Big old 5.1 amps but no hdmi - worth the money?

[admin_exported]

The introduction of new amps with audio and video over hdmi means that forums/fleabay are full of big old sonys and denons for about 150 - obviously they dont come with hdmi or tru-hd but are they worth a blast?

I've got a Panny Plasma 42 X10, a Sony 360 BDP with hdmi, XBOX 360 with hdmi, Wii and Sky HD with hdmi but needing audio over optical apparently. Do I save up the extra 100 quid for a 607 or 1610, another 200 for a 1910 or gamble a ton and buy lots of component/optical cables etc?

If I do that, what will I lose? Is it worth the extra dosh for true-hd, hdmi etc?

Help!

Andy

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Andy,

You don't mention speakers - are you planning to put your sound out through the TV? HD Audio is totally worth it. The extra money is well spent if you can get to HD soundtracks, but I doubt if you'd notice the difference through TV speakers.

One option is to buy an older amp and feed it with audio over normal interconnects, letting the BD player do the decoding - unfortunately the s360 doesn't have that option, but it still may be cheaper to get a 2nd hand big amp and change the BD player to one with separate audio outputs.

Good luck

John

 

[Anonymous]

I would go for an entry level Hdmi amp if you are on a budget suh a Denon 1610,1910, Onkyo or Sony, cos when you hear the difference between hd audio and standard DD and DTS, the difference is immediate,

 

[scene]

HD Audio is definitely worth it.

If you had a BD player that has multi-channel analogue outs and can decode the HD-Audio, it might be worth going for a good amp with no HDMI / HD audio decoding facilities because they will be heavily discounted - though you need to factor in the cost of the analogue audio interconnects to get the sound to the amp. You've got a BDP-S360 which doesn't have m/c analogue outs, so go for an amp that can decode the HD-Audio.

 

[aliEnRIK]

I bought a denon for 200 quid off ebay that was originally 1k ish

I sold it a few weeks back as it was sat idle

Id put that against ANY new av amp under 400 quid even playing hidef audio

Thats said, I had upgraded the mains cable which made quite a difference to the sound quality

 

[rendu]

Hello, I do not fully agree with some of the comments. In my experience the highest weight on the sound is the quality of the amp, not the format of the source or the decoding capabilities. Whether it is HD, 5.1 or DTS will play an impotant role but will not make miracles. I mean, you could have a new amp which decodes HD but, if the quality is bad then, it will not sound better than a 1K old amp with normal DTS. Also, you need to consider that you are going to use it for more than just blue-ray, ex. radio, TV, MP3s, CDs, music DVDs etc.

The current amps have focus too much in the bell and wishels, they try to acomplish everthing and this is not always possible without sacrifying something else. If the old amp can accept input for each channel then, as someone suggested this could work as long as the BD player can do the decoding and separate output by channel. This is more long term value than the ability of the amp to decode new stuff, because this is going to change over time and the industry is going to drive us crazy over and over again.

Having said that, my 2 cents for the best amp you can get even if it is an older model (with limits of course).

Best regards,

Pablo

 

[Anonymous]

Can see both sides of the argument here.

For what it's worth, I bought my first surround set up the other week and picked up a used Sony STR-DG820 for well under £200 posted. This decodes the HD formats as well as accepting sound over LPCM and tbh, sounds great.

 

[Anonymous]

Really appreciate the advice everyone, thanks very much.

To be honest, I don't think I'd sit comfortably listening to sd - I'd forever be wondering what true-hd etc would have added to the experience!

And change the bd player that came as a Chrissy pressie? She'd kill me. Surely the price of a new bd player with analogue would be better off put towards a 4 month old 1910 with warranty, at about £300?

Thanks again, chaps. I'm off to search gumtree!