[nauxolo]

What if the buzzing platform ate the rope?

 

[ATHFan]

OK, I haven't posted in a while since I was busy with my job, but here are my impressions on the RX-V663 receiver with the ATH-AD900 headphones I bought.

The receiver is awesome! It does what it should do, and it sounds perfect. Yamaha's Silent Cinema is also great. I like it much better than Dolby Headphone since you have so many modes to choose from, plus you can edit each parameter to your liking.

The Audio-Technica ATH-AD900 are awesome as well. These are one of the most spacious phones I heard with nice punchy bass and detailed sound. Plus they don't need amplification at all to sound at their best. The only bad thing about the headphones are that the positioning of the audio isn't all that good. The soundstage is incredible, but it's hard to know where the sound is coming from at some times.

Now here's the funny part. When you combine these two, the soundstage, detail and clarity still are the same on the ATH-AD900, but there's a small amount of static you can hear on high volumes which can distort the sound on a small scale. This is not as bad as you might think though. The amount of static is very small and you probably won't hear it unless you're looking for it.

The reason why this happens probably has to do with the fact that the ATH-AD900 are low impedance headphones, and the RX-V663 receiver has an output impedance of 100 ohms at 150 mV.

Right now I'm looking for a second set of headphones which compliment the RX-V663 as they should. They should be very detailed, have a large soundstage and be able to position the audio perfectly. Any recommendations?

 

[tfarney]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATHFan /img/forum/go_quote.gif OK, I haven't posted in a while since I was busy with my job, but here are my impressions on the RX-V663 receiver with the ATH-AD900 headphones I bought. The receiver is awesome! It does what it should do, and it sounds perfect. Yamaha's Silent Cinema is also great. I like it much better than Dolby Headphone since you have so many modes to choose from, plus you can edit each parameter to your liking. The Audio-Technica ATH-AD900 are awesome as well. These are one of the most spacious phones I heard with nice punchy bass and detailed sound. Plus they don't need amplification at all to sound at their best. The only bad thing about the headphones are that the positioning of the audio isn't all that good. The soundstage is incredible, but it's hard to know where the sound is coming from at some times. Now here's the funny part. When you combine these two, the soundstage, detail and clarity still are the same on the ATH-AD900, but there's a small amount of static you can hear on high volumes which can distort the sound on a small scale. This is not as bad as you might think though. The amount of static is very small and you probably won't hear it unless you're looking for it. The reason why this happens probably has to do with the fact that the ATH-AD900 are low impedance headphones, and the RX-V663 receiver has an output impedance of 100 ohms at 150 mW. Right now I'm looking for a second set of headphones which compliment the RX-V663 as they should. They should be very detailed, have a large soundstage and be able to position the audio perfectly. Any recommendations?

I don't think the static is the result of the high output impedance of the Yamaha. If that is having any effect it should be muddy, uncontrolled bass. On your other question, for huge soundstage, lots of detail and good imaging, AKG K701 or Sennheiser HD650.

Tim

 

[ATHFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tfarney /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't think the static is the result of the high output impedance of the Yamaha. If that is having any effect it should be muddy, uncontrolled bass. On your other question, for huge soundstage, lots of detail and good imaging, AKG K701 or Sennheiser HD650. Tim

So the same problem might occur with the AKG K701 as well?

Would the RX-V663 be enough to drive the K701 to their potential?

 

[scompton]

You might have the same problem with the K701. I'd hesitate to buy one without auditioning it or at least having someone try it out for you. I think a K601 would be a safer bet. The DT880 did match well with the amp. It's sound signature is very similar to the K601 but it has a little less sound stage.

 

[ATHFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scompton /img/forum/go_quote.gif You might have the same problem with the K701. I'd hesitate to buy one without auditioning it or at least having someone try it out for you. I think a K601 would be a safer bet. The DT880 did match well with the amp. It's sound signature is very similar to the K601 but it has a little less sound stage.

I'd love to audition these three headphones with the RX-V663, but I just can't find a place which allows me to do this. All I could do is test these three headphones with proper amplification. Back then, I preferred the K701, but I could not test them with the RX-V663, or even for gaming purposes to test the 3D imaging. If someone can test this out (preferably for gaming purposes), that would be very nice. I'd be very thankfull.

Aslo, I don't know if this is would make any difference, but the sources I use with the RX-V663 are the ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3 audio card through HDMI1.3a and a PS3. Knowing that both have pretty high quality audio outputs, would that make it easier to drive headphones like the K701/K601/DT880?

 

[Vandaahl]

Having bought a RX-V663 recently, I was surprised to find out that Silent Cinema does not work with DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD. In other words, Silent Cinema is disabled if you bitstream these HD audio formats to the receiver. The workaround is to have your Blu-ray player decode the HD audio to PCM, and send that to the receiver (because SC does work with PCM audio, and this way you still get the HD quality sound).

Just thought I'd add that to this old discussion for reference.

By the way, somebody mentioned that you can "modify the parameters of each soundfield to your hearts content". What does that mean and how do you do this? I can't find anything about this in the manual...

 

[oqvist]

I think it just mean that you can use whatever DSP mode and Silent Cinema is supposed to take those settings into consideration... For example if you run the action game mode the equalizing would still be shown using silent cinema.

 

[IJetPhone]

Anyone tried this receiver with Ad700 or akg k601 phones, were they any good combonation?

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vandaahl /img/forum/go_quote.gif Having bought a RX-V663 recently, I was surprised to find out that Silent Cinema does not work with DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD. In other words, Silent Cinema is disabled if you bitstream these HD audio formats to the receiver. The workaround is to have your Blu-ray player decode the HD audio to PCM, and send that to the receiver (because SC does work with PCM audio, and this way you still get the HD quality sound). Just thought I'd add that to this old discussion for reference. By the way, somebody mentioned that you can "modify the parameters of each soundfield to your hearts content". What does that mean and how do you do this? I can't find anything about this in the manual...

SC does work with HD audio.. Least from my experience.. I am using the V1800.. Maybe it's different.

 

[Vandaahl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kool bubba ice /img/forum/go_quote.gif SC does work with HD audio.. Least from my experience.. I am using the V1800.. Maybe it's different.

Actually the manual confirms it does not work, so either you are mistaken or your model has a new version of Silent Cinema?

 

[kool bubba ice]

Sorry, I always had my player decode the HD audio to multi PCM, since my BRP is the PS3.. Far as I know, theres no improvement when letting the receiver do the decoding instead of the player, which makes the whole argument SC point moot..