I was thinking of adding one of these to my system, BUT having looked at the online manuals, I can see no way of adding my Anthem A/V amp to it, like I do at the moment, using the pre out on the Anthem to one of the analogue inputs on my SGCD. I do NOT want to go down the route of a pre, just to use the one input, and another pair of speakers to make my A/V side a separate thing, rather just have the one box solution. Thoughts?
I don’t quite understand what you are trying to do.
My setup does double duty (stereo and 7.1). My Pre/Pro is an Anthem AVM 50v2. However, the DS Sr. DAC is output to the XLR stereo (analogue) input of the AVM 50.
I think this does exactly what you are tryin’ to accomplish.
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Mk1 and Mk2 are not preamps like SGCD. They do not have analog inputs.
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You want to have a pre that has passthrough. The passthrough is from Anthem. The other inputs would be used for players and the Dac of choice in the Pre. When in passthrough modes the pre does nothing but link the signal from the processor so you can use the L/R with that and in Stereo at a push of a button.
If you Anthem has analog input and a mode that bypasses all processing for TRUE stereo you can plug the dac into that. You did nto say which model you have so I cannot comment if it has it or not.
I have a 5 year old Anthem MRX 520, and just wanting to find a way of connecting it to a MK1 or 2 (undecided yet). It looks like I may have to go with something else, as I know it has no pre amp, as KZK says. In a nutshell, I match the volume of the front speakers, as best I can (driven by the M700’s) with the volume of the rear and centre speakers (driven by the Anthem)
if you are going to invest in a DAC like the MKII or even a good modded MKI you need a good pre. Just my thoughts. Lots of them come with bypass. A good one to use to integrate with a theater is the Parasound Pre 5. They can be had pretty cheap. 7 adds better sound. 6 has the dac dont need that. from there they go up in price fast. Many can be had. But the 5 has the ability to share the sub with your stereo and theater just by changing inputs on it.
Then you have 5 pairs of unbalanced analogue audio inputs.
Fortunately, the DS Sr. and the new MK II DS DAC offer RCA analogue outputs. You should be good to go. Just need to configure a pair of inputs following your manual’s instructions…
The only issue with those is I am not sure that unit has an analog bypass mode. if not all analog would go through A/D and then D/A. I know shome did and some did not.
[@peterthebutcher] In my experience, the value of Anthem Room Correction and the use of ARC does not in any way hinder the performance of the PSA DACs. YMMV, but the A/D - D/A process does not materially degrade the sound (at least in my experience with the AVM50v 2).
That said, I also suspect the MRX 520 allows you to bypass (choose not to engage ARC on an input-assigned basis). Moreover, the analogue inputs are just that, analogue inputs. It is the digital inputs that default to the built in DAC, IME.
A glance or two at the manual for the MRX 520 should sort things out.
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