So what does it do? The DSP E800 is designed to work in tandem with your existing amplifier and provides both a Dolby Digital / DTS decoder and a three channel amplifier to drive the centre and independent rear speakers. The audio signals for the main speakers are output from the DSP E800 for your existing amplifier to amplify. There are two ways to connect the DSP E800 to your system, but I’ll get on to that in a moment.
For AV and audio use, the DSP E800 offers eleven core sound settings. The following sound settings are available for Pro-Logic, DD, and DTS use, depending on your input source and connection:
DPL / DD / DTS General
There are a further five assorted sound settings: Mono Movie; TV Sports; Disco; Rock and Hall. I must say that having tinkered with the non-DD / DTS settings, I was fairly unimpressed with them. The Home Cinema settings for DD / DTS are however excellent, which is, after all, why most people will buy a DSP E800.
For those of you who are interested in the numbers. Equal power is output to the centre, rear left and rear right speakers and the unit is rated at 110w (4 ohms) or 75w (8 ohms) per channel. More importantly however, is the current and with Yamaha’s excellent quality power supply, there heaps of it to go around.
Setting up
There are a two coaxial (IEC958) and three optical (Toslink) inputs available, so plenty of options for connecting your current and future bits of digital ready kit. There are also plenty of standard audio inputs for your non-digital equipment. The DSP E800 also offers plenty of standard composite video, as well as the higher quality s-video, connections.
Connecting the DSP E800 to your existing amplifier is simple enough. You need a standard twin-phono cable for this. You can either connect the “main out” from the DSP E800 directly into your amplifier’s “main in” input, or into a spare “Aux” input. I tried both methods of connection and found the Main Out / Main In connection offered the best results. This method of connection enables you to control the volume across all speakers with the DSP E800’s main volume control – which makes setting individual speaker levels a relatively simple task. Connecting via the “Aux” inputs requires you to set the volume of your amplifier / DSP E800 independently – which is less straightforward. The only benefit I can see in going the “Aux” route, is if you are connecting to a 7 channel amplifier and want to utilise it’s front effect speakers. On balance, I decided not to bother.
Unfortunately, as hard as you might shake the box for audio cables, you’ll not get very far - there aren’t any! This might prove frustrating if you are forced to pinch cables from other equipment to make the connection between the DSP E800 and your Amp. To be quite honest though, you wouldn’t want to use standard “in the box” cables for long and I opted straight away for better quality cable (Ixos 104).
Results
Having set everything up I had a difficult decision to make regarding the first disk to be played on it. So, I went for The Matrix. This film is blessed with a cracking DD soundtrack and I chose three key scenes: the lobby (for the shootout); the rooftop (for the bullet-time and helicopter sequence) and the underground (for the fight scene). Well, the results were phenomenal. Dialogue remained tightly focused on the screen, while the sound effects were directed to the main and effect speakers with consummate ease. The subwoofer packed a punch too in the right places. The seamless way in which the DSP E800 handled the soundtrack was particularly impressive, backed up by ample levels of power and detail.
Having been blown away by the Matrix, I went through a number of other DVDs with good DD 5.1 soundtracks. Fifth Element, Alien, Armageddon (Criterion Collection) and Being John Malkovich. All of which were so much better on this system than through my existing DD TV system. The first 10 minutes of the Armageddon soundtrack really do have to be heard to be believed. Some real sofa-shaking effects there!
I was able to get hold of some DTS demo disks to test out the DTS capabilities of the DSP E800. The DTS demo DVD had key sequences from Eagles: Hell Freezes Over; Saving Private Ryan, The Haunting, Antz and other current DTS DVD releases. Having heard so much about the DTS Saving Private Ryan soundtrack, I skipped straight to that segment. I instantly noticed the difference between DTS and DD. The detail of this soundtrack is quite stunning and effects were placed accurately around the soundstage. Individual bullet shots and ricochets could be heard around you and explosions were gutsy to say the least. In the seven or eight minutes it took to play the SPR segment, I knew a DTS processor was a worthwhile investment. The Eagles segment was also quite excellent, and very …well, musical. Individual vocals and instruments could easily be picked out. The snippets from Antz, Sheryl Crow: Rockin’ The Globe and the Haunting were all similarly brilliant. I haven’t got round to watching the Roy Orbison clip yet ... I wonder why?
Overall, I spent several days playing different disks (in different formats) and failed to be disappointed with any of the results. The DSP E800 handled everything with ease, from Re-Animator’s mono soundtrack to the full-on audio onslaught of Saving Private Ryan. Not a missed beat or drop-out among them.
The Cons
My gripes with the DSP E800 are few and far between. The remote control is cheap and cheerful (although perfectly useable) and the motor-driven volume control lacks a light, which is a shame.
After the brilliance of the AV surround programmes, the non-DD / DTS sound field programmes are a bit of a let down. It would have been useful to enable user-defined sound field programmes to be created (or existing programmes to be modified). My DSP A2070 has such a feature, but it is largely redundant in this set-up.
The only other question hanging over the DSP E800 is its price. The unit’s RRP is 5p shy of £300, and fifty quid less than the DSP A5’s RRP. In practice, the DSP A5 can be found for less than £300. The price of the DSP E800 will inevitably go down. For the time being however, with supplies seriously limited, it seems that the £300 price tag will stay.
Summing Up
The DSP E800 is an excellent piece of kit for people who have a suitable 2 or 5 channel amplifier that they don’t want to part with. Improvements in sound quality over standard Pro-Logic set-ups can be clearly heard and more than justify investment in the DSP E800. The unit offers impressive levels of power and begs to be cranked up – irrespective of one’s neighbours. The quality of Yamaha’s AV equipment in addition ensures excellent quality sound processing and detail.
The variety of audio and video inputs lend the DSP E800 additional flexibility, beyond what can be offered by “home cinema in a box” type set-ups. Inputs can also be doubled up i.e. both digital and analogue inputs for each piece of kit can be selected individually, which further increases the unit’s flexibility.
Although in short-supply at the moment, this is likely to become a must-have for home cinema fans. In my opinion, it is a small investment for such a great piece of kit. Hunt one down and try it out; I’m sure you’ll be equally impressed
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23 Surround Programmes with 17 Cinema DSP and 3 Hi-Fi DSP Programmes.
