[mchuckp]

Looking at possibly getting a VDA-2 DAC and had a question:

I have an Oppo bd983 bluray player.  It can decode all new high bit rate audio codecs (Dolby TrueHD, DTS-MA) to pcm.  Anyone have any idea if the VDA-2 can accept this HBR pcm via coaxial or optical or will I need to hook my Oppo up separately to a preamp/receiver outside of the VDA-2 loop?

I can do it both ways if need be.  I was hoping to have one connection as I own too much "stuff".  If I can't route all audio signals through the VDA-2, I will probably use the analog left/right outs of the Oppo for those sources that the VDA-2 doesn't support.  Will be running 2.0 for music and 2.1 for movies.

Thanks,
Mike

[stingfan]

I have the the VDA-2 and VAC-1, great units by the way!  And my Oppo BDP-43 arrives this week.  I can test it for you, and let you know.  It would be awesome if it worked.  Though I'm pretty sure we won't get DSD for the SACD, through the VDA-2, because that requires a specific DAC chip to handle, which, is actually integrated in the Oppo.  The first $500 SACD with true DSD to analog (not via PCM) conversion.  This is going to be awesome either way.

- R

[mchuckp]

Please do let me know what works and doesn't work.  I knew it would not work on DSD.  I assumed my Oppo would convert everything to PCM and even if it didn't make it sound any better, just thought it would be nice to pass everything through one input.

BTW, I find the dedicated analog section of the Oppo bd983 quite nice.  I'm sure you are aware that besides the usual HDMI, optical, coaxial, and multichannel analogs, it has a dedicated 2 channel DAC and stereo outputs for it.  I run everything through there and it sounds great to me.  I've never tried a dedicated DAC and curious how they differ and that is how I came to looking at the VDA-2.  I've owned a Oppo 980H in the past and didn't find it acceptable for music.  The 983 is in a completely different league.

I'm looking forward to your impressions.  Please give your impressions of the Oppo DAC vs the CI Audio if you don't mind.

Thanks in advance,
Mike

[CIAudio]

We haven't received any BDP-83's yet so can't say for sure. According to the tech dept at Oppo, when playing a Bluray disc, the digital audio output can be set for PCM and will output 16 bit at up to 192k.

[HumanMedia]

Just make sure the Oppo is set to output stereo (2.0) PCM and it should be fine.

Optical and coax dont carry full bandwidth HD audio in PCM, and the player may default to lossy encoded output otherwise.

[ted_b]

Sorry, but the Oppo BD player will output up to 192k via coax ONLY for DVD-Audio (like it's older brothers, the 980, etc.), 48k for BluRay.  For Blu-Ray audio the 192k is only available via HDMI (and decoded via analog, of course, but this is a DAC discussion).  The max for coax and Blu-Ray audio is 48k! This is not an Oppo-specific issue, it's a Bluy-Ray spec issue.  There is an HDMi "splitter" on the market for $98 that claims to split HDMI audio out to 192k via coax but it's so far unproven.  One web forum claims no, another claims maybe.  I'm gonna find one and see (I have this subject on my Hirez Circle too).

[stingfan]

Yes, the VDA-2 does work with the digital out of the Oppo 983 and the BDP-83.  However, it seems odd to me that you'd want a PCM conversion, rather than the pure bit stream to the VDA-2.  What's great about the BDP-43, is that it actually employs one of the few DAC chips that does onboard direct DSD to analog conversion, a really great DAC chip found in $10K SACD players.  This was not possible in previous Oppo players like the 981 and 983 because they did not have this chip and therefore had to convert first to PCM before analog, defeating some of the magic of DSD / SACD.  The BDP-83 solves all these problems elegantly for a mere $499. 

The BDP-83 actually uses different DAC's for two-channel Cirrus CS4398 (with onchip DSD to analog) vs. multi-channel Cirrus CS4382A analog output.  Very nice decision to split these out for audiophiles and videophiles alike.  Oppo also includes a "pure audio" option, which turns off all extraneous video circuitry to minimize noise during pure stereo playback.

Highly recommend this universal player, works great with my VDA-2 for everything that isn't SACD.  More details on this to follow this weekend.   I wonder if Dusty has considered using the CS4398 in a VDA-3 type device to support more forms of digital input.

[ted_b]

Yes, the VDA-2 does work with the digital out of the Oppo 983 and the BDP-83.  However, it seems odd to me that you'd want a PCM conversion, rather than the pure bit stream to the VDA-2. 

What do you mean by this?  Pure bit stream of what, DSD?  VDA-2 is a conventional DAC, only accepts PCM.

[CIAudio]

Unfortunately, SACD copy protection doesn't allow for DSD output on any player, other than through a DTS decoder, etc.

[ted_b]

Thanks Dusty.  I had thought we had already covered this a few posts ago (but I guess that was just a no on the Blu-Ray side).    

As an aside, it would be nice to have a DSD/DXD DAC (my HiRez forum asks about SACD via digital outs every day; maybe that's why I'm sensitive to it) but the market is a niche's niche.  About the best proposition for it currently is the Swiss-made DVD_Upgrades 3 SPDIF board that, once installed on a modded universal, converts SACD's 1 bit 2.82Mhz to 24/176.4 or 24/88.2.  It's really a Meridian solution (so non-Meridian universals can digitally interface with their proprietary MHR Smart Link 3 spdif deal) but the front l/r spdif would work into any DAC or processor that could handle the sample rates.