Integra DHC-80.3 - Page 2

Glad there is a thread on this unit.

I am considering it as a replacement in my system, and am trying to come to grips with what it offers as opposed to, say, the Pioneer SC-57 at a much lower price, with the same processing (and same power output as the DTR Integra).

When I say pretty much, the Pioneer spec is 140 watts, while the Integra in the DTR version is 145, but I think they tend to add 5 watts to whatever the Onkyo versions have regardless of actual measurement - or am I being too cynical.

Question is whether the features are the same. Clearly the Integra wins on appearance, but I have always valued performance more than appearance.

Aside from the clicking problem, I haven't seen much problem with the 80.2 reviews. I'll keep an eye on this thread to help me figure out if the Integra is a better performer than, say, the Pioneer, and worth the higher price.

PS - I know Pio relies on their own room set up program rather than Audyssey, but I prefer to use my own stuff or rather the gear and programmes of a friend who is a pro installer) to do set up anyway).

This thread is for the DHC (pre/pro) not the DTR (reciever).

Yup, I'm aware of that, which is why I mentioned the receiver version as being comparable to the Pioneer unit.

Considerations of sound processing are identical whether you are talking about the DTR or the prepro.

Would someone PM me the MSRP & your acquisition cost on this unit?

Thank you!!!

The MSRP: $2600

+1 on what cost has been gotten... PM me also if possible...

thanks

ditto! I know my local dealer will want MSRP.

Based on my past dealings I've been able to haggle dealers (none in particular) to 15% off MSRP credit, or 20% off MSRP cash.

Can you send me that in a PM? Lol... just kidding.

Hi Guys

Do you have any idea how to get this unit in Canada?

Thanks in advance

Ricardo

You can go to your local dealer and be charged $3500 if you want lol!
And they wonder why people don't shop at dealer anymore

What I would suggest is drive down to the US - head to a decent dealer, pay cash US dollars and then install the Preamp into the dash of your car - they will never notice that its there.....

Hows that sound - ?

Would love to hear some reviews

A pleasant surprise is FM radio. The FM tuner is much better than the one in the Integra DHC-40.2, my previous prepro. I live in a condo, no exterior antennas allowed. I can listen to the local jazz station 88.3 just using the wire Integra provides for an antenna. I simply hung it vertically so it is omnidirectional. No hiss, no static! This was impossible with the 40.2.

Hey Beto3645 run it thru its paces and keep us in the loop for those clicks. I upgraded to an Onkyo a few months back and took it back because I hated those random clicks. The dealer gave my no static at all, he was familiar with the issue and took it back.

Does anyone know if Onkyo will be making its version of this unit like it did for the 80.2?

I had a real detailed image of the back of the DHC-80.3 so that the interested parties can get a good look. Despite that it was going to get buried on page 2 of this thread it seemed to really bother somebody that the image was to large. I totally forgot that not everybody has high speed and it might of slowed the loading time on his machine so I just removed it all together.

No random clicks so far!

I am going on a trip and will be away for two weeks. I will report back when I have logged in many more hours of use.

Dude Seriously - think you could edit your picture to a smaller version !!!
I suggest just a link to said SUPER HUGE picture....

Do you really need to post a pic of the rear of this unit at full scale ?!?!

Hi All,

Just received my Integra DHC-80.3 yesterday. Haven't had a chance to install it yet, but will do so today. However, not all of the pieces have arrived yet (XLR cabling and such), but will jury rig it today with RCA intereconnects from Radio Shack . Anyone read the Stereophile columnist article about using Radio Shack $5 RCA interconnects as compared to some uber stupid expensive RCA interconnects? Iron Horse!

To answer some basic questions... My setup:

Integra DHC-80.3 (obviously)
Parasound Halo A52
Parasound Halo A23 (Bi-amp function only)
Paradigm Studio 100 mains
Paradigm Studio CC-590 center
Paradigm Studio ADP-590 Surrounds
Paradigm Studio Sub 12
Mac mini (iCore 7 setup, August 2011 version), with Pure Music add in to iTunes.
Apple TV.
Synology DS411 +II (previously acquired for my UNIX/Mac/PC compute setup - going to try the iTunes/DLNA aspect eventually...)

Probable hardware addition:
Benchmark DAC1 USB (we'll see how the DHC-80.3 does first... the DHC-80.3 does have XLR inputs!)
Oppo BDP-95

Some background... I've haven't had a real audio grade system for 20+ years and decided last October to get a "decent" system for HT and 2 channel digital music. Initial Budget: $2500. Kinda blew through that in the first week, realizing Best Buy didn't have the products I was looking. And where are all of the other audio stores?

The speakers came first... I know, a bit backwards. But the sound that came out of these speakers, far better than anything else I had previously heard. The Signature Series were even more jaw dropping, alas, must be reasonable I thought, and exercise some financial restraint, somewhere. Doubling down for the Signatures, well, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. In the same shop, I heard the Magico Q's and I had to just leave. I swore at the owner... $160K for that setup and it takes 20 minutes to "warm up", are you friggin' nuts! OK! $120K tops... and the receptionist. Oh, to be young again.

