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In Reply to: Surround Sound Preamp...Which one is for me? posted by bytor on December 13, 2000 at 12:49:58:
I bought the B&K Reference 30 which is their current HT processor and love the sound quality. The DAC is very good and it has analog bypass for all inputs. I use that for tape, phono and FM.I upgraded from a receiver so I never really compared it to other preamps in it's class, but I hear in that price range the Anthem AVM2 is worthy of consideration. The bells & whistles and DAC of the Parasound AVC-2500 also supposedly compare well to the B&K, but it has no 2-channel analog bypass.
I have been very happy with the B&K. If something better were to come along in the next couple months, I still would not regret my decision. BTW, movies are phenomenol on this piece.
Robert
Follow Ups:
Are the DACs in the B&K 24/96k or 24/192k? How does it compare to a/v-5800 or Onkyo 989 in terms of features, eg. THX-EX, DTS/DD 7.1 etc? I am in the market for a new prepro separate? Thanks
The B&K has 8 24bit/96KHz DACs, with the ability to upgrade to 24/192KHz DACs as a pin compatible drop-in replacement.The Ref 30 has THX-EX 7.1 capability, plus DD/DTS decoding. An upgrade is supposed to be available after CES to add 6.1 capability.
It's a superb preamp for the price they're asking!
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Where can I get good prices on these B&K online? Can you help? Thanks
Not only must the dacs be upgradeable but the line reciever must be as well. This can be decieving as a piece can have 24/192 dacs yet still only be capable of recieving and decoding a 24/96 signal. The Proceed AVP is an example. Although the dacs are 24/96 capable, the digital line reciever is 24/48 so without a major hardware upgrade the unit could not truly process such siganls. What is the case with B&K?
They can definitely handle 24/96 as stereo PCM. We'd have to check with B&K about handling 24/192... But then again, with the firewire ports capability (400 Mb/s) I'd guess anything higher than 23/96 will come through firewire.Note: While the Firewire port is installed, it is not activated at this time, and a controller update will be required to make it useful.
Yes anything greater than 2 channel 24/96 meaning that 5.1 24/96 would have to be handled by firewire. Make sure you ask them what the line reciever can handle. If you ask the question," Can the unit process 24/192?" you may get a yes answer but it can be misleading. Ask,"Can the unit process 24/192 at full resolution?"
----If you ask the question," Can the unit process 24/192?" you may get a yes answer but it can be misleading. Ask,"Can the unit process 24/192 at full resolution?" ----And even if you get a "no" answer, one still shouldn't exclude the B&K from your list of potential purchases. I challenge anyone to find a processor than can support 24/192 today through firewire. The specifications are simply not finalized yet. No matter what B&K, Meridian, Krell or anybody says about hardware upgradability, we really won't know until it's out. You may need to replace your processor at that time no matter what, so just buy what sounds good today! ;-)
Robert
What he said.
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