POLL: Which determines audio quality?

[audiofreak7]

Sitting here reading a well respected A/V magazine. IT states the audio quality is determined by the reciever or surround processor NOT the DVD player. I have heard for years that its both,.....but I've always wondered why DVD players that sell for around $400 or less, nothing is mentioned about the audio DAC's. Most other high end players make it a point to say they use Burr Brown DAC's and 24 bit processing etc. etc. etc.. Just wondering what you guys thought.
1. Just the Reciever/SP or 2. Both

[audiofreak7]

Oops...my bad. Thats spelled "RecEIver"

[BarcoII]

I vote for both.

I would say it depends on how you are using the connections and the play modes.

If you are using the Digital out on the DVD then it is up to the DAC's on board the pre pro or reciever to do the job because the DVD player becomes a transport and the reciever or pre pro becomes the D/A converter
So in that case it is the reciever or pre pro in a 2 ch audio mode.

If you are using the analog outs on the DVD then it is up to the DVD player's
on board Dac's to do the job. So in that case it is the DVD player in 2 ch audio mode. But in a SS mode you would still rely on some sort of processing from the reciever pre pro so then it could still go both ways.

I think some of the reasons why the higher end players list the type of Dac's is one they want the buyer to know they are getting a little more for their money and someone who spends an upper end price on a DVD player might also be looking at using it as their lone CD player too. So it might make more of a difference to them.

I think the safe thing to go by is the old garbage in, garbage out saying.
Thats why I would say both.

[saurabh]

BOTH for me also

[Adz]

Great thread. I've thought about this question before and would love to hear some views from some of the really smart engineer types we have on the Forum.

On the digtial side of things, I've heard that a better quality DVD player can reduce "jitter" -- this has to do with the timing of the digital signal from the digital out on the DVD player to the processor's DACs. If they don't arrive at exactly the right time, then this is called jitter (at least that's how it was explained to me) which negatively impacts/degrades the signal quality. So a better quality DVD player can actually improve the sound of your movies by reducing the amount of jitter it introduces to the original digital signal which may or may not be able to be corrected by the processor. And build quality seems important as well.

[audiofreak7]

Thanks for the input fellas. I quess I'll play it safe and get a higher end player.

[fordster]

I'm no expert but from experience I'd say both. I have a Denon 1602 receiver and originally had a Pioneer 535 connecting via digital (coax). I then upgraded to a Denon 2800 MKII and noticed improved sound on DVD's using the digital connection. I'd guess that the quality of the transport makes the difference as you would get less jitter and therefore not need as much error correction.

[Jeff]

I agree with fordster.

When I purchased my Rotel RCD-1072 cd player, I compared it to my Toshiba 5700 dvd player ($400 USD) using the digital outs only. The difference was noticeable. The Rotel had a superior transport.

I'm sure we all can agree the DAC in your pre/pro will make a significant difference on the audio side. Thus, both the dvd player and receiver
will make a difference. I would lean towards the pre/pro having the greater impact.

[purplepeople]

I'd be interested to know what the difference in sound quality people have experiences when switching from digital connection to analog connection for the upper models DVD players and/or receiver-amps. This compares the DACs between the player and the preamps circuit.

ensen.

PS: Don't get into the 5.1/2-ch debate... I'm well aware that most players do not have 5.1 analog outputs.

[Ralph P.]

Greetings,

"I'd guess that the quality of the transport makes the difference as you would get less jitter and therefore not need as much error correction."


The above is an accurate statement in my opinion. I also believe that both can have a combined effect on overall sound quality. I have a B&K Reference 50 S2 pre/pro and a Denon 3910 DVD player. I have listened to both the B&K's processing of incoming digital signals and the 3910's via multichannel analong fed to the correspoding inputs on the B&K. The B&K gets the edge, however the 3910 was not left in the dust.


Regards,

Ralph

[DanR]

Its not really a debate. Both affect the quality of playback tremendously. Same as a CD player/ transport.

[Jack Keck]

This all reminds me of when I got my stereo and had the differences between turntables (withteh same cartridge, amp, and speakers) demonstrated to me. It was driven home when I hooked up my Rega P@ and noticed a huge improvement from my Phillips GA-312. Both had the same model of Grado cartridges.

So I have t vote for the DVD player because the music/picture has to come from that as accurately as possible in order for the receiver/pre-pro to do the best of what it does.

[ColoKurt]

Jitter Discussion

Here's a link to an excellent discussion of CD jitter on Bob Katz's site. (I hope this works, it's my first post.)

http://www.digido.com/portal/pmodule_id=11/pmdmode=fullscreen/pageadder_page_id=52#anchor5397851