Worth investing in an external DAC or built in AV receivers good enough?

[nightrider1470]

I own a Yamaha A1030 AV receiver. I am using pre outs to my mm70225 power amp to my 2.0 stereo speakers

I am thinking of running optical out from my receiver to an external DAC.... Has anyone done a similiar upgrade and found it beneficial?

My A1030 uses a ESS9006 dac not sure if thats good?

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Thoughts:
- If you intend to use an external DAC, the right approach would also be to use a dedicated stereo pre-amp and to avoid the receiver being in the audio chain for music.
- Don't worry about "chips". If you look at the forums, there's a stupid level of focus on the silicon. My experience is that the "implementation" is far more important than the silicon. By that, I mean the quality of the PSUs, jitter capabilities, analogue output stages etc.