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rotel RSX1055 vs Denon 2803

#1
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1/28/08 at 1:25pm
  • Joined: December 2007
  • Post Count: 23
Hi, I am looking to buy the Rotel RSX1055 and B&W CDM 9NT speakers from an individual. Now, I have a second thought on the RSX1055.

The RSX1055 is about CAD 850, where the Denon 2808CI is about CAD 1200. I believe the RSX1055 is a better product from reading the reviews, but the Denon is a 3 years latter model with DTS HD, and I believe Rotel pair up better with B&W speaker. I also plan to upgrade to BD later, so, DTS HD is a plus. But even for RSX1055, I can still enjoy the HD sound with a player which can decode the signal and output as 5.1 analog. So, which option I should go for?

Option 1:
get the Rotel and a BD player with HD sound encoder, or

Option 2:
the Denon and a BD player without HD sound encoder

I think the price will end up the same because BD with encoder may be 400 more than those without. For option 1, the player will take off the encoding load from the receiver, is it better?
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#2
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1/28/08 at 4:33pm
  • Joined: August 2004
  • Post Count: 180

Re: rotel RSX1055 vs Denon 2803

I would buy Rotel over Denon anyday. $850 is bit too much though!!
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#3
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1/28/08 at 11:35pm
  • Joined: December 2007
  • Post Count: 23

Re: rotel RSX1055 vs Denon 2803

Girish, thanks for your reply. Yup, I got the Rotel receiver. I know it is a bit too much, because people are selling at Audiogon for 550. But that's in the states, and people don't ship to Canada. If I buy from Audiogon, I need to pay shipping, plus need to ship to my friend's place, then I have to make a 2 hour trip down, and I may charged for tax and duties when I cross the boarder. It's very sad that things are always more expensive in Canada.
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#4
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1/29/08 at 11:28am
  • Joined: January 2008
  • Post Count: 25

Re: rotel RSX1055 vs Denon 2803

Quote:
I believe the RSX1055 is a better product from reading the reviews,

Don't beleive that since we know better from ultra high end processors like lexicon and mcintosh. Lossless audio on a new receiver from a high def source is going to sound far better then what that rotel can produce.
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#5
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1/30/08 at 11:50am
  • Joined: December 2007
  • Post Count: 23

Re: rotel RSX1055 vs Denon 2803

Hi Bob,

Thanks, although it is too late that I already buy the Rotel receiver, I still want to understand your point. What is lossless audio? Is it an audio format on the CD (like XRCD)? Does it require a specific type of player or receiver? How can I tell if a player or receiver can handle lossless audio? I will do some more research also.

Thanks.

Alex
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#6
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1/30/08 at 2:11pm
  • Joined: December 2007
  • Post Count: 23

Re: rotel RSX1055 vs Denon 2803

Sorry, I just found out the new model from Denon which has DTS-HD is 2808CI
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#7
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1/31/08 at 6:57am
  • Joined: November 2003
  • Location: Ontario
  • Post Count: 371

Re: rotel RSX1055 vs Denon 2803

Alex, I think you did the wise choice.

About a year ago I was in a similar boat. I ended up getting a RSX-1067 with B&W set-up knowing full well DTS-HD and the like was literally just around the corner. Like you, I've opted to get a BD player that decodes to feed the 1067 and it sounds simply amazing.

As a comparison, I have auditioned the Denon 2808CI at a friends house on Paradigm speakers (so not a apples to apples comparsion also considering the BD player was different and room configuration was different) but I still feel the sound from my system was heaps better. Personal bias? Perhaps, but I know what I like.

JB
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#8
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2/3/08 at 10:18am
  • Joined: July 2006
  • Location: I live over there.
  • Post Count: 1,306

Re: rotel RSX1055 vs Denon 2803

Quote:
Originally Posted by Asahikasei
Don't beleive that since we know better from ultra high end processors like lexicon and mcintosh. Lossless audio on a new receiver from a high def source is going to sound far better then what that rotel can produce.
Who's "we"?
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#9
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2/3/08 at 11:04pm
  • Joined: December 2007
  • Post Count: 23

Re: rotel RSX1055 vs Denon 2803

I did some research and am a bit confused. From my research, lossless audio are compression formats that promise to be as good as the original. So, if someone put in a CD and use one of those formats to compress it, then I download and burn it back on a CD, the quality should be the same. So .. how can a processor that plays those lossless audio formats can be better than playing a CD? The best I can think of is that it eliminates the moving parts in a CD player and so less distortion. But thanks for the posting, I learn something new. Now, instead of looking for MP3, I am looking for APE or FLAC files
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#10
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2/4/08 at 5:05am
  • Joined: January 2008
  • Post Count: 46

Re: rotel RSX1055 vs Denon 2803

What he means by lossless format is audio codecs such as DTS-HD and Dolby True HD. There is no loss in audio quality hence the term lossless.

Hope that helps a little.. Or at least now you know what to research.
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#11
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2/4/08 at 5:39am
  • Joined: August 2002
  • Location: Mass
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Re: rotel RSX1055 vs Denon 2803

Quote:
Originally Posted by gte357s
I did some research and am a bit confused. From my research, lossless audio are compression formats that promise to be as good as the original. So, if someone put in a CD and use one of those formats to compress it, then I download and burn it back on a CD, the quality should be the same. So .. how can a processor that plays those lossless audio formats can be better than playing a CD? The best I can think of is that it eliminates the moving parts in a CD player and so less distortion. But thanks for the posting, I learn something new. Now, instead of looking for MP3, I am looking for APE or FLAC files

No you've got it all wrong. Movie soundtracks are originally mixed to a master recording. This master is the highest fidelity possible. DD and DTS are compressed soundtracks derived from this master recording. Because DD and DTS are lossy compression formats, they have to throw some of the original fidelity away in order to shrink the soundtrack files to a manageble size,(think a CD original vs. an MP3 copy). So when DD/DTS are decoded (or 'uncompressed') the sound is not exactly like the original master.

TrueHD and DTS-MA are lossless compression. They don't compress as much as DD/DTS, but they also don't require you to throw anything away. This means you can compress the original master recording to a TrueHD/DTS-MA file and when you decode it, it is the exact some sound as the master.
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#12
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2/4/08 at 10:19am
  • Joined: December 2007
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Re: rotel RSX1055 vs Denon 2803

I am on the other side of lossless audio that is for CD. For the DTS HD and True HD, that's something I already know. I know the receiver cannot process those formats, but the work around is to have a DVD player that has decoder of these formats and output as 5.1 analog to the Rotel receiver. Would this be the same as having the receiver doing the decoding?
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