Polk M70s + Parasound HCA 1500a impressions

Lietuvis91

So I finally got my 2 ch setup just how I want it :biggrin:
Good quality amp, receiver, wires, to get the most out of these m70's

Here's the setup:

Polk M70s
Marantz sr7002 - receiver
Parasound 1500a - amp
Audioguest Blue Racer II ICs
Audioquast Type 4 speaker wires
Sony BR 360 (refurb) connected via hdmi

set it up Sunday night, and first impressions were... whoaaa! The addition of the amp definitelly woke up those m70s! I sat there and listened to different cds: rap techno, country... same stuff i'd been listening to for years and was amazed how much detail I was now able to hear in the sound. I just sat there... and listened... cuz I was hearing things i had not heard before... the detail is amazing, same music, whole new experience! Granted, my frame of reference is, the same speakers, without an amp, and before that a panasonic boom box. But either way, i feel like I have moved up in life! LOL!

Now i feel like no receiver can do those m70's real justice, you have to hear them with an amp, it's like a different speaker all together! I read some post saying m70's were muddy... pffffft! Sure, if you run them off an underpowered receiver! Feed them the power they need, it's a different game all together.

In fact,
When playing mp3s from my laptop, I felt like the sound was on the bright side, somewhat sharp or edgy. I wonder if this could be due to some mp3s being encoded at a low 128kb rate so they are NOT cd quality. which becomes magnified on a system like this. It's just my theory. Anyone noticed this?

steveinaz

The better your system gets, the better it has to be. That parasound is acting like a microscope, and showing any flaws it see's, unfortunately the price you pay with higher end gear. Run some flac tracks, or other decent lossless source. IOW, yes, the MP3's are the cause of the bright/edgy sound--

Wanna hear something really cool?

Connect your bluray audio out DIRECTLY to the Parasound, turn the volume pots on the back all the way down. Pop in a CD, hit play and slowly bring the level up. Nirvana will follow....

falconcry72

Nice score, that's a great amp, and it's the last thing you should upgrade of your current system.

The first thing you should upgrade is your source (laptop).

All MP3's are bad, even ones encoded at 320kbps, but 128's are HORRIBLE!

Do that amp some justice and send it a good signal.

dorokusai

We used a computer source at the Capital Area Audiofest for half of the demos that weekend and never had a complaint. Everything was ripped at a high bit rate and sounded awesome. No MP3, all FLAC.

Lietuvis91

I figured as much on the mp3, appreciate the confirmation. The main reason I suspected poor encoding of the files is that when I played a 320kb song the sharpness was significantly decreased, but not totally gone all together.

I will have to try your suggestion: steveinaz, really curious now...

dorokusai: what is FLAC?

I am thinking about finding some dvd-a discs, I bet those would sound amazing on this rig.

If only there was a blue ray format for music... the detail/quality that could be recorded at an even higher rate would have to be unreal....

steveinaz

Free Lossless Audio Codec. Does about 45% compression on your audio (.wav) files, without any sonic degradation.

**Make sure the amps volume controls are all the way down first!

steveinaz

Lietuvis91 wrote: »

If only there was a blue ray format for music... the detail/quality that could be recorded at an even higher rate would have to be unreal....

A BluRay concert disc (24/192k) would work...plenty of those out there!

punk-roc

glad you are liking your gear! I recently threw in a HCA-1200II into my setup and I love it as well

Jason

falconcry72

dorokusai wrote: »

We used a computer source at the Capital Area Audiofest for half of the demos that weekend and never had a complaint. Everything was ripped at a high bit rate and sounded awesome. No MP3, all FLAC.

I assumed that he was using the 1/8" headphone output of the laptop. Lietuvis... am I right?

And dorokusai, I assume you were not using the headphone out of your computer?

dorokusai

falconcry72 wrote: »

i assumed that he was using the 1/8" headphone output of the laptop. Lietuvis... Am i right?

And dorokusai, i assume you were not using the headphone out of your computer?

USB out.

heiney9

Lietuvis91 wrote: »

In fact,
When playing mp3s from my laptop, I felt like the sound was on the bright side, somewhat sharp or edgy. I wonder if this could be due to some mp3s being encoded at a low 128kb rate so they are NOT cd quality. which becomes magnified on a system like this. It's just my theory. Anyone noticed this?

Absolutely, without a doubt. MP3's suck

H9

Lietuvis91

steveinaz wrote: »

Free Lossless Audio Codec. Does about 45% compression on your audio (.wav) files, without any sonic degradation.

**Make sure the amps volume controls are all the way down first!

wow, this is news to me, never heard of FLAC. I will have to look into this, very interesting!

falconcry72 wrote: »

I assumed that he was using the 1/8" headphone output of the laptop. Lietuvis... am I right?

And dorokusai, I assume you were not using the headphone out of your computer?

yes, that is absolutely right, i used the headphone out jack. I felt that my source had something to do with it, especially because playing purchased cds through the blue ray player sounds increadible, and without those symptoms.

dorokusai wrote: »

USB out.

