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Post by Slinger on Sept 20, 2019 12:29:05 GMT
My wallet has made most of the decisions for me, Martin.  |
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Post by Slinger on Sept 28, 2019 12:42:31 GMT
I'm using my Chromecast for the first time since I moved it from the TV to an input on the Yamaha AV amp, and gave it a nice new AudioQuest Forest USB lead to power it. The difference is observable, and it is positive. The Yamaha is happily upsampling from 1080p to 4K and it definitely improves the definition. Obviously it's still dependant on the source material, and I'm not going to try and kid you that it's a "night-and-day" change, but it is observable using one of my regular sources. I'm not (by a long chalk) convinced that the AudioQuest USB lead has anything to do with the improvement, but it does give me a nice warm feeling of "completeness," or at least it will do when I can lay hands on a bargain-price 1.5m AudioQuest Cinnamon HDMI lead.  Bottom line: If you've got an AV amp that upsamples, and you use Chromecast, I heartily recommend combining the two if you don't already. Actually, I'd give it a go whether your amp is capable of upsampling or not. |
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Post by Slinger on Oct 5, 2019 13:11:52 GMT
My final report on the Yamaha: It's an excellent piece of kit, absolutely brilliant in fact, given the price. I still haven't explored everything it can do but I'm incredibly pleased with what it's doing so far. With the addition of the AudioQuest HDMI leads (not to mention the USB and the optical leads), the picture is pin-sharp and the sound is good too, but with a little room for (achievable, I believe) improvement. I need to explore the sound settings more fully. I was watching England Ladies play Brazil at footy earlier, and the best way I can describe the picture is: You know when you go into a shop (Remember those?) and all of the TVs on display are showing special content and are switched to a special "display" mode to make them look their absolute best? That's what it looks like (dependant what it's being fed, obviously) all of the time now. I've currently got it set it to upsample 1080p to 4K, and I have no intention of changing that. It works. The footy, at the moment, has that "3D-look" quality about it. I'm still looking for the very last piece of the jigsaw which is a 1m, or even better a 1.5m, AudioQuest Cinnamon (or better) HDMI lead, to replace the QED Performance HDMI-P lead I'm using at the moment. I'm happy to wait until a "used bargain" pops up for that though. I don't even know if it will make a huge improvement, but it will mean that the cables are all of uniform quality. Who knows, maybe there's some sort of magical cumulative effect? Yeah. No. Overall I'm extremely happy and although I've ended up spending over half as much again on cables as I spent on the amp itself that would appear to have been a worthwhile experiment too. I would definitely recommend the Yamaha RX-V485 for a small 5.1 home AV setup. |
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Post by Slinger on Oct 16, 2019 19:31:07 GMT
Another little piece of the jigsaw: I've just picked up a 0.6m Audioquest Chocolate 4K HDMI Cable on eBay. It will replace the 1m Cinnamon currently running between the Yamaha and the Freesat box, which in turn will replace the QED lead currently feeding the TV. That will make almost all of my AV cabling Audioquest. All I need is an AQ sub-woofer lead and then I'll be done... as much as any of us are ever "done" anyway. |
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Post by MartinT on Oct 16, 2019 20:22:21 GMT
Where is Chocolate in the range, Paul? Haven't come across that one.
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Post by Slinger on Oct 16, 2019 20:37:54 GMT
The HDMI cables seem to run Pearl, Forest, Cinnamon, Chocolate, Carbon, Vodka, Coffee, and Diamond. There's also a " Cherry Cola Active Optical" cable @ £589.00 for the minimum 5m length up to £939.00 for a 30m cable. I'm pleased to say I scored a pretty serious bargain with the Chocolate. |
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Post by Slinger on Oct 21, 2019 15:10:51 GMT
Time to drag the AV gear out and perform (hopefully for the last time) some cable swapping.  |
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Post by Slinger on Oct 28, 2019 17:16:01 GMT
I lied. I've just picked up a 1m AudioQuest Carbon HDMI lead for twenty-eight quid on eBay which will end up linking the Yamaha and the TV.
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Post by Slinger on Nov 26, 2019 15:34:38 GMT
As this has more-or-less turned into some sort of system blog for my AV setup, I thought I'd add this... While buying some bits and bobs on AliExpress a while back I got tempted by optical HDMI leads, so I ordered one, and this has just arrived.  Obviously, most of the old tosh on the box is marketing hype, but what interests me is that although, ostensibly, developed for longer-than-usual runs the format is supposed to give superior results whatever the length of cable one uses, simply because they're not susceptible to electromagnetic interference (EMI) or radio frequency interference (RFI). I certainly couldn't afford to pay £400+ for an AudioQuest cable, and even the sixty-quid or so on Amazon for a decent-looking Chinese cable was, I thought, a bit excessive to try just on a whim. However, when you can pick up the selfsame Chinese cable on AliExpress for £37.73... I shall slot it in between the Yamaha and the telly, replacing an AQ Cinnamon, so that all of my sources are ultimately routed through it, and then give it a few days to see if I actually notice any difference. To be honest, even if the quality remains the same I'll be pleased, and in a way I hope it's not better, because then I'd have to replace all of my AudioQuest HDMI cabling, wouldn't I? |
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Post by MartinT on Nov 26, 2019 15:54:40 GMT
Now that's just asking to spend more money on your system!
You should start a proper system blog. I can move the non-Yamaha posts over to it.
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Post by Slinger on Nov 26, 2019 16:34:18 GMT
... You should start a proper system blog... Hell no! Then I really would be forced to do stuff, just to keep the blog going.  Unless the optical HDMI cables do something amazing I'm done with the system now. Until I decide to upgrade the front speakers, and then maybe the centre speaker... |
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Post by Slinger on Nov 27, 2019 21:57:06 GMT
I've had the new optical cable in for a while, and as it's optical I feel fairly confident in assuming it doesn't need time to burn in. It's a nicely made cable, and the fit is nice and snug, but I don't think it's quite as good as the AQ Cinnamon I took out. There's not much in it, if anything to be truthful, but I feel that the AQ gives a slightly "richer" picture. I'll leave the Moshou optical in for a few days, but at the moment it's looking like I'll be putting the AQ back in place.
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Post by Slinger on Apr 3, 2020 21:51:51 GMT
I thought I might as well recycle this thread, as it's AV related. I've just picked up a new centre speaker to replace my venerable old Mission 77c with its passive radiator. I've bought a rather nice Monitor Audio Silver 10i, which used to retail for £400+ if I remember correctly. It was dirt-cheap and the seller was accepting offers, so I managed to talk him out of another £10.00. Total cost £115 + £10.00 carriage = 1 x Happy Bunny  |
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Post by Slinger on Apr 7, 2020 16:14:43 GMT
Mew centre speaker received and installed. It makes a difference. I hadn't realised quite how "boxy" the Mission sounded but the clarity of the MA Silver really shows it up, speech is crystal clear. I haven't given it a full 5.1 workout yet, but I'm confident it's going to sound great.
On a side note: I'm getting too old to clamber up and down sets of steps lugging a surprisingly heavy speaker. I'm almost dreading swapping out my ES12s to try my MA Silver 2s in their place, they weigh even more, but I really want to hear how much of a difference they make.
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Unless the optical HDMI cables do something amazing I'm done with the system now. Until I decide to upgrade the front speakers, and then maybe the centre speaker...