[Ableza]

Would it sound better to put optical straight into yggy or hdmi into a mystery box and then into yggy? Do people have recommendations on mystery sound processing boxes?

Home theater preamp/processors. I use Anthem.

 

[artur9]

Would it sound better to put optical straight into yggy or hdmi into a mystery box and then into yggy? Do people have recommendations on mystery sound processing boxes?

I scored a few-years-old Pioneer Elite from Goodwill in FL off eBay. Even with shipping it was comparable to a good switcher and did more things (like drive my rear speakers).

 

[rkw]

Would it sound better to put optical straight into yggy or hdmi into a mystery box and then into yggy?

You said that it's for watching broadcast opera on TV. You can just use the optical because quite frankly it will hardly make any difference at all. The audio won't be at the level of a high quality, well produced recording. The limiting factor is the quality of the audio source, not whether you're playing it through optical vs balanced AES/EBU.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

I may also watch opera blurays and so on.

 

[rkw]

I may also watch opera blurays and so on.

My point is this. Have you compared the sound of optical vs other input? The difference is subtle and you have to listen very carefully to hear the difference between them. If you're watching a video at the same time, you won't hear a difference at all. Choose your battles wisely. You can get obvious gains by obsessing over things instead, such as speaker placement and room acoustics. Optical vs HDMI, not so much.

 

[GearMe]

My point is this. Have you compared the sound of optical vs other input? The difference is subtle and you have to listen very carefully to hear the difference between them. If you're watching a video at the same time, you won't hear a difference at all. Choose your battles wisely. You can get obvious gains by obsessing over things instead, such as speaker placement and room acoustics. Optical vs HDMI, not so much.

Amen! Better speakers/placement/acoustics (or better headphones when you're listening to them) always trump better electronics once you've got a solid system in place that can properly drive your transducers.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Thank you all for this thoughtful input, it is very much appreciated. Just bought a Yamaha upright - and next will be deciding to go 55" or reduce to 48". They're the same price at Costco, and I want to make sure I don't get a TV that is too large for the space. The wall is already busy - Dawn on the Rhein is right next to it, with Siegfried and Grane. (Brunnhilde is on the opposite wall, riding into the funeral pyre.)

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

That's a beautiful piece of art.

 

[HK_sends]

Thank you all for this thoughtful input, it is very much appreciated. Just bought a Yamaha upright - and next will be deciding to go 55" or reduce to 48". They're the same price at Costco, and I want to make sure I don't get a TV that is too large for the space. The wall is already busy - Dawn on the Rhein is right next to it, with Siegfried and Grane. (Brunnhilde is on the opposite wall, riding into the funeral pyre.)

Funny, it doesn't look like Bugs Bunny...

Cheers!
-HK sends

 

[FLTWS]

Thank you all for this thoughtful input, it is very much appreciated. Just bought a Yamaha upright - and next will be deciding to go 55" or reduce to 48". They're the same price at Costco, and I want to make sure I don't get a TV that is too large for the space. The wall is already busy - Dawn on the Rhein is right next to it, with Siegfried and Grane. (Brunnhilde is on the opposite wall, riding into the funeral pyre.)

This may be of help.

https://www.inchcalculator.com/tv-size-viewing-distance-calculator/

https://thetechhacker.com/2020/05/28/how-to-measure-ideal-viewing-distance-from-a-tv/

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/choose-right-tv-size,news-24708.html

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Okay, after 5 months, my bifrost finally made it to the end of the queue. Looking forward to it being repaired this week, and getting unison.

 

[artur9]

@bosiemoncrieff are you going to doing any comparos when you get it?

on another topic, re: digital sources. I switched my source from a laptop to a desktop. Both using minimserver to feed into a network streamer.

The laptop sounded noticeably better. Desktop added some fuzz. Both wired into the same access point. Weird.

 

[earnmyturns]

The laptop sounded noticeably better. Desktop added some fuzz. Both wired into the same access point. Weird.

USB ports on some PCs have a lot of electrical noise that reaches the DAC via the USB cable.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Impressions are difficult enough to do with a/b right in front of you. I think it would be impossible even if I were installing unison myself. But to not hear it for nearly half a year? You either trust Mike's ear or you don't, and I do.

I'm finding a few CD imports have clicking sounds from the Asus optical/blu-ray drive. Might need to replace it. Looking forward to the CD transport, as well. Do we expect additional digital passthroughs? Having a Mac mini with USB sound output could be an interesting option in the future. That, or adding second USB inputs to the DACs.

Also curious what the best blu-ray "transport" is to hook up to my forthcoming 55" OLED. If it has something better than optical out, that would be good. Yggy doesn't have 2 optical in, so if that's all I have, I would need to route the sound into the TV via HDMI and then out again via optical, and I'm sure some kind of quality degradation would happen.

 

[FLTWS]

...
Also curious what the best blu-ray "transport" is to hook up to my forthcoming 55" OLED. If it has something better than optical out, that would be good. Yggy doesn't have 2 optical in, so if that's all I have, I would need to route the sound into the TV via HDMI and then out again via optical, and I'm sure some kind of quality degradation would happen.

Sadly, Oppo is no longer. Probably want to check out Sony, Pioneer, and perhaps LG