Low budget amp with optical digital input??

[admin_exported]

Hi Im looking to buy a fairly low budget amp to pair with my Mordaunt Short Avant 902i speakers and was looking at these:

NAD C320BEE AMPLIFIER

Marantz PM4400

Marantz PM4001

Cambridge Audio A5

However none seem to have an optical digital input that would allow me to connect my Samsung HD870 DVD player to. Firstly can anyone tell me if this is important to my system and is it going to make much difference? If so, can anyone tell me if there is a GOOD low budget amp around the £150 mark that has an opt dig input?

Thanks

 

[Andrew Everard]

Not really important: you'll do just as well running a pair of standard stereo interconnects from DVD player to amp.The only real benefit of a digital link in a system at this level is the ability to get Dolby Digital/DTS surround bitstreams out to an external processor.

I don't know of any budget amps - and indeed very few stereo amps at any level - with an optical digital input. If you really want to do things digitally you'd do better with a budget AV receiver. There are a few models in the sub-£200 category, and these would work well with the Samsung and the Avant 902is, as well as allowing you to do surround sound later with the addition of some more speakers.

 

[Anonymous]

HI

Thanks for your reply. I have been looking in to some budget AV receivers and narrowed it down to a few:

YAMAHA RXV361 HOME CINEMA RECEIVER for £150

DENON AVR1507 HOME CINEMA RECEIVER for £180

Sony STRDE4 for £140

HOWEVER, my query is this - I read somewhere that getting an AV receiver will never match the sound quality for music compared to a hifi amp of the same price. I dont really want to compromise on my music. Is this true?

 

[Andrew Everard]

Agreed - the latest AV receivers are very good indeed, but without all that surround gubbins to pay for a dedicated stereo amplifier will always be better at the same price. I'd suggest that to get a receiver at the same kind of level as the amps you've mentioned, something like the Sont STR-DA1200ES would be your minimum choice. And that's in the £350-400 bracket.