I had no clue that you can use the usb port as an audio out source. how does that work?

pardon if this is a bunch of very elementary questions... :redface:

steveinaz

You'll need a DAC that will accept USB input...

Lietuvis91

I think the marantz sr7002 receiver has a usb port... but that's not the same thing, is it?

EDIT: no it does not have a USB port

steveinaz

It could be an input to the receivers internal DAC, I'm not familiar with that receiver....check your manual.

Even your computers' "line out" would be a better choice than "headphone out" as it would be a fixed output level.

heiney9

Headphone out, seriously :eek:. Horrible

H9

Lietuvis91

acutally, I just realized this thing doesn't have a usb port... crap :mad:

Lietuvis91

heiney9 wrote: »

Headphone out, seriously :eek:. Horrible

H9

yeah, I had no clue.... slowly learning...

So, given that the receiver does not have a usb input, and I would like to stream FLAC, I guess I need something called a DAC.

I suppose I could stick to burning CDs and playing them... that's kind of old school thought.

steveinaz

Do you have a wireless network? If so, something like a Logitech Squeezebox Touch would allow you to stream music (*.flac files). You'll need a CD ripper that can use flac, such as Exact Audio Copy. You can use the Touch with either its analog outputs or you can connect it via its digital outputs to a DAC. The SBT also supports a bunch of other lossless/lossy popular codecs.

heiney9

Lietuvis91 wrote: »

yeah, I had no clue.... slowly learning...

So, given that the receiver does not have a usb input, and I would like to stream FLAC, I guess I need something called a DAC.

I suppose I could stick to burning CDs and playing them... that's kind of old school thought.

Yeah, I know just busting your nads a bit. I don't even know where to begin because the scope is so large. Try to google and read a bit and perhaps ask more specific questions. This has also been discussed a lot here on CP.

H9

Lietuvis91

It's all good. I'm just begining to realize all the options available, and as you said, I've just barely scratched the surface. I think in the interest of keeping things stimple, I will have to stick to burning CD's. If I can fingure out how to burn music onto DVDs(not MP3s, but cd quality), I might chose that route, for now, to put more songs on one disk.

Sometime in the not so distant future, I might be moving the sr7002 to HT duty, where all this jazz is not needed, and I may have to step up the receiver in the 2 ch rig to something like the denon 3311ci, that has all these nifty options.

I guess I will start with learing about FLAC and dvd-a options for starters.

steveinaz

The big thing is to get away from lossy audio codecs such as mp3. Garbage in, garbage out as they say. I would use your BluRay as your source, and run CD's. It'll be far more satisfying, and show the true potential of your amp/speaker combo.

Lietuvis91

steveinaz wrote: »

A BluRay concert disc (24/192k) would work...plenty of those out there!

can you post a link to an example of this?

Lietuvis91

and now I'm also wondering, if my dvd player has analog audio outs(not sure, have to check), should I connect it to the receiver through analog or hdmi? I was thinking that hdmi using bitstream would be the best quality sound, but I could be wrong.

steveinaz

AC/DC, Diana Krall live in RIO, etc, etc. The list of concert BluRays grows everyday.

steveinaz

Lietuvis91 wrote: »

and now I'm also wondering, if my dvd player has analog audio outs(not sure, have to check), should I connect it to the receiver through analog or hdmi? I was thinking that hdmi using bitstream would be the best quality sound, but I could be wrong.

Depends on which has a better DAC section (Receiver or the BluRay). For now, I'd leave it connected via HDMI. I'm a 2-channel dinosaur and run everything digital PCM, so I'm NOT up to speed on all the audio choices from BluRay.

Lietuvis91

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. I will try to find some concert BRs, I really want to hear what they sound like!

greyhnd

You have a very nice setup. I've been struggling to get the best sound from my digital files and decided to go the DAC route. My integrated has no digital inputs, so unless I want to suffer through the mp3 listening experience the DAC is my choice.

I was advised on another forum to purchase a S.M.S.L. SD-793 Mini DAC. They are said to use quality internals and produce the best digital to analog conversion on a budget. I'm getting ready to order one this weekend, so I will report back once I receive it.

heiney9

greyhnd wrote: »

You have a very nice setup. I've been struggling to get the best sound from my digital files and decided to go the DAC route. My integrated has no digital inputs, so unless I want to suffer through the mp3 listening experience the DAC is my choice.

I was advised on another forum to purchase a S.M.S.L. SD-793 Mini DAC. They are said to use quality internals and produce the best digital to analog conversion on a budget. I'm getting ready to order one this weekend, so I will report back once I receive it.

A DAC won't improve MP3 files, so don't waste your $$$ if you are going to continue to listen to MP3's. If you have other plans then good luck.

H9

steveinaz

^^Agree 100%, you can't polish a ****. MP3's are turds. The only thing a good DAC will do is exploit MP3's flaws....not good.

Lietuvis91

I personally will stick to cds, dvds, and maybe try the FLAC encoding (which will still have to exit my lapton through a headhpes jack for now). I may get tempted to get the SBT as I do have wireless in the house. But blank CDs are so cheap that I see no reason not to just to burn another one...

I am liking the idea of the FLAC format as a way to store music on my pc to be burned later...