Worth Upgrading amp with Ipod as a source?

[krish123]

Hi guys, im thinking about upgrading my bedroom amplifier from a marantz pm4200 to a marantz pm7200ki or pm7001ki. Do u think this is a worthwhile upgrade considering my sourceis a brand new ipod touch 5th gen. I generally download good quality songs at a high bitrate so will i hear worthwhile sound improvements?

 

[Overdose]

Hi guys, im thinking about upgrading my bedroom amplifier from a marantz pm4200 to a marantz pm7200ki or pm7001ki. Do u think this is a worthwhile upgrade considering my source is a brand new ipod touch 5th gen. I generally download good quality songs at a high bitrate so will i hear worthwhile sound improvements?

Depending on how loud you listen and what speakers you have, you might be better off upgrading your speakers first.

 

[ID.]

Another option would be to get a digital output from the iPod (you might need a digital transport, or if it has the new connector I think the camera kit will work) and use a DAC.

 

[BigH]

What speakers do you have?

 

[krish123]

Thanks for the reply guys , my speakers are mission m71, I was thinking of maybe upgrading them after the amp as I thought the amp makes most of the difference, and tbh my mission speakers have been terrific over the years.

Wat do u guys think ?

 

[Overdose]

I think a pair of compact active speakers being fed by an Airport Express, streaming from your iPod Touch.

Genelec G series, AVI DM5 and Quested S6R for ideas at different price levels.

 

[BigH]

Depends partly on the volume you play at. I find speakers make more difference as long as the amp is capable. Think you should have some demos.

 

[krish123]

thanks for the replies guys,has anyone heard/own the amps i mention?

Also by using ipod as my source am i limiting the sound benefits i can gain from a new amp? i do not want to purchase a cd player as i never use cds anymore, so my ipod is defo going to be the way.

anymore more input is welcome

 

[davedotco]

How are you connecting the iPod to the system?

 

[krish123]

Atm with an aux cable.

 

[davedotco]

Atm with an aux cable.

Ok, then that is the first thing to sort out.

Accessing the digital output is the key and will give you a more important upgrade than a minor change in amp.

So, are you happy to have a wired system or would you prefer to go wireless?

 

[krish123]

wired will be fine for me tbh. although do inform me of the wireless option. bare in mind i only have a budget of around £500-600 to do this all in.

 

[davedotco]

wired will be fine for me tbh. although do inform me of the wireless option. bare in mind i only have a budget of around £500-600 to do this all in.

Simplest and cheapest option for a wired system would be a Pure i20 dock. Digital or analogue outputs and a limited function remote control, about £70.

The alternative would be an Apple Airport Express, a wireless option using Airplay feeding directly into the amplifier via analogue or digital via a dac, again around £70. You would need a computer network to set up the AEX.

Depends how you like to play.

 

[namefail]

Hi krish123, it seems your amp is a well thought of entry level model, but it doesn’t have digital input so you're stuck with analogue ins. Defo on the dock route, major bang for buck. And your Mission m71 are okayish , are they on stands. You could upgrade them as well right now with your budget and it would make a huge difference to what your hearing now!

 

[krish123]

buy purchasing this dockor airport express what exactly does enable me to do? or more specifically how will this improve the sound?

No they are not on stands atm but im planning to put them on wall brackets eventually.

 

[davedotco]

buy purchasing this dockor airport express what exactly does enable me to do? or more specifically how will this improve the sound? No they are not on stands atm but im planning to put them on wall brackets eventually.

It allows you to access the digital output of the iPad, rather better quality than just taking the signal from the headphone output. Use the best quality files (downloads) but there is no heed to go beyond flac or Alac (Apple lossless). MP3 files should be OK if you go to 320 kb/s or 256 VBR.

This is a qualitive upgrade, very worthwhile particularly if you want to improve the rest of your system in time.

What do you feel needs improving? Are there any problems you feel need addressing? One thing that does need addressing is mounting the speakers properly, stands or wall mounting will be a big improvement.

