Buying a new HiFi - input please.
Discussion
Hello people. As a teenager I was fully into HiFi, back in the 80`s with records and tapes, and after playing around with a couple of rack systems and various components I ended up with a Thorens turntable, Denon Amp and Sound Dynamics speakers which kept me happy for a long time.
After some years of moving around the planet and not always staying put, I have only had some small book shelf setups or bluetooth speakers, but I`m looking to get back into a more analogue HiFi set up, plus dust off some vinyl for my son to experience, but at the same time buying purely analogue seems a bit silly. Adding some digital connectivity means I can plug into my LG TV, and be a little more future proof. I was originally looking at the Onkyo A-9110 amp, but get optical and digital with their A-9130, which seems the smart move. This still lacks bluetooth though, so I have questions, as I`ve been out of the loop for some time.
Can a bluetooth adapter be added to something like the Onkyo A-9130 Amplifier? Are there better options in this price range?
For starters I am thinking of linking this to a Sony PS-HX500 turntable and Yamaha NS-F51 speakers. Thoughts on these components?
Any input or suggestions would be most appreciated!
After some years of moving around the planet and not always staying put, I have only had some small book shelf setups or bluetooth speakers, but I`m looking to get back into a more analogue HiFi set up, plus dust off some vinyl for my son to experience, but at the same time buying purely analogue seems a bit silly. Adding some digital connectivity means I can plug into my LG TV, and be a little more future proof. I was originally looking at the Onkyo A-9110 amp, but get optical and digital with their A-9130, which seems the smart move. This still lacks bluetooth though, so I have questions, as I`ve been out of the loop for some time.
Can a bluetooth adapter be added to something like the Onkyo A-9130 Amplifier? Are there better options in this price range?
For starters I am thinking of linking this to a Sony PS-HX500 turntable and Yamaha NS-F51 speakers. Thoughts on these components?
Any input or suggestions would be most appreciated!
Guessing your price range I have been very happy with my Marantz NR1509 so either its bigger brother the NR1510 ( comparison) or the later revisions of each (1609, 1610 or 1709 and 1710) should have you covered for connectivity.
I'm constantly amazed that folk still want BT as a source with a decent Hi-Fi.
The better the Hi-Fi then the more obvious the effects of the signal compression; and even a fairly modest but decent stereo setup will reveal it. This is still the case too even if both the source and the BT receiver have the latest AptX HD BT features. Then of course there's the issue of how much of the high frequency content the source device (a phone, presumably) chops off. Some phones are much worse for this than others.
I get the appeal and convenience of BT for mobile applications - in-car, headphones, desktop audio with small portable speakers - but in all these applications fidelity is rarely the main concern; there's so much noise from the environment or portable speakers are limited in frequency response. That, and of course the phone is rarely that far away from the connected devices, and so local interference is less of an issue. In the home though, do you really want to be tied to the range that BT will work reliably over?
BT is cheap (relatively), ubiquitous, and easy to use mostly. It's okay for audio within a personal space or in noisy environments which mask its fidelity issues. For decent home audio though, the additional bandwidth available via the house Wi-Fi offers the potential of greater range and better sound quality. It still leaves BT free for headphone use too which might be useful if needing both hands free whilst taking calls when working from home.
Wi-Fi streamers come in a couple of flavours. There are e casting devices - cheap units along the lines of Chromecast which simply use a phone or other connected device to point the streamer at a music source from the internet. Then there are the full-fat streamers that do casting but also play music stored on the phone or DLNA-enabled home network devices. That could be a NAS or the music files on a PC. Sonos is perhaps one of the best known names, but there are alternative products too at a fraction of the price, plus there are amplifiers with Wi-Fi streaming built in, for example, any of Yamaha's MusicCast-enabled devices.
The better the Hi-Fi then the more obvious the effects of the signal compression; and even a fairly modest but decent stereo setup will reveal it. This is still the case too even if both the source and the BT receiver have the latest AptX HD BT features. Then of course there's the issue of how much of the high frequency content the source device (a phone, presumably) chops off. Some phones are much worse for this than others.
