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High Res through vintage receiver, Good or bad?

Garret86

Garret86

Member
Hey all, so I’m fairly new to all this and am slowly building my first Hi-Fi setup. Does it make any sense to spend money on a nice streamer like the bluesound node 2I just to send it through a 70’s pioneer sx-880. Is sending Hi res audio from a nice modern streamer wasted when it’s going through a receiver that’s over 40 years old ? I’m using it with Q-acoustics 3010I speakers. Am I better off going down a cheaper route for my digital music needs?
 
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Some people might say it is a waste if the vintage piece hasn't been restored. In my opinion the shortcomings of an unrestored receiver or amplifier will negate any gain from using a Bluesound node 2I.

Note: I have Q-Acoustics 3050 speakers, (fully restored) vintage amplifiers, and a Bluesound 'node' (the new version).
 
Garret86 said:
So you would say that even older gear has the transparency to showcase the better DAC in the blue sound when compared to just using my MacBooks built in DAC?
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that's something only you and your ears can answer but I'd say yes. Vintage amps don't suck. if you truly believe they are inferior then you should not dip your toes in that pond. your expectations can affect what you think you hear.
 
Garret86 said:
So you would say that even older gear has the transparency to showcase the better DAC in the blue sound when compared to just using my MacBooks built in DAC?
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There is no reason to believe that a well-maintained vintage receiver cannot provide excellent sound quality with the BlueSound as a source, especially if you are feeding it well-recorded and well-mastered tracks.

Theoretically using the BlueSound to stream should be better than running an aux cable from your MacBook's headphone jack, yes. (although audiophiles won't admit it, the internal DAC on modern Macs is not as bad as audio-boogymen will have you believe).

I still prefer my Harman/Kardon Twin-Powered 430 receiver from the mid-70s to a lot of modern 2-channel integrated amps I've heard. I run all my modern digital sources (my Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC, MiniDisc deck, Bluetooth receiver, CD player) through the aux input with excellent results, along with my tape decks and turntable.

I service it maybe once a decade (if that) and it keeps running like a champ.
 
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Garret86 said:
So you would say that even older gear has the transparency to showcase the better DAC in the blue sound when compared to just using my MacBooks built in DAC?
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What do you mean by transparency? Amplifier technology has not changed very much from then to now. What goes in comes out, ideally with very little change. Your Pioneer can amplify whatever you feed it.The better the source, the better the sound.

Your question is really about the quality of the DAC in the Node vs the quality of the DAC in your Mac.

As for the Pioneer...if you are happy with it listening to LPs and CDs, you will be equally happy with it listening to high-res files. Any sound quality improvement from higher-resolution files will be a function of the greater bit depth and/or frequency extension (higher sampling rate) and/or remastering of those files. BTW, note that the streaming services have somewhat bastardized the term "high resolution" From what I can tell, all of them include a mix of both CD quality and higher bitrate recordings in the "high-resolution" libraries.

There are better old/vintage amps than your Pioneer, and there are worse. Same for newer/new amps. THD, S/N ratio, delta between power into 8 vs 4 ohms (more is better) and linearity of response can give you some idea of "better"...but the best measurements do no always result in an amp that will sound best to your ears. And at some point, audible benefit from improvements in these specs becomes de minimis.

As for restoration...it is very hard to know the extent of the unavoidable changes in performance that have occurred in your unit as components, especially capacitors, degrade with age. Could be so small as to be a non-issue, or could be fairly dramatic. I have experienced both outcomes after restoration/rebuild.
 
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the skipper said:
that's something only you and your ears can answer but I'd say yes. Vintage amps don't suck. if you truly believe they are inferior then you should not dip your toes in that pond. your expectations can affect what you think you hear.
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Very true thanks, I’m 19 and have been at this for about a year trying to build my system before I go off to college. All your help is appreciated
 
All my equipment is vintage, or at least almost vintage (80's-90's), and I can easily tell the difference between the DACs in my iPhones, iMac, laptops, and external DACs that are considered to be decent definitely sound better on my equipment than the ones in my devices. However, if you have something capable of streaming - and you obviously do, since you mentioned a Mac - you can easily use a much less expensive DAC with the equipment you already have.
 
Garret86 said:
Very true thanks, I’m 19 and have been at this for about a year trying to build my system before I go off to college. All your help is appreciated
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I would encourage you to expose as many of your new college friends as possible to both high quality sound, and the Audiokarma forum. With many (or most) of the the last generation of music listeners mainly listening to music from I phones and cheap ear buds, the sound of a nice system may be quite a thrill for them.
 
My old soundcraftsmen ma5002
At 250 watts fully restored is fantastic.
The sound quality on hi res. Is sublime
 
The Bluesound node 2I should make a fine addition to your system. That vintage Pioneer receiver if it's in good working order should be more then capable of revealing clean transparent sound from a good digital music streamer or any other source you choose. The FM tuners in those vintage Pioneers are 2'nd to none too.

I bought 2 new Yamaha AVR'S recently, one in 2020, and one of their premium Avantage models in 2021. While both sound very good for both stereo music and video, until clipping my vintage Realistic 10 wpc STA 7 gives up nothing in terms of transpency after 40+ years unserviced . I didn't by new for better sound, I bought new for the features (like a remote and network music player), Control of the sound (like room equalization) and for DD 5.1 or Atmos surround for video in one package.

As a bonus you might get remote volume control.
 
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You can read all about the Node here: https://www.bluesound.com/products/node/

The NODE can connect wired, or wireless over wifi, to your network to stream pretty much any hi-res audio file you throw at it from almost any streaming service you can think of (in addition to standard optical or analog inputs).

Network Connectivity
Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac, 2.4/5GHz)
Ethernet RJ45, GigE 1000 Mbps

Supported Audio File Formats
MP3, AAC, WMA, WMA-L, OGG, ALAC, OPUS

Supported Hi-Res Audio File Formats
FLAC, MQA, WAV, AIFF, MPEG-4 SLS
 
The whole idea of a digital music streamer is to achieve the best possible interlink between the source, whether it be a personal library or internet streaming services and the amplifier through Wi-FI. If all you want is to connect wirelessly to your phone or tablet get a $35 Bluetooth receiver for your vintage receiver and get OK sound. The whole Bluetooth concept doesn't even play a role in the purchase of a high quality music streamer. It's just a side benefit.

Digital music streaming is now the norm for many music lovers today including myself. If you're going to buy a new receiver or AVR today it should include this important feature. If you want access to high quality digital music streaming for a vintage receiver then the BlueSound Node II is one of the best ways to do this IMO.
 
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Garret86 said:
Hey all, so I’m fairly new to all this and am slowly building my first Hi-Fi setup. Does it make any sense to spend money on a nice streamer like the bluesound node 2I just to send it through a 70’s pioneer sx-880. Is sending Hi res audio from a nice modern streamer wasted when it’s going through a receiver that’s over 40 years old ? I’m using it with Q-acoustics 3010I speakers. Am I better off going down a cheaper route for my digital music needs?
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Even very modestly priced vintage gear can be hugely better than most new receivers. Take for example the Yamaha R-500 40 watts with .015% THD at rated power (if specs can be believed which in this case I think they can). This modest receiver will set you back about $100.
 
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