 

[krish123]

right ok i see, i just had a look at the airport express seems decent however does it support the new ipod touch 5th gen ?

yh i usually download files that are 192bps or more so thats fine.

urm nothing is a problem really but basically my room is being done up i.e new bed layout etc and just thought while im at it i would upgrade from my old system which is old aesthetically aswell, so its just a general improvement to the whole room.

 

[davedotco]

right ok i see, i just had a look at the airport express seems decent however does it support the new ipod touch 5th gen ? yh i usually download files that are 192bps or more so thats fine. urm nothing is a problem really but basically my room is being done up i.e new bed layout etc and just thought while im at it i would upgrade from my old system which is old aesthetically aswell, so its just a general improvement to the whole room.

iPod 5 is no problem but you need a network to set up the AEX, is that ok?

How important is the style/bling factor? Realistically all your budget is going to get you is modern version of what you already have, maybe some improvements but hardly night and day.

I guess what I am asking is, how important is the sound compared to the style factor, bling or something basic and minimalist that actually performs?

 

[krish123]

yes thats no problem, i have a wireless router already setup in the house so it can connect to that. I can then operate and play music off my ipod touch wirelessly if im correct?

so will the airport express alone imporve the sound of my current system, which is connected via an aux cable directly into the amp?

sound is more important than style tbh. As such im thinking of a system such as this:

Marantz pm7001ki or 7200ki
Monitor audio GR10 speakers
Airport Express.
Ipod touch as the source.
Im pretty sure that system would be a large imporvement over what i have currently no?

 

[namefail]

Cool, enjoy ur tunes.

 

[davedotco]

yes thats no problem, i have a wireless router already setup in the house so it can connect to that. I can then operate and play music off my ipod touch wirelessly if im correct? so will the airport express alone imporve the sound of my current system, which is connected via an aux cable directly into the amp? sound is more important than style tbh. As such im thinking of a system such as this: Marantz pm7001ki or 7200ki Monitor audio GR10 speakers Airport Express. Ipod touch as the source. Im pretty sure that system would be a large imporvement over what i have currently no?

That's rather more than the budget you mentioned but buying used you might get lucky.

Not remotely the kind of equipment I would consider for my own use so nothing to say on what it will sound like, just see if you can get to try it out before spending the money.

Set up is still an issue though, speaker stand particularly. Take some advice from MA users.

In this setup you can set up the Touch/AEX to move data losslessly, in iTunes that is simply a matter of turning off the processors and EQ and running the volume at max, use the amp to adjust volume.

 

[krish123]

Yh I'm planning on purchasing second hand so should get it all within my budget.

As for the speakers they will be placed on stands on the wall so that will be proper placement for them.

U say adjusting settings is iTunes , does that mean I will have to use my computer in this setup? I only hav iTunes on my computer u see.

Also will the airport express change the sound for the better ? As opposed to using an aux cable?

 

[davedotco]

Yh I'm planning on purchasing second hand so should get it all within my budget. As for the speakers they will be placed on stands on the wall so that will be proper placement for them. U say adjusting settings is iTunes , does that mean I will have to use my computer in this setup? I only hav iTunes on my computer u see. Also will the airport express change the sound for the better ? As opposed to using an aux cable?

Your Touch should be running the iOS version of iTunes unless you have deliberately chosen to install and use another player so you do not need to use your computer other than to sync music libraries etc.

Using Airplay does require some extra processing, it accesses the digital signal before it gets to the normal analogue out of the Touch and 'packages' it for transmission via Airplay. The AEX 'unpacks' the data and gives you the option of using the onboard dac to give you analogue out or an optical digital out that can be 'bit perfect' if set up correctly.

Some people think that transmission over Airplay degrades the sound, if it does I find it of no consequence and in your case the use of lossy MP3 files is already a more significant compromise. In short don't worry about it, if you do, use the dock. Either way should sound better than using the existing able from the headphone out.

 

[krish123]

ok kl, il connect the airport express through rca interconnects. This seems to be the first upgrade I need to make and then I shall see how this changes the sound, then next step will be the amp.

 

[Rethep]

Read this before you start to make any investments (the quality of your iPod is much better than other people say!):

iPhone 5 Audio Quality Measurements from www.kenrockwell.com

or this one:

Apple iPod portable music player Measurements | Stereophile.com