I demo'ed the Denon 4311CI for the last couple of weeks and was impressed with the video, well, mostly. Netflix, via AppleTV and via the Denon, on some source material was "grainy", something I never saw before going direct to the TV. The audio processing capabilities were very good, especially with a DVD/BD source (what I wanted). However, the amp inside just wasn't cutting it, IMHO. It spent most of it's time at the 70 - 80% volume level (absolute), just to get a decent volume level of it. Paradigm dealers warned me about burning up tweeters (via clipping with marginal amps) and I was a bit puckered up that I might be doing damage to my 100's and CC-590. At the end of the day, I just didn't think the 4311CI was making the 100's come alive. Live and learn... and pony up $80 to ship it back.

And so, the Integra DHC-80.3 and the Parasound Halo's. I won't bother you with the amp decision process (couldn't justify the Anthems A/P series or more pricier units, even though...), but I did have a bit of a tough time between the 80.3 and the Marantz AVR 7005. The 7005 simply lost out due to the Anchor Bay 2015 video processor and the Audyssey XT. The Denon 4311CI had the Anchor Bay 2015 (see above) and thought it good enough for most material, but I do think the HQV Vida has better fundamentals (read about its genesis with Lockheed, something I know about in my work life; however, how it works in this setup remains to be seen). And DHC-80.3 has the Audyssey MultEQ XT32 processing (+ Pro) and 192K / 32-Bit Burr-Brown DACs. Never learned what the 7005 had for DAC's.

But the DHC-80.3 has its issues... ?clicking? and ?volume control knob? issues. What this about? Is this an Onkyo QA issue? Is this a fundamental design flaw issue? Well, I spoke with an Integra Sales Engineer (operative word is "engineer" as oppose to "marketing") earlier in the year, before the 80.3 series was released for GA. I brought up these issues to him and was told this... "I can tell you we have sold more than a thousand DTR-80.2's and twice as many DHC-80.2's and the failure rate has been below 2%, and of those, 72% of the ones returned have had no problems found on the bench." He wouldn't give the exact numbers but when he and I talked... from what I could gather, out of 22 DTR-80.2 returned units this year, he said 15 of them came in and no fault was found after they tested them on the bench. He also said... "The only real issues I have seen on AV gear in general is the HDMI handshake process... which I feel by design is poor no matter what piece of gear we are speaking about." The HDMI bus, as it pertains to devices interacting, can be a problem. And look first to your HDMI cabling if you are having problems. There aren't any "real" physical Quality standards in the HDMI cabling industry. So buy the best HDMI cable you can from a reputable manufacturer and those expensive HDMI cables, well, aren't really any better per se.

So, I bought Blue Jean HDMI cables and have "borrowed" three Kimber Kable HD29 cables from my Integra dealer, you know, gotta demo it first. Honestly, I don't think I will see/experience any difference as I think the Blue Jean HDMI cables I have are very good. We'll see, and hear, soon enough.

About this "clicking" noise... I am not sure what every one is talking about, but the Denon had clicking too. Not midstream, during any playback, but when changing anything with regards to the audio setup. I was changing the audio setup midstream during music and BD playback and there was this definite "loud, clicking" noise. I am not sure if this is the same as to what Integra owners are talking about, but I always expected this to happen - its the nature of the beast. I guess I will find out shortly what this "clicking" noise is all about.

Well, time to get cabling. I'll do my best to inform this thread of my experiences and issues. AND I will make an effort to keep my "chattiness" to a minimum.

Oh, one last thing... Another reason I went with the Integra DHC-80.3 instead of the Marantz AV 7005 was cost. I cannot return the Integra as I could with the Marantz, and so this was/is a real risk to me. I only paid a couple of hundred bucks more for the Integra and my dealer swears he'll nail Integra against the wall, if need be, should undesireable issues arise.

I hope the Integra will prove to be a sound purchase, 'cause I ain't going the Anthem D2 route! I'd have to "sell" my current receptionist to make that happen.

Sparcs

I am glad you made a decision, and explained your choices you were thinking over, I think it helps others that are looking at similar preamps.

Now back to the clicking noise, I heard a little bit about this before I got my Onkyo version of the Integra 80.2, but assumed it was just a few bad units.
Then I hooked up my Onkyo and there was that annoying click, I was getting it every 10 to 20 minutes. I was not changing audio set up nor channels, just watching a movie and this click noise would happen. After that I read a few more post, and being that I just got the unit I decided to take it back the very next day. I mostly got the noise from the cable box, but I also got it from a Blu-ray just not as frequent.

Right now I am looking at upgrading my Lexicon MC-8 and I am considering the Denon, Integra, and Marantz but this time I am taking my time to make sure Integra has no major audio or video glitches I can't live with.

