[Cheeseboy]

I have been watching the 49ers struggle thier way into the Superbowl and durring commercials I was switching to the "Music Choice" Jazz Station.  I've never really given these channels a good listen.  It sounded really great.  I'm going analog out of my cable box to my preamp. 

What kind of resolution is ATT cable sending down the line?   Can I use an external DAC and make this better? 
The output level on the cable box is low and requires a good bump on the volume knob to get it to resonable levels.   Other than that I was groovin to the music.   

[pansixt]

I have been using coax out of my Cox digital receiver to my DAC for a while now. The jazz and sounds of the season and soundscapes sound great. This is a digital signal from your provider. I have been meaning to investigate the source.
Must be a fair conversion when using analog out.
James

[Cheeseboy]

It's not bad.  It sounds better than an MP3 from my iPod.  I can only imagine that with a better DAC it would sing really well.  There is no doubt that the conversion in the box is low rent. 

What kind of resolution are they sending down the cable

Cox Cable must be the same as ATT here.  We have Soundscapes and Sounds of the Seasons as well.

Steve

[srb]

Many of the cable companies use Music Choice for their music channels and I have read that the equivalent bitrate of the the Dolby Digital audio is between 128kbps and 192kbps.

Steve

[Cheeseboy]

The more I listen the more I like it for cooking and just vegging out while I'm writing here.   On the analog out of the cable box there sounds like huge potential for a more musical and resolving presentation with a simple upgrade.   Better cable and a DAC.  It sounds much better than Pandora. 

Just find an inexpensive DAC and go to town. 

Is this music in Dolby Digital and could be decoded into 5.1 surround?

[srb]

Is this music in Dolby Digital and could be decoded into 5.1 surround?

Yes, but since the source of the music is 2-channel stereo, it wouldn't be true Dolby Digital 5.1, but instead the stream would be processed with a Dolby Pro Logic II or similar decoder in a surround processor or AVR to simulate 5-channel sound.

Steve

[Cheeseboy]

OK I'm here to testify.  I want to use a DAC to upgrade the sound off my CDP, cable box and begin a computer audio storage system for  plback.  What DAC should I buy in the $1000 or less category?  My cable box has regular digital out, my CDP has SPIF ou and I guess I would use the USB out of my laptop.  Is this a typical set up for people?  I don't listen to music in anything past 2 channel. 

[srb]

Both optical and coaxial digital audio use the S/PDIF standard, so when you say the cable box has "regular digital" I assume you mean an optical output and the DVD player has a coaxial output?

You need to make sure your cable box has a setting to output 2 channel PCM digital audio, as most external audio DACs cannot decode a Dolby Digital signal.  Most cable boxes have that ability, but there are a few that don't (as well as some TVs that don't).

The preferred USB Asynchronous input is more or less becoming standard, so beyond choosing a DAC that has Asynchronous USB, Optical and Coaxial inputs, the next question would be - is remote control switching of the DAC's inputs a requirement?

Steve