  too bad Panasonic has discontinued the whole thing. I'm going to hold to my dear 5 year old 50" GT30 until it dies.

 

[GrouchoMarx1933]

I have two Panasonic plasma TVs, a 55" and a 42". No reason to upgrade for a long time.

 

[Headzone]

Hey guys, looking for a solution to connect my newly acquired active speakers to my TV, I've been reading and searching all over the net and eventually I got interested in the new Schiit stuff coming out soon! I knew I could find a good discussion here on them and boy was I right!

I read the past 10/15 pages here and some of the things you guys talk about, I don't even have any idea what they mean lol. My setup is super simple, Chromecast to TV, play through Tidal. Optical digital output from TV to something and then pre-outs to the speakers. For that something I've tried so far a 15 year old Rotel preamp and a new packed-with-features Marantz receiver. Both sound like **** to me! Hardly any improvement over the headphone out of the TV!!

Do you guys think I can go with the Saga/Bifrost combo and get a good sound out of this system? Or a different combo?

nvm
2. that's like having two subs on a small table, and boost the bass

 

[Ableza]

If you ask me, most "feature packed receivers" sound like ass, but I'm just an old fuddy duddy who believes in one-box-one-function. 

 

[bigro]

Ahh I think we have come across one the bigger issues with electronics in general. I am not exactly an "Old Fuddy Duddy" But  Give me one box per function any day of the week. I am in my Mid 30's and almost every other person in my age bracket and younger looks at what kind of wireless voodoo is built in and how much cool things can said doodad do. Instead of what is its primary function and how well does it do that function, I see refrigerators with wifi and touch screens. Absurd. All I need out of a fridge is to keep my beer cold.. I will take that same money and find the fridge that has better insulation a better motor  more functional shelves and is built like a tank. The perceived value is measured on a different scale for most in my generation.

 

[valiant66]

I think that talking about Saga and Freya being "entry level" stereo for beginner audiophiles may be a bit disingenuous.
 
Here's some language from a Stereophile review of a passive preamp with remote {the Placate):
 

 …"the image became centered and locked into place in a way that made other setups sound distorted and uncertain. By "centered," I mean primarily that the sonic picture became centered with respect to my speakers, but also that the performers were more centered and suspended within the original recording space."
 
…"improved the system's transparency by removing a layer of grunge that—in most cases—I hadn't even realized was there. The spaces around images became clean and open, and notes emerged from and flowed through the recording venue's ambience. Tonal purity was improved as well, with instruments and voices sounding more relaxed and natural."
 

 
This kind of language is common when passive preamps are reviewed.
 
In Stereophile's review of Mod Squad's Line Drive:
 

"The vast majority of high-end preamps simply cannot meet the challenge of the equivalent of a straight wire bypass with controls. As a result, it is clear that you can get a unit for $400 that will outperform most active preamps, including some costing six times as much."
 

 
Or the Music Baby: 
 

Like a great active preamp, the Baby Reference made its presence felt. It was unmistakably there. Smooth, sweet, extended—pick your superlatives. Brass had real bite. Transients were rendered with extraordinary speed and crystalline clarity. Bass was from the depths—from a passive preamp.
 

 
Pretty much anywhere you read reviews of passive pre-amps they are gushing. The negatives they bring up are along the lines of "no phono stage" or "can't drive difficult loads" rather than any complaints about sound quality.
 
So Schiit's Saga and Freya have the potential to take on the finest pre-amps out there. Acoustic Research, Krell, C-J, Bryston, Devialet et al. Except for the 10-fold (or more) difference in price, of course, which means no-one will actually seriously head-to-head them. Assuming no screwups in implementation, however, I bet they would be competitive sonically. And no-one wants to hear a tiny $350 box match or outperform their new behemoth $4,000 vünder-box. (Well, except for us trouble-makers, eh?
 
So if these things live up to their potential, they stand to upend concepts of value versus performance. Not just entry level, beginner audiophiles, but for everyone, no matter where they are on the audiophool spectrum.
.

 

[valiant66]

Did I miss this before?
 
A Schiit component made Stereophile's Fall 2016 list of recommended components: http://www.stereophile.com/content/recommended-components-fall-2016-edition-preamplifiers#tv22CwQV8cYvp6YL.97 (slide down to class D for the answer...

 

[OldRoadToad]

  If you ask me, most "feature packed receivers" sound like ass, but I'm just an old fuddy duddy who believes in one-box-one-function. 

Ah...An "audiophile" then.  Ok.  And what, pray tell, does "ass" sound like? Braying?  Flatulence?    I seriously doubt you or any one else could distinguish between a receiver and separates if you had no clue what was playing and when and all were sonically matched.  You have a preference, nothing more and just as with a receiver there is nothing wrong with it.  Enjoy the fruits of it sir.
 
ORT

 

[oryan_dunn]

In other Schiit news, the Mani won Ian's phono pre-amp shootout.  Reveal was this week, full review is next.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp6xaGhKPBA

 

[OldRoadToad]

  In other Schiit news, the Mani won Ian's phono pre-amp shootout.  Reveal was this week, full review is next.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp6xaGhKPBA

​Thank you for the link!  I am enjoying his review right now.   There's no need for the "closed captioning" as I have a good friend with a far worse accent and so I understand this gentleman well enough.
 
And so far he has excellent taste in music!
 
Thanks!
 
ORT