grant0830 Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 Quick question, we reciently built a new home and moved some of our old gear (HC-800, AVM-16A-B) to power 6 zones of triad inceiling R-28's in the home. Looking to add the new triad 8 zone power amp for high res audio but would we need to upgrade to an EA-5 to accomplish the high res audio? Is high res audio worth the hardware upgrade? What would the other reasons be to upgrade the hc-800 and old c4 audio amp to new gear? Thank you all in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 Mhhh. Well first of all, to get HiRez, you'll need EA controllers, HC800 cannot do it (it's maxed at CD quality). Don;t need the new triad as such. The difference? that'll depend on how many streams you want (goes down as number of physical conections go up, be they in use or not) - depends on speakers as well, and your hearing..... Honestly - I'd say no, as a standalone feature it's not worth upgrading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grant0830 Posted September 13, 2017 Author Share Posted September 13, 2017 Would the EA series be able to stream multiple sources from one box (i.e. EA-5) say pandora in living room at same time as Napster in kitchen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonic30101 Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 EA-5 has 5 streams total, 1 over hdmi, 2 digital coax and 2 analog audio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMHarman Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 Would the EA series be able to stream multiple sources from one box (i.e. EA-5) say pandora in living room at same time as Napster in kitchen? The 800 can do that as well. Is Pandora hires? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegreatheed Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 Streaming audio is not high-res. There are no supported streaming services that stream at better than CD-quality audio (and very few that even exist overall). The HC800 will stream audio just fine-it will stream multiple feeds just fine. The thing that you miss from an EA controller is a better signal-to-noise ratio in regards to converting the audio. You might actually hear that in your setup because with the new 8-zone amp and the R28s, you have high SNRs on those products. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crustyloafer Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 1 hour ago, thegreatheed said: Streaming audio is not high-res. There are no supported streaming services that stream at better than CD-quality audio (and very few that even exist overall). That's not strictly true, Tidal offers a small quantity of MQA format audio streaming music titles which are higher than CD quality and can natively be played back via Bluesound audio equipment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegreatheed Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 Nothing on TIDAL's site says that they offer better than CD quality. MQA is just another compression format, it's not > CD quality. TIDAL themselves say they deliver lossless, CD-quality FLAC files. The HC-800 supports 44.1k/16b, which is CD quality. What Is High Fidelity Sound? High fidelity sound is uncompressed music files. TIDAL HiFi relies on FLAC, a more robust and realistic streaming format. MP3 files are compressed to decrease file size but also take out any extra details which can cut quality. FLAC offers CD-quality audio in its purest form. With a TIDAL HiFi subscription, you have the ability to stream 48.5 million tracks in lossless quality. Lossless content is uncompressed CD quality music, you hear the music the way the artists intended for their content to be heard. TIDAL now offers Master Quality Authenticated technology, which is a way of compressing digital music without limitations to deliver guaranteed master-quality sound. This allows subscribers to hear music just as it was recorded in the studio; an audio experience as the artist intended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Hey hey, my my Neil Young can stream in Hi-Fi This pertains to the new Neil Young Archives Quote As Young says in his blog post, “an MP3 file will stream from 60 up to 320 kpbs, a 44.1kHz/16bit (CD) at about 700 kpbs, and a high-res 192kHz/24bit recording at 2500 to 6000 kbps.” Now to connect a PC's audio out to a C4 controller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 1 hour ago, zaphod said: Hey hey, my my Neil Young can stream in Hi-Fi This pertains to the new Neil Young Archives Now to connect a PC's audio out to a C4 controller. it won't matter if you don't have advanced audio enabled on the control Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 What would be the best way to get high res audio from a PC to C4? Digital Coax in to an EA-3 or EA-5? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Just now, zaphod said: What would be the best way to get high res audio from a PC to C4? Digital Coax in to an EA-3 or EA-5? if I recall, you have HC-300's in your project, so you are not using Advanced Audio, so it won't matter how you cable it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 True, but I have been buying up HC-250s on eBay to replace the 300s -seems kind of strange that a 250 is more current than a 300. One of these days I will upgrade my primary controller to an EA-3 or EA-5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 1 hour ago, zaphod said: seems kind of strange that a 250 is more current than a 300 Because of the used number? 250 is less than 300? Because their actual release dates and realitve processing power certainly do make 'sense' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Yes, because you would think that a 300 is "better" than a 250. Was the 250 released before the 300 - it doesn't look like it as the 250 is much newer looking in terms of design. And the 250 has HDMI while the 300 does not. I do realize that the 300 was more of a higher end controller in its day - like when I installed my system in about 2008. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 16 minutes ago, zaphod said: Yes, because you would think that a 300 is "better" than a 250. Was the 250 released before the 300 - it doesn't look like it as the 250 is much newer looking in terms of design. And the 250 has HDMI while the 300 does not. I do realize that the 300 was more of a higher end controller in its day - like when I installed my system in about 2008. 300 is a lot older sonic30101 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonic30101 Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Hc300 is 5 years older than a 250 msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 As per above, the 300 was released WELL before the HC250. And the 300 was never 'higher end' either. The 'line' of the time was 200 300 500 and 1000. For all intends and purposes the 200/300/500 weren't specifically 'better' and more or less on the same field. The difference lay more in the number of i/o and existence of an internal hdd or not. the 200 was a BIT weaker but not by much to the point that they had the same index level - the 300 and 500 were essentially the same device as far as processor etc was concerned. It was only the 1000 that was a real 'master' controller intended only for the larger systems. The HC250, while arguably a replacement for the 200, is in all respects far more capable than anything than the 1000 from previous gens. Off the top of my head, the HC200,300 and 500 were all indexed at 100, the later HC200b/300c at 130 the HC1000 at 1000. The hc250 was indexed at 500 while the HC800 was 1800. These were rough index number meant for quick comparison only and certainly are not all-telling (for example the HC250 acted faster for audio server processing than the hc1000 did when used as a main controller) but it gives you a bit of an idea on their relative 'power'. No I do not remember seeing a similar index report for the EA series before anyone asks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMHarman Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 The HC1000 should be da bomb then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 3 minutes ago, SMHarman said: The HC1000 should be da bomb then! it was - just like the model T was back in the day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 5 minutes ago, SMHarman said: The HC1000 should be da bomb then! Except that the HC1000 had ZERO i/o. And yes relative to the rest of the generation it was FAR superior. Frankly systems running on an HC500 or 300 could easily start seeing slowdowns in control etc, whereas the HC1000 never had an issue running a system regardless of size. Of course, the 800 already outclassed it and while I've seen no index comparison as stated, I would expect the EA1 probably has a higher rating than the HC1000 if compared in a similar way. 'Course your average KIA these days will leave even the best vehicle from the Model T days in the dust in speed, acceleration, safety, cargo space and comfort. (the T wasn't exactly top the bill - it's recognized for being the first affordable vehicle, not the BEST vehicle of it's time, though arguably the more reliable, say like a Honda Civic ) msgreenf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMHarman Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Guys. I thought the emojis would be enough to highlight the sarcasm of basing model number on performance. So should the HC800 have been an HC1800 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 10 minutes ago, SMHarman said: Guys. I thought the emojis would be enough to highlight the sarcasm of basing model number on performance. So should the HC800 have been an HC1800 I got it, just felt like expanding on it SMHarman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMHarman Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 I got it, just felt like expanding on itI'm looking forward to the HC9000.I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 When d 32 minutes ago, SMHarman said: I'm looking forward to the HC9000. I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that. When does that Announcement play on your system? SMHarman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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