The ATI amp is better than the smaller receiver amp, so will sound a little better, especially at higher volumes ad/or larger more complicated music or heavy low frequency music. The power supply and output devices of the ATI are more robust than in the HK receiver.
But using the SB's built in volume attenuator instead of a preamp will cause the sound quality to suffer. The reason is that the volume control in the SB is digital, happens before the analog output stage, and has no effect of the analog noise added to the signal after DAC, and inside the SB analog noise is significant due to the plasma display and computer and networking parts. When the SB volume control is at maximum (40), the signal to noise ratio is very good, comparable to most great quality consumer CD players, like stock denon, etc. When you lower the volume in software, the unattenuated analog noise becomes higher in relation to the music and S/N is greatly reduced. A preamp is better at attentuating the signal without reducing S/N than the SB volume control, so a real preamp should be used to control volume in a system which is striving for audiophile sound. You don't have to spend a lot of money either. If your HK has preamp outputs (tape out is close enough if you don't have a pure pre out,) you could use only the preamp section of the receiver to control volume, and send the attenuated signal to the ATI amps after attenuation. Even though the HK preamp stage is not sexy enough for some audiophiles, I'm sure it is good enough for a source like SB and good quality budget amps like the ATIs and your only cost will be an additional set of interconnects. Try bluejeanscable.com for great value on ICs. If you want a better performance preamp, consider building one from plans at ESP. http://sound.westhost.com/index.html, or pickup a mid-fi preamp on Ebay. Maybe an old McIntosh, etc. Depends on the kind of music you listen to and your ears and quality standards whether a higher performance preamp will really be worth it to you. Some people think the preamp is the heart of the system. It can make a big difference in the subtle aspects which become more important as your ears and taste evolve in the hobby. The best way to learn is to trial a good hifi amp from your dealer or by mail order and see if you hear the difference. Some great ones to demo are van alstine, modwright and placette. Or join a local audio club and bring your HK to a meet to see what it does to the host system's sound. If you don't hear a difference, you are a very lucky man and can just sit back and enjoy the music in peace :) Good luck!!! Rich -- richidoo ------------------------------------------------------------------------ richidoo's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3097 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=29859 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
