Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Dmcxx]

I'm considering buying a yamaha rx v773WABL home receiver.  It says it has a wifi adaptor and built in airplay and is dnla compliant.

All of my music is stored as flac files on a windows PC running windows 7 and jriver media center 18.  That computer is connected to my home wireless network.  I currently use my jriver remote (best $10 bucks ever) to control that computer and play music through its tiny little speakers while a set of thiels stand disconnected.

If I buy this receiver, will I be able to use still use jriver  mc or 19 18 or will it force me to listen to things through iTunes?

Thanks so much.  Any thoughts on the receiver would be appreciated too.  I'm seeing them going for about $ 300 new but as dent and scratch returns.

[jmone]

You have a couple of options (I have Yami AVRs but not this model):

1) Best: Wired connection from your PC to the Yami (eg HDMI for Multi Channel Uncompressed Audio or even just a 2ch Analogue Audio Cable).  This will let your PC running MC decode any of the files and just send the output to the Yami for amplification.  It also avoids any Wireless connection reliability issues.

2) OK:  If you use the Yami DLNA & Wireless connection, you can both "Push" content from MC's GUI or "Pull" content from MC using Yami's GUI (though I find on my Yami's their GUI rather poor).  Also with mine, it only supports 2ch audio over DLNA, and you can setup a DLNA Profile in MC so any of your audio files that are not compatible with the Yami's DLNA renderer can be transcoded on the Fly to a format that the Yami will accept (note: My yami's support FLAC over DLNA but otherwise MC could convert to say LPCM).

[Dmcxx]

I have a wired connection going into FIOS DVR  that runs the tv. It's connected with a coax cable to to the FIOS cable box.  I also have a  wireless router router also sends out the wifi network for my house.  The DVR is right next to where I plan on sitting this receiver. is any of that useful in getting me connected in a wired way?  If not I have to go wireless. The DVR used to be able to play music files in certain formats off my computer but Verizon killed their support of their media manager software for FIOS.  The windows computer just has USB and an Ethernet connection, no hdmi.

Everything I have is ripped as flacs or iTunes compatible formats.  I've been waiting for the day when I could upgrade and actually play the music on my computer on my home stereo speakers and now that it here, it's confusing when you know nothing.  Will I be able to use the jriver remote on my ipad?

How would you suggest I connect it, using the media center 18 GUI or would you use the yamaha GUI?   The Push or the Pull.  (Keeping in mind I don't know what a GUI is or does?)  is one way better wirelessly than the other?  Would I still get to use my remote on the ipad to control jriver?  If I'm using a dnla connection, does that mean I'm not using the airplay feature? 

Thanks.  I know I'm probably asking obvious questions but I don't know anything past I like jriver so much better than running iTunes and I decided to go with flacs a long time ago.  But this other side, technology and hardware  is all new to me.  All this receiver will be powering is a 36" analog tv and a old sony scad changer for the near future.  But the home speakers are great and I haven't heard them playing half my music that I don't own on cd.

[Dmcxx]

also, I'm running this off a computer that just has USB connections no hdmi

[jmone]

For direct connection to the AVR from your PC (just like a DVD or CD Player for example) these days you would typically connect the two using either:
- HDMI : Audio & Video support
- SPDIF: Audio Support
- Analogue: Audio Support

Alternatively using the AVR over the Network connections you will be able to Push/Pull Audio from your PC using DLNA.

[RoderickGI]

also, I'm running this off a computer that just has USB connections no hdmi

If the computer doesn't have an S/PDIF digital audio out port, and many computer motherboards do, I'd be looking to add an HDMI port to the computer somehow.

A simple, cheap video card would do that, and you could upgrade your computer graphics output at the same time by installing a modern card. Just check the specifications carefully to make sure it supports what you need. If you don't want to or can't install a graphics card, perhaps there are PCIe HDMI cards available, or failing that, S/PDIF add-on cards. I haven't looked.

Sorry, I can't advise on the FiOS connection as I know zero about it and the box/DVR provided with it. But you should be able to connect it all up so that all audio goes through JRiver on the computer, and possibly even all video, if that provided a benefit.

[Dmcxx]

It's a distance issue too.  The PC is located another floor in another room.  Not easy to snake a cable the 40 or 50 feet it would need to twist and turn.

[RoderickGI]

Okay. While HDMI can be run quite long distances, that sounds like a pain.

Can you confirm you are only going to use MC to play music, and will never use it to play video or TV? That makes a big difference.

If you are only going to use it for audio, then you can definitely use DLNA to send the sound from MC to a Receiver. So no, you will not be forced to listen to things through iTunes! (I assume, given the location of the PC, that you would have been doing that in front of the PC with headphones or something? After all, iTunes runs on a PC and if that is where it is running then you still can't get the sound to your Thiel speakers.)

