Yamaha Dspax 763

[hornet]

I will be getting a new amp soon and I have my eye on the Yamaha Dspax 763

Does any one know much about it? It seems to be a direct rival for the Onkyo 606,
I have always had Yamaha’s and don’t really want to change.

I know that other peoples ears are different form everyone else’s but I would like to know if any one has listened to the 763 and 606 and if the difference is enough to sway them from one brand to the other.

Of course I will listen myself,

Also I have read that the scaling on the 606 is not too great is the 763 any better or worse, not that I am to fussed about amp scaling but i am interested in this as a gauge of quality.


Thanks

Dav

 

[donington]

Go with the yamaha the build is much better and i think yamaha,s are better just my view. Ive always had yamaha and will not change on my 4th one now the rx v2600 had it 18 months and im very happy

 

[Helicon]

I always prefer the more convincing soundfield that the Yamaha's create.

 

[originalbadboy]

I have had mine for about a week now. Havent really had time to set it up properly, but it does give a nice sound. Havent managed to get an HD audio out of it yet though, as it refuses to work with my HTPC.

So be warned if you intend to use it with a HTPC you may run into problems. It seems to pick up the HTPC as DVI rather than HDMI so it doesnt process the audio. I dont believe it is a PC problem but a problem with the amp. I have a video card with a HDMI socket on order (rather than using a DVI - HDMI dongle) so I wil try that when it arrives instead.

Just so you know one of the issues I have had.

The auto setup mic is pretty good, it mostly got the levels right, although I had to adjust them slightly. The remote is nice but I use a Harmony One so its not really going to get used.

Video conversion works fine, I have the Wii input as Component and then output as HDMI to the projector, cant see any degredation in the PQ doing this. In fact the picture seems a bit sharper with better colours, and it also means that I only have one cable going to the projector now which is a lot better. This amp doesnt do upscaling, its just upconverting , so the Wii for example outputs to hdmi in the same res (480p).

Overall apart from the HTPC problem (which I still believe is the amp, rather than drivers etc) its a nice piece of kit. I have only ever had Yamaha amps as I like the sound they produce, the 763 is no exception to this.

 

[Protoplasm]

@originalbadboy: If I am reading your post correctly, you are currently using a DVI->HDMI convertor to connect from DVI on the HTPC to HDMI on the Yamaha? If this is the case no sound can be passed down the the lead as DVI does not support audio.

I would imagine the new card with HDMI will support something like connecting an optical cable from your sound card, to your new video card, and then it can output both audio and video over the HDMI cable.

 

[originalbadboy]

No its not a convertor as such , its the dongle that came with the video card. Its an offical ATI dongle, if you look on the web there are others having problems with these as well (not necessirly this amp). The dongle is what converts DVI to proper HDMI, or at least its supposed to.

THe HTPC works fine with audio over HDMI if I plug it into my samsung TV. I also have a laptop with a HDMI socket and that works fine with the amp. So that pretty much covers every possibility. The HTPC works with the TV so we know that the ATI dongle works. The laptop with the HDMI socket works fine with the amp, so the amp does work with PC's, just not all of them it seems.

Either its a incompatibity with the ATI dongle and the amp, or its possible its a driver issue, or the amp just doesnt recognise the hardware sitting at the other end, in which case its a hardware issue with the amp. That would be difficult to resolve.

As stated there is a lot of other people with the same issue if you do a search on the tinternet. Its not just with this amp.

Things I am going to try:

Rebuild OS on the HTPC
or
Got a graphics card with a proper HDMI socket on order, so will try that.

Failing that I will just have to use my laptop with the HDMI socket as my HTPC, and find a CD drive enclosure for my blueray drive.

 

[originalbadboy]

Also I dont want to use an optical cable as you wont get the new HD audio down it, that has to go over HDMI.

 

[davepuma]

Audio over HDMI on PC's graphics cards is relatively new and with HDMI you're bound to run into problems as it's been badly implemented from the start. That's why it's probably best to stick with multi-channel audio connections from a soundcard for now. I don't really keep track on the latest GPU's and sound cards unless I'm buying one myself hence why I don't know much about them. I haven't hecked the dongle but is the graphics card physically connected to the sound card and if so, how? I wasn't aware that they had cracked HD audio over HDMI on PC's.

 

[originalbadboy]

You say that but the laptop I have with HDMI works perfectly fine on the amp.

On my old amp thats how I was doing it using analogue outputs. The issue I have with that is though is that it means the HTPC is doing the audio processing, which kind of defeats the point of buying an amp which supports HD audio in the first place.

HDMI audio on a PC wokrs fine for the most part (although powerDVD is still a bit dodgy in this area)

The graphics card has a chip on it that passes the audio from BR and HD-DVD straight through HDMI on to the amp. All newer cards from nvidia and ATI do this. As stated its works fine on the TV just not through the amp, but again the laptop works fine, so im a bit mistified myself

 

[Member 116841]

I know that other peoples ears are different form everyone else’s but I would like to know if any one has listened to the 763 and 606 and if the difference is enough to sway them from one brand to the other.

We haven't had any 606's to try out ourselves yet, but (as I've mentioned in another thread) replacing a 605 with a 763 on a static display on the shop floor, there was an instantly noticeable difference, even though it was only through a set of Bose AM10 speakers. The speakers just sounded much more three dimensional, and working together rather than sounding as though they were all seperate.

 

[hornet]

Thanks for the replies

I will have a listen and place an order soon the Yamaha looks nicer/classier too

to me Onkyo looks like its been hit with the ugly stick....

 

[ShadowTD]

Still can't believe that Yamaha have only seen fit to equip it with 2xHDMI though.

 

[Member 116841]

There's only so much a manufacturer can fit into these boxes at any given price point. Yamaha has the bonus of their own DSP processing, giving them a much larger soundstage than their competitors. It's also nice to see an amplifier with 2 subwoofer outputs again.

As we've mentioned before, Denon's 2808 has sold extremely well with only 2 HDMI's, and that sells for around £650/700, which is a few hundred quid more than the 763. The Onkyo 605 has been hugely popular, that only has 2 HDMI's....

A large number of HDMI's are only needed for source collectors. 2 HDMI's will cover a Blu-Ray player and a 360 or PS3. Sky HD only needs component and an optical connection seeing as it can't bitstream DD through HDMI and it's only 1080i. A Wii can only be used component as well, so we don't see the majority needing more than 2 or 3.

 

[meme68]

Ive been thinking about purchasing one of these and have stumbled across what seems to be a good deal for those interested.£439 delivered...
http://www.futurehome.co.uk/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=1158
Unfortunately they charge £50 delivery to Northern Ireland(we're seriously ripped off over here).
But anyway,hope its of use to someone.