[T. Perinne]

I'm looking at staying two channel in my living room, sources would be universal DVD/SACD/DVD-A and a satellite receiver (currently Dishnetwork 511).  It has an optical out, but my two channel preamp is RCA in only.  Therefor I'm stuck using the RCA outs from the Dish receiver... how bad can I expect the sound quality to be?  TV sound quality is at the bottom of my list in terms of importance but will be listened to more often than other sources.

Any other solutions?

[JoshK]

I can't say how good the quality of the internal DAC is in the dish set-top box is, haven't tried it but I can hasten a guess it is like most set top boxes and stinks.  My higher end panasonic DVR is what I use for TV and it sounds pretty awful as well.  What I did was pick up a cheap MSB Link Dac (on audiogon ~$100) and use the optical out on the DVR into the MSB.  This provided an enormous step up in sound quality in relation to other audio upgrades.  I too have a 2 channel only mixed system.   I say do yourself a favor and go dumpster diving for a falling star on audiogon, chances are it will make a nice difference!

Josh

[T. Perinne]

Thanks Josh!  Exactly what I was thinking...

Does it matter what's coming out of the optical out on the receiver?  i.e. 5.1, PCM, etc... Will it still all go through the DAC and through my 2 channel?

[JoshK]

I am not really the guy to ask about that but typically, one can set up via the menus to have 2 channel PCM output the digital out.

FWIW, I found that the optical digital output sounded much better than the coax digital output from the DVR.  The difference was fairly striking, because with the coax I had a lot of background noise, probably due in large part to my grounding/shielding not being ideal.  With optical that isn't a problem because it doesn't share grounds between units.

[lcrim]

On my directv HDTV receiver I run a fiber cable to a M-Audio SuperDac 24/96 and set the directv receiver to output PCM through the on screen menus.
Sound quality is a quantum leap over letting the satellite receiver do the D to A conversion.   Directv also has music only channels and I listen to the jazz and classical channels when I don't feel like flipping LP's.  Don't know if Dish Network has a similar service.

[T. Perinne]

Thanks guys, that's what I was hoping for.  I'm planning for some CI Audio gear so I may as well toss in their little external DAC for this job.  I actually think the Dish audio should sound pretty decent that way.  Yes, Dish does offer a wide variety of audio only channels - works out better than Sirius or XM IMHO.  I really like the programming and no commercials, plus now I can't wait to hear how an external DAC will sound (never used one)!

[thayerg]

External DACs impart their own characteristics to the sound. In my experience a DAC can sound great for a while but after a couple of hours of listening can be truly fatigueing to your ears. I've never read a review which talks about multi-hour listening.

I haven't read anything about the kinds of jitter you can expect from satellite radio digital signals but you may need  to address that issue. I'm using a Meridian 518 digital processor to dejitter everything and it makes a significant difference--music sounds more coherent and natural. 500 series meridian DACs have switiching for four digital inputs and built-in dejittering. The 563 is good and the 566 is very, very good.  Bel Canto DACs are also well thought of. The Scott Nixon tube designs look interesting and standalone dejittering devices aren't very expensive.

Happy Listening.

[lupodwdm]

There is a huge difference in sound between coax/optical digital and RCA.  Kinda like the difference in sound between a tape deck and a cd player.