amp recommendation with bose am10

[thelivingflesh]

Hello, previously i was using am10 with s pioneer VSX-531D playing Master audio and true hd files.
The response was perfect and i was happy. the only problem i had a couple of times with multiplae amps was the HDMI ports. some would stop functioning , some had other problems.

I was thinking of ditching the hdmi and going with good old optical this time. optical would only have simple dts though.

My question was that if i went with a denon or marantz dts only amplifier, the SOUND QUALITY/ DETAIL i.e surround sound details. would they be better? the same or worse.

all my movies are 4k with truehd or master audio, i can plug the hdmi directly into the tv and get the optical out but i need some advice on the sound quality i mentioned above, generally isnt marantz or denon better sounding than pioneer.

IF someone can kindly shed some light on it. thankyou very much.

 

[Sergeauckland]

The digital side of the various amps will be indistinguishable, as digital audio is now, and has been for a good many years completely transparent. Whether Marantz, Denon or whoever, the digital decoding side will be fine.

As far as the analogue audio side goes, there may be differences, but you can't say that Marantz or Denon is better or worse than Pioneer, it depends totally on the individual designs. Generally, if there are differences, it will be in the way the power amp section interacts with the loudspeaker. Unfortunately, the Bose specification says nothing about the minimum impedance of the AM10s, but they are nominally 8 ohms loudspeakers, so even if their impedance drops to 4 ohms, any half-decent amp rated to 4 ohms should be fine.

Going away from HDMI is probably sensible, not because of audio quality, but because of reliability as there are plenty of reports of HDMI not working.

I would chose an amplifier that has the facilities you need, is rated for 4 ohm loudspeakers, and don't worry about sound quality as it'll be fine.

S.

 

[chris_w]

Check the spec of your HDMI cable it should be a v1.4 or v2.x one to pass the correct digital audio channels. Also double check the Amp can handle all the audio protocols it is being sent.