Review: take SACD and BlURay Hirez directly to your DAC!!!!

JDUBS · « **Reply #20 on:** 10 Jun 2010, 01:38 am »

Nuts...I thought this was actually extracting the DSD stream and sending it to an external DAC.

Oh well.

-Jim

ted_b · « **Reply #21 on:** 10 Jun 2010, 01:54 am »

Quote from: JDUBS on 10 Jun 2010, 01:38 am

Nuts...I thought this was actually extracting the DSD stream and sending it to an external DAC.

Oh well.

-Jim

Nope, and I never said it did...plus, how would you decode DSD once it got into your DAC...do you have a Denmark Audio DAC AX24 lying around? DSD is HDMI only (or analog). The beauty of this is that 24/88.2 PCM into a hi-end DAC is wayyyyyyy better than DSD via an average signal path....and you get BluRay 24/192.

JDUBS · « **Reply #22 on:** 10 Jun 2010, 02:13 am »

Quote from: ted_b on 10 Jun 2010, 01:54 am

Nope, and I never said it did...plus, how would you decode DSD once it got into your DAC...do you have a Denmark Audio DAC AX24 lying around? DSD is HDMI only (or analog). The beauty of this is that 24/88.2 PCM into a hi-end DAC is wayyyyyyy better than DSD via an average signal path....and you get BluRay 24/192.

I was lured in by the title. My bad.

Plenty of people taking the DSD stream out of (modded, obviously) players and sending it via i2s to outboard DACs, like the TPA Buffalo.

-Jim

test

ted_b · « **Reply #23 on:** 10 Jun 2010, 02:16 am »

Jim,
Plenty of DIY'ers? This is not a DIY forum as you know.

JDUBS · « **Reply #24 on:** 10 Jun 2010, 02:19 am »

Quote from: ted_b on 10 Jun 2010, 02:16 am

Plenty?

Yes.

Anyway, like I said, my bad.

JDUBS · « **Reply #25 on:** 10 Jun 2010, 04:17 am »

How does one edit their previous postings without the "Last Edit..." comment at the bottom?

You revised "Plenty?" to "Plenty of DIY'ers?" and no mention of the post being edited.

-Jim

skunark · « **Reply #26 on:** 10 Jun 2010, 04:20 am »

Thank's Ted for the review... You've given me something to ponder on my next HT setup.... Perhaps the AR MP1 is in my cross-hairs...

ted_b · « **Reply #27 on:** 10 Jun 2010, 01:40 pm »

Quote from: JDUBS on 10 Jun 2010, 04:17 am

How does one edit their previous postings without the "Last Edit..." comment at the bottom?

You revised "Plenty?" to "Plenty of DIY'ers?" and no mention of the post being edited.

-Jim

It was edited before yours or any other response. You were likely typing though.

srb · « **Reply #28 on:** 10 Jun 2010, 02:48 pm »

Quote from: JDUBS on 10 Jun 2010, 04:17 am

How does one edit their previous postings without the "Last Edit..." comment at the bottom?

The Last Edited tag only gets inserted after 60 minutes have passed.

Steve

ted_b · « **Reply #29 on:** 10 Jun 2010, 03:04 pm »

I tested the HDMI pass-thru last night and couldn't detect any issues. There is one more physical connection, of course (through the Atlona) but other than that it seems benign.

Back to Jim's (JDUBS) issue...I certainly would LOVE for this or any other plug-in style mod/fix to allow for DSD access. To me there is nothing better than Pure DSD when listening to SACD......but the tradeoffs of always having to listen to DSD through a stock player vs sending very very good 24/88.2 (yes, wish it was 24/176.4) through a hi-end audiophile DAC are tradeoffs that are very much worth it to me...given any other midpriced alternatives (which of course does not include a significant analog stage upgrade from Dan Wright

). And unlike most DIY solutions this also gives you full 24/192 digital access to 2 channel BluRay (Neil Young, Dave Matthews, etc) and of course DVD-Audio.

konut · « **Reply #30 on:** 10 Jun 2010, 06:29 pm »

Excellent info, and thanks for the heads up on this piece of kit ted_b! At this point it might be useful to list those Blu-Ray/SACD players that pass SACD through the HDMI port. Does such a list exist? While googling this it appears that some universal Blu-Ray players don't pass SACD over HDMI.

ted_b · « **Reply #31 on:** 10 Jun 2010, 06:33 pm »

Quote from: konut on 10 Jun 2010, 06:29 pm

Excellent info, and thanks for the heads up on this piece of kit ted_b! At this point it might be useful to list those Blu-Ray/SACD players that pass SACD through the HDMI port. Does such a list exist? While googling this it appears that some universal Blu-Ray players don't pass SACD over HDMI.

I'll do some looking, but keep in mind that "DSD over HDMI" is not what we're looking for...we're looking for SACD-to-PCM, then passed via HDMI (much more plentiful). The Atlona box does not decode; so it needs PCM to capture. (Note: Most of these players, however, are not also BlURay.)

konut · « **Reply #32 on:** 10 Jun 2010, 07:57 pm »

Roger that. What I was finding was players that pass only analog on SACD, but nothing over HDMI.

werd · « **Reply #33 on:** 12 Jun 2010, 12:15 am »

Hi Ted

I am wandering if this unit has any playthrough capability with usb, and also the blue ray out?. How about using your excellent skills and look at this. I am trying to but its decipher through it all.

Its new and hasnt come out yet... looks slick

http://www.denon.ca/ProductDetails/3577.asp

ted_b · « **Reply #34 on:** 12 Jun 2010, 12:28 am »

Werd,
First off, the Denon is a receiver (with BluRay player embedded) so the HDMI output goes to your tv. There is likely no hirez audio being sent, as it is after the processor. Also, it does not play SACD. The USB input is not for streaming, it's for a typical USB stick/thumb drive..like most modern AVR's. Although an interesting device, it is not really a candidate for this thread (unless you include every AVR out there).

werd · « **Reply #35 on:** 12 Jun 2010, 12:42 am »

yah, it only has 16 bit in and will not pass on through a coax out on the back. Thought it might take in 24 bit through the usb and pass through out coax.

Audioclyde · « **Reply #36 on:** 12 Jun 2010, 12:05 pm »

Wife & daughters surprised me with an early FD gift last night--Oppo 83! Playing my SACD's via it's analog outs sounds very good.

Now I just have to buy the Atlona so I can use it with my MW Transporter! Thanks Ted for the heads up!

Randy

dwk · « **Reply #37 on:** 12 Jun 2010, 03:24 pm »

another

from me. I've had it on my TODO list for a while to mod my Oppo dvd player to tap the PCM lines to be able to 'record' sacd discs for use/storage on the server. I never quite got around to that, but this makes it 'easy'. In theory DVD-A and BluRay audio are rippable via other means, but this is perfect for transcoding sacd for use in a PC based system. Mine should be here early next week.

ted_b · « **Reply #38 on:** 12 Jun 2010, 03:29 pm »

Keep in mind the transcoding would be realtime (like a vinyl rip); there is no ability to pull up the disc, metatdata, etc and rip normally.

dhwilkin · « **Reply #39 on:** 13 Jun 2010, 10:43 pm »

Just a head's up: The link to the Atlona, which Ted posted on page 1, gives a 404 page not found error now. This appears to be the updated link: http://www.atlona.com/Atlona-HDMI-1.3-Audio-De-Embedder-with-3D-Support.html