I get the appeal and convenience of BT for mobile applications - in-car, headphones, desktop audio with small portable speakers - but in all these applications fidelity is rarely the main concern; there's so much noise from the environment or portable speakers are limited in frequency response. That, and of course the phone is rarely that far away from the connected devices, and so local interference is less of an issue. In the home though, do you really want to be tied to the range that BT will work reliably over?
BT is cheap (relatively), ubiquitous, and easy to use mostly. It's okay for audio within a personal space or in noisy environments which mask its fidelity issues. For decent home audio though, the additional bandwidth available via the house Wi-Fi offers the potential of greater range and better sound quality. It still leaves BT free for headphone use too which might be useful if needing both hands free whilst taking calls when working from home.
Wi-Fi streamers come in a couple of flavours. There are e casting devices - cheap units along the lines of Chromecast which simply use a phone or other connected device to point the streamer at a music source from the internet. Then there are the full-fat streamers that do casting but also play music stored on the phone or DLNA-enabled home network devices. That could be a NAS or the music files on a PC. Sonos is perhaps one of the best known names, but there are alternative products too at a fraction of the price, plus there are amplifiers with Wi-Fi streaming built in, for example, any of Yamaha's MusicCast-enabled devices.
Lucid_AV said:
I'm constantly amazed that folk still want BT as a source with a decent Hi-Fi.
Most of the time you aren't sitting and critically listening, you are doing something else and have the music on.Streaming from my mobile to hifi is just so convenient. Music apps, bbc sounds, other radio and so on. Takes seconds to turn on and adjust anything. My Samsung Phone is LDAC so better than standard Bluetooth. I normally have a VPN running, so WiFi means fiddling it on and off.
Edited by hyphen on Saturday 21st August 13:00
Jinx said:
Guessing your price range I have been very happy with my Marantz NR1509 so either its bigger brother the NR1510 ( comparison) or the later revisions of each (1609, 1610 or 1709 and 1710) should have you covered for connectivity.
I also have a Marantz NR1509 (bought from Richer Sounds). Connected to my LG TV, Humax, Technics turntable & Sony BluRay player. Has Bluetooth & Wi-Fi.Easy to set up & easy to use.
Available for £295; or a higher model for not much more.
tonyg58 said:
The Yamaha R-N 602 will do everything the Onkyo does and much more (including bluetooth and network music) for not much more money.
I bought one of these a couple of years ago on a relative whim (ancient hi-fi amp that I'd modernised with a Chroecast died and wanted a replacement after a morning's research)... Love it - great for everything from streaming FLACs from my NAS, to listening to Internet Radio (worth being aware it doesn't have DAB, but not much of a hardship) to connecting to Bluetooth for convenience/ friends coming round and wanting to share something on their Spotify etc. hyphen said:
Lucid_AV said:
I'm constantly amazed that folk still want BT as a source with a decent Hi-Fi.
Most of the time you aren't sitting and critically listening, you are doing something else and have the music on.bungz said:
Do you use any streaming services such as Spotify?
Get a Amp or media player that supports casting and you get the convenience of Bluetooth without having to put up with all its short comings.
^This^Get a Amp or media player that supports casting and you get the convenience of Bluetooth without having to put up with all its short comings.
An Amp with built in streaming services that you control via your phone will sound way better than beaming BT to an amp.
You're using your phone either way but if you're using Tidal or Qobuz via the Amp you'll be using that to stream.
Marantz use HEOS which accommodates most of the streaming services.
Thanks folks. I checked out the Marantz NR1510 which appears a great package but comes in at twice the price of the Onkyo here in Switzerland. Very tempted by the Yamaha R-N 602, but in the end decided to stick with the Onkyo and added a Logitech Bluetooth Audio-Receiver. I stream with Tidal, so looking to see how well the BT interface does the job, but ultimately it will be better than my current set up of Yamaha bookshelf system and a couple of Harman Kardon BT speakers, which will still have their place I hope...
You know how it is, you want to jump back in, set a budget, knowing full well that in a couple of years the need to upgrade may well kick in, but for now I`m just stoked to have ordered a proper music system for the first time in decades. Looking forward to the boxes arriving.
You know how it is, you want to jump back in, set a budget, knowing full well that in a couple of years the need to upgrade may well kick in, but for now I`m just stoked to have ordered a proper music system for the first time in decades. Looking forward to the boxes arriving.
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