As Jmone mentioned with his AVR, many AVR's only support DLNA for audio, and many only support stereo audio. DLNA compliant doesn't mean it supports all DLNA specifications or capabilities. Even though the Yamaha RX-V773WA Receiver says it has "4K Upscaling for next generation super high resolution displays, and HDMI (4 in/1 out) with 3D" that doesn't mean it is a DLNA video renderer, which you would need if you wanted to push video from MC to the AVR via DLNA. As far as I can tell from the Yamaha RX-V773WA Receiver manual, it is a DLNA Audio Renderer only. If audio is all you need, fine, but think about what you may want to use the AVR for in future as well.

Note that in the manual under DLNA Playback, page 65, it says of the Yamaha RX-V773WA Receiver, "The unit is compatible with sampling rates of up to 96 kHz for WAV and FLAC files, and 48 kHz for other files." That would exclude this unit from selection for me if I had to use DLNA for audio playback. After all, if I am going to use FLAC files I want to be able to play 24 bit / 192 kHz music.

Note also that this receiver is restricted to 24 bit / 96 kHz when played in 8 channel mode, but supports 24 bit / 192 kHz in 6 channel mode. Probably not an issue, since most 24 bit / 192 kHz audio is 2 channel anyway, and the receiver supports Dolby TrueHD and DTS MAster Audio, both of which have the same restriction.

[Dmcxx]

Thanks for your thoughtful reply and research.

I will only be using MC for running audio and don't foresee that changing in the future.

And to answer your question, yes when I've been listening to any music currently, its been either in my car, on a tiny ipod, or in front of my computer. 

Your comment "After all, if I am going to use FLAC files I want to be able to play 24 bit / 192 kHz music." has me thinking. 

Any recommendations for a receiver that would offer wireless FLAC file support at 24 bit / 192khz?

[jmone]

Check you FLAC files, you may not even have any 192kHz and many would argue that they can not hear the difference.  If that is the case then your Yami is fine for 2ch.

[RoderickGI]

I'm afraid I haven't researched Receivers for a while, except when someone has made a recommendation or selected one for themselves. Buying a new receiver is on my agenda for some time in the future, so I like to look over what other people are choosing. I've learned how to look for the shortcomings amongst all the marketing material as a result. So a win for me, and a win for you when I share my critique. But sorry, I can't recommend a unit for you.

The Yamaha range is good though. Unfortunately units that support the latest standards and features also tend to have so many bells and whistles that it is a nightmare to navigate them, and they tend to be duplicated in JRiver or on my HTPC anyway. So, maybe look at the high end niche brands, with a simpler feature set but supporting the latest standards?

Jmone quite rightly points out that your current FLAC files may not be 192 kHz, and maybe we can't hear the difference anyway. However, my current receiver has lasted me 15 years, and my next one may last as long, I hope. So when I buy a new receiver I want it to support 192 kHz unless that is such a bleeding edge unit that reliability and/or quality would be suspect, or the price ridiculous. I always buy not just for my current, but also for my future requirements.

Music is moving toward higher quality recordings, at least in some markets. While current HD audio may only be 48 or 96 kHz, in the future it will be 192 kHz. Look at the interest in Pono. So see if you can find a unit that supports it. If you do, let us know!

[Dmcxx]

Check you FLAC files, you may not even have any 192kHz and many would argue that they can not hear the difference.  If that is the case then your Yami is fine for 2ch.

How do I tell the diiffernce if the flac files are 96 or 192kHz?

They are all from cd's I ripped myself in mc 17 or 18.  Regular cd's not sacd's and not purchased hi-res audio downloads.

I'm now thinking the Yamaha RX-V775WA.   It seems to be able to support flac playback at 192, even if I'm just buying for the future. 

[jmone]

In MC add the col's "Bit Depth" and "Sample Rate"

[RoderickGI]

You can add the columns into MC views as Jmone suggests, but I would also recommend installing a copy of Mediainfo which can be used to check everything about individual media files. It is a great tool, and free. http://sourceforge.net/projects/mediainfo/

Audio on a normal CD is uncompressed 16-bit 44.1kHz Stereo PCM, which gives a bitrate of 1411.2 kbps. So if you ripped CDs without up mixing or anything, which would make sense, then your FLAC files will also be 16-bit 44.1Khz. As FLAC is a lossless compressed file format the effective bitrate will vary based on how much the file could be compressed while still retaining all data. For example, I just checked my "Ricky Lee Jones" self titled album, and the songs on that vary from 440 to 778 Kbps.

So if you are only ever going to rip standard CDs to FLAC, the original Yamaha RX-V773WABL would be able to play those files if sent to it via DLNA. Note the RX-V773WABL can play 192 kHz files if it receives them via HDMI. So the choice comes down to the future proofing issue.

I just checked the RX-V775WA User Manual downloaded from the Yamaha USA site, and yes, it does support 192 Kbps FLAC files over DLNA (Page 65). So it would be a better choice.

In fact, it looks like the RX-V773WA may be a superseded model, or on its way out, as it is priced identically to the RX-V775WA and has less features, as per this comparison (if this link works for you)
http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio-visual/av-receivers-amps/rx/?selected=372801_447947_&mode=compare
Not that there is much difference, but the detail matters!