Technical Specs - many questions Preamp Processors

[boe]

Hello,

I'm trying to get up to speed on what is available on new preamps. I want to purchase a new one in the next 3 months but like to know what I'm looking for before I dish out a lot of cash (in my opinion). My terms may be misused as I need to learn a great deal right now.

DPIIx vs DPII - is there much of a difference?

DTS-ES96 - what is that? Is that in any way related to DTS-neo?

24/44/48/96/192...- I've heard lots of things about this prempamp samples at this bit rate or that and I don't even know what is the present/future. If I wanted to some day have a nice SACD, HDDVD or Blue laser - what audio capablities should I require of my preamp to handle the sound potential of these newer media? I realize there is no way of knowing for sure what will be available in 3 years but usually 1 year is pretty well mapped out. My current preamp does DTS but it can't handle multi-channel SACDs. I notice some will say 96/24 DTS but then talk about the 192/24 DAC - is there a way to know how many khz are for how many channels?

Dolby headphone jack - is this something that should be integrated or are there add ons? What does it really do to improve headphone sound?

Any other terms that are newer that I should look for on my next purchase would be helpful.

I don't really care about video switching, I think it just creates potential for too many video downfalls -including timing, and video quality. I'll probably avoid preamps with lcd video displays since I'd be paying too much for that feature.
Thanks for teaching an older dog some new tricks.

[DrBoom]

DPL II vs DPL IIx: the first one creates 5.1 channels from a 2-ch source, the second one does the same but creates 7.1 channels.
That's all the difference there is.

DTS 96/24 : A different (and very rare) encoding scheme used by DTS which gives the same sound quality as a 96 KHz / 24-bit recording, but using only a 48 KHz sample rate if I'm not mistaking (or taking up only as much space).
Not related to DTS Neo:6, which is a decoder like PLII but made by DTS and creates 6.1 channels from a 2-ch source.
DTS 96/24 will only work on DVD's that have a DTS 96/24 track.

Sample rates: Higher sample rates for A/D converters means that it captures more of the analog input signal because it "samples" the analog signal 192.000 times per second thus leaving you with more musical information than you would get if you sampled 48.000 times/second.
For D/A converters, the sample rate determines how much information the DAC can convert from digital to analog at a given time.
If you have a CD player which upsamples to 192/24 and you would connect this with a digital cable to a pre/pro which only has 96/24 DAC's it wouldn't be able to read the signal.

Can't really help you on the Dolby Headphone thing, never seen or heard it but I suppose it's some kind of virtual surround through headphones.
A bit like Yamaha's Silent Cinema mode, but probably better.

[junior77blue]

Component video input switching, with on screen display.
HDMI vs. DVI
Multiple Channel Inputs

I look forward to answers on this topic as well!

[boe]

Thanks for the answers - I love learning this stuff - it has been just 5 years but a lot has happened since then! Hopefully I'll get enough responses so I can understand what I'm looking at and researching at CES.

I did some research on the dolby headphone jack by going to Dolby's web page - better surround sound for headphones. The onkyo is the first preamp I've seen with it built in. I've decided this is a very important feature for me. I hate watching movies with my very nice headphones just because they are only stereo. Sennheiser should have some nice new surrounds out this year so this is good timing.