Schiit saga and asgard 2

[Vaknin]

Hello to everybody.
I am new in this forum and i realy apperciate to recieve instrucrion how to improve my music sound in my hometheater system.

I have the following components:

Reciver - yamaha rxa 3060
Turntable - pro ject 2xeprience classic
Phono preamp - schiit mani
Oppo udp 103
Defenitive Technology Speakers - 2 x studio monitor 65 + 4 x procinima 1000 + 1 x procenter 2000 + supercube 6000.

I have also hifiman he400i headphone.

I am thinking to add schiit asgard 2 and saga but i do not know exactly how to integrate them in my system.

Saga - for the turntable
Asgard 2 - for the headphone and to get aditional gain for the oppo.

Any help will be higly apperciate.

 

[Alaric]

The mani is the phono pre amp for the turn table. Connect the turntable to the mani, then the mani to a standard line level input on the Yamaha receiver. The saga is simply a preamp and redundant. Get a modi DAC for the Oppo and connect the digital out from the Oppo to the modi and the RCA line level out put from the modi to the Yamaha receiver.

The above will improve the sound from the Oppo and let you actually use the turntable. You have the makings of a nice system there.

 

[Vaknin]

I tought to improve my phono sound by adding the saga to the mani. If it will not improve the sound quality than maybe it is better to replace the mani by other phono amp.

Regarding to the oppo i think it is amtter which DAC is better Yamaha or Oppo Or Modi?

Today the Oppo is connected directly to Yamaha by HDMI.

When i have tried to connect the oppo f/l main speakers by rca to yamaha the sound was very low thats the reason that i tought to use the preamp in the asgard 2 for the Oppo.

Still i do not know ho to connect the asgard 2 to the yamaha and on the same time to recieve the sound gain for the oppo.

i want to improve the sound but not reduce my cinema theater capabilities.

 

[Alaric]

Adding components to the signal chain is not usually the way to improve sound quality. The modi would be instead of using the built in DAC in the Yamaha. Same with the mani instead of the phono amp in the receiver. If you're having low volume issues you should check your cables, connections and the same with your speakers. The modi should sound better than the Oppo or Yamaha DAC and the mani should sound better than the phono amp in the receiver, as well.

edit: After re reading your second post, I would check your settings in the receiver.

 

[NiHaoMike]

If it's a modern receiver (one that has HDMI definitely is), it will use a digital amplifier and will not benefit from an external DAC because the digital input is directly converted to a bitstream and the "DAC" is actually done by the power electronics. Any analog inputs are digitized for the purposes of compatibility.

 

[Alaric]

A quality DAC most assuredly will improve the sound, provided the downstream gear and speakers are good enough, and the OP's are. The receiver's DAC can be used, but the modi's is better.

Vaknin, first check the Oppo and make sure it is set to send the main audio signal on your preferred output (HDMI, SPDI/F, etc.) Then make sure your receiver can seperate the signals from one component and use them simultaneously. Try setting the HDMI to "pass through" and the input to whatever you're using for the audio signal (the analog outs at the moment). Your simplest fix would be to have HDMI carry the audio stream and process it that way. Hope this helps. The first job is to find out why tou aren't getting the proper results with the gear you have before throwing your hard earned money at the problem.

 

[NiHaoMike]

Can't bypass the DAC in a digital amplifier because the amplifier itself is the DAC.

 

[Vaknin]

Thanks guys i will check it.
What about the headphone amp.
Where and how i connect the asgard 2 ro the yamaha reciever.
The asgard 2 has rca input and output.
Is it a good amp for hifiman he400i hed phone.

 

[NiHaoMike]

If the headphone amp does not have a built in DAC, use the analog output on the Oppo or dedicated DAC. You can also try the aux output on the receiver but that's likely to be poor quality (probably using the same cheap codec that handles the analog inputs) since it's more or less an afterthought for expansion such as an extra set of speakers for the patio where quality is generally not as important.

 

[Alaric]

Can't bypass the DAC in a digital amplifier because the amplifier itself is the DAC.

Really. Then how, pray tell, does the receiver amplify analog signals and output those signals to the speakers? You know, say, the RIAA equalization of the built in phono amp. Or do you just bypass the DAC section with analog inputs, exactly the way I said???

 

[NiHaoMike]

The analog inputs on a digital receiver are digitized so the DSPs can accept the signal. Works just like the analog inputs on a modern LCD screen.
Maybe the receiver in question is a dual mode with an actual analog input Delta Sigma but I doubt it. A codec chip is very cheap and easy to integrate.

 

[NiHaoMike]

I would not expect much gain in getting a separate analog input amplifier for the phono setup since vinyl has pretty poor SNR. (That is, however, part of the "vinyl sound" many older audiophiles are used to!) In fact, digitizing vinyl lets you do DSP quality improvement tricks that are basically impossible in analog. If you do want to go the analog route, you'll have to get pro audio equipment since the cheaper stuff is designed to be cheap. The main market for high end analog amplifiers nowadays is pro audio where the slight delay of a digital amplifier can be problematic.