Can I Use AV receiver to stream stereo music to a DAC?

[admin_exported]

I enjoy a good dac (Bel Canto 3.5vb), which is fed a digital stream from my Marantz Sa11 cd player. It improves on the sound of old(ish) but otherwise quite likable spinner that I intend to keep. Now I want a streamer ... 🙂

At the same time, I am thinking of replacing my ancient AV receiver and noticed that Yamaha Aventage 3010 has an optical out. With all the powerful streaming already built into Yamaha, why not stream wav files into the dac through an optical cable? Will it work?

The rest of my stereo system is connected to the preouts of AV receiver and my front speakers (MA PL300) are already doing both stereo and home cinema duties.

 

[the record spot]

Yup, it'll work a treat. I do exactly that for my TV going into the Onkyo receiver I use. Note, however, you'll also benefit from the DSD stream for SACD playback going to your amp, which I think that Marantz has being an SACD player as well as a redbook CD source. Nice!

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, I use Marantz a lot for SACD, but generally bypass the DAC and use balanced connection to the stereo preamp (digital output downsizes to 44.1kHz). I compared briefly the SACD sound from analog balanced output with the equivalent digital coax output through Bel Canto 3.5 dac and found that native analog SACD output is comparable if not a notch smoother to my old ears. Similar quality, just slightly different character.

I like the sound and streaming capabilities of new 009 Onkyos and their price is really attractive where I currently work and live (Abu Dhabi), but they seem not to have an optical out, what a shame.

Will select a reciever and try stereo streaming - one box down is a good motivation (only Bel Canto dac is two boxes already)! Thanks a lot for your reply.