I just picked up an 80.3 today from a local retailer (Evolution Audio Video in Agoura Hills -- highly recommended if you're in the area) and here's a quick observation on the clicking. I have an 80.1 which is driving me nuts with the random clicking while watching DirecTV (it doesn't happen on Blu-ray or any other source). What's more annoying is that it can't find the DD stream after fast forwarding through the commercials where it would revert to ProLogic instead. I'm happy to report so far that the new 80.3 seems to have solved these issues. There's an occasional soft click when changing channels but it's nowhere near the intensity of the old unit. And when the programming switches from ProLogic to DD, it's totally silent when it switches streams (like when a program starts on HBO) and there's no dropout in audio to boot. I haven't totally set it up yet because it might be a few weeks before Audyssey adds the 80.3 to their pro setup software (I have the pro installers kit). So far so good.

Update: I just noticed a soft audio dropout while watching the baseball playoffs on TBS... but the 80.3 did not make the clicking sound (the Dolby Digital readout on the display also blinked off and then back on). I believe the dropout might be a problem with my DirecTV receiver but it seems the 80.3 handles it way better.

When I was there, Jay said that it was amazing that he had just received the unit and then I showed up. (He thought I needed another Integra, as I now have a 9.9, 80.1 & 80.2) Glad you got out the door with it; hope you enjoy it.

All this talk with the clicking is funny. You almost eliminate all the clicking by going into the menu and change the listening mode presets to one listening mode. I have selected PIIx for all and don't get any click by changing channels or when commercials come on.

While that may be a solution for some, as a user, I shouldn't have to find a workaround to an issue that no other products have, or one that "mostly" fixes it...

On my 5008, it was wholly annoying to lose the first couple of frames of audio when using a DVR to jump around, or when coming back from a stereo commercial, or etc.... it wasn't the clicking per se that was the issue, it was the audio drops.

And on the 5008, doing what you suggested didn't fix the problem with DirecTV DVR's... when FF or skipping backwards, the Onkyo would lose input (and revert back to PCM) until program played again, hence a drop out and click..

I truly hope this issue is gone.. looking forward to more impressions from new owners.

Yes that's the thing say your watching a 5.1 program and then a commercial comes on that is stereo, the clicking and audio drop out I think comes from the Onkyo turning off the amps and going into stereo mode. By keeping a default listening mode the amps stay on and the clicking and audio drop outs don't happen.

I'm not convinced that it is the amps turning on and off.. that would be foolish to design it that way.

What it seems to indicate, not only by the drop out of audio but the physical, audible "click," is that the DSP processor is indeed being put in and out of the signal path, even outside of Pure Direct/Direct Mode..

Even if it did.. why shouldn't I be able to listen to stereo material as Stereo and 5.1 as 5.1 or 7.1 without having audio drop outs when they switch? And as I also stated, the mode preset "fix" didn't solve the issue on the 5008 I owned.

I've owned almost every manufacturer's AVR's over the last 3 years.. Anthem, Denon, Pioneer, Yamaha, Sherwood, etc.... only the Onkyo suffers this issue, and no amount of "work around" explain why it needs to be this way..

From what we are hearing, it seems as if the 80.3 is a different beast..

I don't have and never had that clicking problem on my current and the older Onkyos (905, 875, 876, 5007), having always set the units to a default listening mode in the setup.

I have an Integra 80.2. I wonder if one of the Integra 80.3 owners would post pics of the 80.3 with the cover removed? I think it looks very similar to the 80.2 http://api.viglink.com/api/click?for...13176242881413

well if you want to be able to listen to a stereo program and have it stay stereo and then to switch off to a 5.1 source be prepared for the the clicking and the audio drops. I simply have given a solution to get rid of the clicks which many people despise. Plus I have a 7.1 setup so why not matrix stereo to 7.1 especially if your annoyed by the clicks. In regards to it not working on your 5008, I haven't had any experience with any of the x008 models as yet, I may pick one up since the pricing has gotten better with the x009 series coming out.

I noticed one thing while cycling through the listening modes you only hear a click when you change from any Dolby/THX/DTS/Onkyo original DSP to the mono,stereo,direct and pure audio. In fact from direct to pure, no clicking occurs. Switching between all Dolby/THX/DTS/Onkyo original DSP don't generate any clicking. Switching from Stereo to Pure does.

Anyways I am just trying to help people enjoy their Onkyo/Integra as best they can, and this seems to be the most talked about annoyance that owners find.

After two days of constant learning and playing, I realized I haven't heard a clicking noise or an audio drop out that wasn't expected. In fact, I am relieved that it works as well as it does. Heck, it works superbly. And the sound is so sweet... Both through the AppleTV, via the Mac Mini iTunes library, and the BD player outputting directly to the 80.3 as well as to a Benchmark DAC1 (borrowed), both inputting into the same optical port on the 80.3. Can't tell the difference... I think I'll save my dollars and not buy a Benchmark DAC.

I played an Apple TV rented movie tonight, listed as being HD. I had set the 80.3 to what I though it should be for this movie. When I started playing the movie, the 80.3 decided I screwed it up and switched into another mode. Perfect. The 80.3 decoded it correctly and the sound that came out was, tail between my legs and head down, what I expected. It too was very sweet sounding. Not once did it drop the audio signal... No clicks, or whatever. Sweet.

My only complaint thus far is the friggin' manual... I'm going to write my own.

Sparcs