Hi everyone, I’ve an Anthem MRX 1140 AV Receiver. Unfortunately this amp does not BYBASS its own internal DAC and uses its own internal DAC no matter what source we connect. Now I bought myself a Naim Atom HDMI version. Actually I bought it mostly to use with my headphones but I also want to use it with Anthem Receiver. I wonder if I can overcome the problem of using only the internal DAC of Anthem by connecting Naim to Anthem via HDMI? Or what do you recommend me to use the internal DAC of Naim Atom in Anthem AVR in my current situation? If I connect Naim Atom to Anthem MRX 1140 via HDMI, can I overcome the problem of Anthem only using its own internal DAC? Or, in my current situation, what do you recommend me to use Naim Atom’s internal DAC on Anthem AVR?
Thank you in advance to everyone who takes the time to answer, and I apologize for my bad English.
Also, what sources are you wanting to listen to through the atom?
If these are Blu-ray, PlayStation and others with visual content, you would normally connect the atom to your television by either hdmi arc (again set to pcm stereo) or by optical.
I’ve a large flac and dsd files in my QNAP I just want to listen to these sources on my B&W 802 Diamond speakers connected to anthem mrx 1140. So is a TV necessary? Wouldn’t an Anthem MRX 1140 AVR with ARC do the same job?
You don’t need to run the music on your NAS through an AV system. Just run a UPnP server on it and the Atom will discover it over your home network.
Most NAS are bundled with a suitable UPnP server which can handle music files, or you may prefer to install a dedicated music server such as Asset.
Of course, if your AV amp is getting in the way, this may not be possible. Dedicated HiFi for music and AV systems often do not make good bedfellows.
If your AV amp has a UPnP server input it should also be able to access the NAS over your network.
Alternatively, connect the Atom preamp output to an analogue input on the AV receiver with an RCA cable.
This is a beast of a surround sound system amplifier. Are you not watching movies and tv with it giving you a home cinema experience?
I’m not sure why you want to bring an atom into the mix, what does it do that the anthem doesn’t do?
First of all, thank you for taking the time to write your opinions. As you said, MRX 1140 is a beast for cinema, but the answer to your question is hidden in the sentence: it is a beast for cinema, not for stereo If we talk about stereo, Naim Atom DAC is definitely a better DAC than Anthem, that’s why I asked for a solution from friends
As you said, my aim is not to reach the source, of course I can reach it via the AV receiver, but my aim is to disable the AV receiver internal DAC and receive sound only via the Naim DAC. Since my speakers are connected to the AV receiver and the AV receiver does not allow external DACs, my only solution for now is to solve the problem via HDMI.
Have you tried atom pre out into the anthem line level analogue input?
If your speakers are powered by the anthem, then the only solution would be source > atom > pre out > analogue input > anthem > speakers.
Yes, I understand that. The analogue output from the Atom of course uses the Atom’s DAC, so a connection from there to the AV receiver analogue input would be the obvious solution.
Does the receiver digitize the analogue inputs? This is not unusual, and if it does, the internal DAC cannot by avoided.
The HDMI input is digital, so as far as I’m aware you cannot avoid the DAC in the receiver if you use it.
It seems you are trying to solve an issue, which you haven’t offered any evidence exists.
Perhaps you can explain why you bought an Atom, when it was primarily for headphone listing - in which case why not an Atom HE?
Neither Atom ro Atom HE offers a digital out versus the digital output available by its predecessor, the Uniti Qute(2).
Atom versus Anthem, do your listening tests suggest that one has a vastly better DAC v the other with an inferior DAC?
Your listening, is the only one that matters, not following reviews or the opinions of others.
Based on the recommendations from my dealers, I rather suspect that there is not a great deal of difference between these manufacturers.
Recognise your enthusiasm, but as others have mentioned, it sounds like you are trying to mix and match, when these units are superb in their own right. Best to feed flac files into the Anthem via a server on your NAS.
Incidentally your profile is not completed, so we have no knowledge of your full AV system.
Best use Atom for stereo listening and enjoy your AV system; wise advice from others.
Anthem in AV system here, with Naim for stereo.
I didn’t get the headphone version of Atom because I bought it second hand and I didn’t have a choice. Actually, I’m not trying to solve a non-existent problem, I’m just telling you the equipment I have and asking if it’s possible to do what I have in mind. Anthem’s dac is not a bad dac, but Naim Atom stereo is an all in one and it’s not hard to foresee that the dac is better than Anthem in terms of stereo. Naim hasn’t arrived by cargo yet, but I had the chance to try Naim Atom for a short time with a friend before and I really liked it. The reason why my profile is not complete is because I became a member of this site just to ask this question, so if I knew that posting a system picture or explaining it in detail was so important, I would have added all the system pictures without opening the title
If we talk about stereo, Naim Atom DAC is definitely a better DAC than Anthem, that’s why I asked for a solution from friends 