Goodday everyone!
I have been a huge fan of surround music since the moment I first experienced it! Luckily I discovered it just when I was about to order my first Hi-Fi/Home Theater system and didn't cheap out on my surrounds. Unlike my old cheap surround system which consisted of basic passive speakers, I ordered 5 custom active speakers and a sub-woofer. My original plan was to get the Denon 3700H for the Home Theater experience and use the pre-outs to connect my speakers (so yes... 1000€ for a dolby atmos decoder...) and then get a custom stereo tube pre-amp for Hi-Fi music.
As you can imagine my surround experience introduced a big problem to me and that is the requirement of a Hi-Fi surround DAC/Pre-amp... I thought that maybe the Denon's DAC would be enough but I have been told that receivers (at least the ones below a certain budget) might be excellent for movies but when it comes to music they just cannot compete with dedicated surround DACs. They recommended me to buy a professional audio interface instead of the stereo pre-amp for both stereo and surround music. Since there are many surround veterans here I would really like to hear your opinions on this matter.
First of all, are receivers (specifically the one I am planning to get for movies) that inferior to dedicated DAC's such as professional audio interfaces, or are they similar in terms of audio quality with the use case being the only difference between the two at the same price (Receivers - Inputs and features for watching movies, Audio interfaces - Inputs and features for recording music).
If audio interfaces are the only way for the best Hi-Fi surround experience could you recommend me a good interface between up to 1000€.
Thank you in advance
I have been a huge fan of surround music since the moment I first experienced it! Luckily I discovered it just when I was about to order my first Hi-Fi/Home Theater system and didn't cheap out on my surrounds. Unlike my old cheap surround system which consisted of basic passive speakers, I ordered 5 custom active speakers and a sub-woofer. My original plan was to get the Denon 3700H for the Home Theater experience and use the pre-outs to connect my speakers (so yes... 1000€ for a dolby atmos decoder...) and then get a custom stereo tube pre-amp for Hi-Fi music.
As you can imagine my surround experience introduced a big problem to me and that is the requirement of a Hi-Fi surround DAC/Pre-amp... I thought that maybe the Denon's DAC would be enough but I have been told that receivers (at least the ones below a certain budget) might be excellent for movies but when it comes to music they just cannot compete with dedicated surround DACs. They recommended me to buy a professional audio interface instead of the stereo pre-amp for both stereo and surround music. Since there are many surround veterans here I would really like to hear your opinions on this matter.
First of all, are receivers (specifically the one I am planning to get for movies) that inferior to dedicated DAC's such as professional audio interfaces, or are they similar in terms of audio quality with the use case being the only difference between the two at the same price (Receivers - Inputs and features for watching movies, Audio interfaces - Inputs and features for recording music).
If audio interfaces are the only way for the best Hi-Fi surround experience could you recommend me a good interface between up to 1000€.
Thank you in advance