Harry Lavo wrote:
"Robert C. Lang" wrote in message
...

This raises an issue I have sought clarification on. Someone was
trying to sell me on the merits of Yamaha's new receiver, the RX-Z9,
that he touts as a state of the art processor.

At the moment, it is the only Yamaha model with a I-link connection.

Yamaha DSP-Z9 (european model)
http://yamaha-hifi.de/index.php?lang=e&idcat1=1
http://www.yamaha-audio.co.uk/homeci...ifiers/dsp-z9/
http://www.yamaha-audio.co.uk/pdfs/manuals/DSPZ9.pdf

I suspect (hope) that the future Yamahas RX-V1500 and RX-V2500 (or
whatever the replacements of the current RX-V1400 and RX-V2400 will
be called) might also have I-link (firewire), but that is just a guess.

The Pioneers VSA-AX10Ai-S or VSX-AX5i-S also have I-link and the
VSX-AX5i-S is considerably cheaper (1500 euros) than the Yamaha
RX-Z9 (~5000 euros).

I have never considered
a multi-channel DSP processor because I thought (perhaps wrongly) that
the multi-channelplayer that I purchased would handle every processing
duty I would need.

The player usually has less features. I think all the modes that
create surround channels from a 2 channel input (even something so
trivial as "6-channel stereo") are absent.

Also, the newer modes which create 7 or 9 (!) channels from the 5
channels in a multichannel record don't exist in players either.

It seems that such a processor coupled with these
decks would result in a lot of redundant or overlapping capabilities?

Yes (bass management, distance compensation, for instance), but
- those capabilities are more complete on the receiver than on the player;
- probably the receiver is no more expensive than a 5 or more channels
power amplifier with volume control (if someone makes one).
If you already have the amplifier, this doesn't mean much to you.

But a lot of audiophiles seemingly are putting the two together.
Question: What does a multi-channel DSP processor do for multi-channel
SACD or DVD-A play back (at this point movies playing will not be part
of my system)that, for example, a Esoteric DV50S, Sony SCDXA9000ES,
Mccormack udp-1, etc., coupled with a basic multi-channel line stage
could not do on its own?

For DVD-A and SACD, absolutely nothing. They must use multichannel analog
inputs to convey true high rez info, otherwise that high-rez is
automatically downconverted to 44 or 48khz (in a few cases, 96khz).

I _think_ that doesn't apply to I-link, only to optical/coaxial digital,
when mosts discs forbid the player from outputing anything digital, anyway.
With I-link the player sends digital to the receiver at whatever rate is
present on the disc.

--
http://www.mat.uc.pt/~rps/

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