Oppo 981HD is in the mail

[jpaget]

I am fairly new to home theatre/audio and have recently upgraded to a 42" Aquos and am in the process of building a 5.1 (hopefully to be completed within about a year; I have the fronts only now). I started trying out some CDs (mostly older ones, many burned by me in college ('99-'03)) and I wasn't totally satisfied with the sound quality. I then came across SACDs and DVD-Audios, which I had never heard of, on this forum. I thought I would order one or two (Steely Dan - Groucho and Dark Side of the Moon). My JVC DVD player will not play them, however. Since I had been considering getting an upconverting DVD-player while waiting 2-3 years to do the Blu-Ray, HD-DVD thing, I figured it was worth getting an up-converting player that could do SACD and DVD-A. It didnt take long to figure out what I should order - Oppo 981 HD, because the Aquos had 2 HDMI inputs. I will let you all know the difference I percieve going from regular CDs to SACDs and DVD-As as well as from 480p to 1080p upconverted. I am stoked from the reviews I have heard so far!

 

[Thunder18]

If your receiver does not have HDMI inputs, make sure to connect rca cables between the dvd player and the receiver for the best sound output. dvd-a and sacd are at their best when connected to receiver via rca cables for each channel(if your receiver does not have hdmi inputs). They will sound mostly like regular cd's/dvd's over optical digital and digital coax.

 

[jpaget]

Thanks for the advice, I wouldnt have imagined that would be the case. I have a RX-V659, so it doesnt have HDMI. Why do they sound better over RCA?

 

[jaxvon]

Thanks for the advice, I wouldnt have imagined that would be the case. I have a RX-V659, so it doesnt have HDMI. Why do they sound better over RCA?

DVD-A and SACD cannot be transmitted via normal digital connections. They are either over HDMI or analog outputs.

 

[KC23]

DVD-A and SACD cannot be transmitted via normal digital connections. They are either over HDMI or analog outputs.

Thank you so much. I have been confused over this for some time. I also just bought and received an oppo 981HD. A like it a lot, but haven't tried the SACD/DVD-A yet.

 

[jmrife]

DVD-A and SACD cannot be transmitted via normal digital connections. They are either over HDMI or analog outputs.

Actually they can, and quite successfully, be sent over cat 5 if you have a player and receiver configures properly. Denon is one mfgr who does this quite well! That will save my analog connections for HDDVD, once the format wars are over.

 

[rozumek]

Hello DVD-A and SACD through iLink Cable

The best way to experience uncompressed and 100% of DVD-A and SACD music is by playing it by connecting your DVD player such as Pioneer Elite DV-59AVi to a receiver using iLink (firewire) cable. I can tell you that this is the only way to get the maximum 100% quality digital pure music playback from DVD-A and SACD. If you think Digital to analog is better than firewire you're insane, unless you heard both you shouldn't make such decisive statements. DVD-A and SACD is digital music and firewire (iLink) is the only way that does not downgrade the two formats during playback. Although the difference is not huge it can be heard if you have great audio system like I do. I think that for the money, wait till we get the HDMI 1.3 receivers and DVD-players and you will be able to experience DVD-A and SACD playback without converting it to PCM. For the money Oppo is your best choice it's such a fantastic DVD player that the only flaw I have with it is the GUI nothing else.

 

[MDS]

If you think Digital to analog is better than firewire you're insane, unless you heard both you shouldn't make such decisive statements.

That sounds kind of hostile, not to mention the fact that it doesn't make any sense. Firewire is a communication protocol and has nothing to do with digital to analog conversions. Saying Firewire is better than analog is exactly the same as saying apples are better than oranges and you must be insane to believe otherwise.

Sound is analog (you don't have digital ears do you?) The digital data has to be converted to analog for you to hear it. If you think that dvd-a/sacd sounds much better using a Firewire connection to the receiver all that means is that to your ears the *receiver* does a better digital to analog conversion than the *player*.

DVD-A and SACD is digital music and firewire (iLink) is the only way that does not downgrade the two formats during playback. Although the difference is not huge it can be heard if you have great audio system like I do.

Firewire does not do anything but carry the data - it neither improves nor degrades the digital data. If you think the sound is degraded using 5.1 analog connections then it is because the player's DACS don't perform as well as the receiver's DACS.

I think that for the money, wait till we get the HDMI 1.3 receivers and DVD-players and you will be able to experience DVD-A and SACD playback without converting it to PCM.

The underlying assumption there is that one bit sampling (DSD) is superior to multi-bit sampling (PCM). The jury is still out on that but one thing is certain and that is that the recording was originally made with a microphone, which of course is ANALOG, sampled and saved as digital data. In many cases, the sampling is done using PCM and then later converted to DSD.

 

[UFObuster]

DVD-A/SACD playback

let me jump in here with a question:
Does the 981 have bass management tools, etc built in for high quality music playback, or is it just giving lip-service to this media? Is it a good CD player? I have very good playback components and have considered the 981 as an alternative to HD products until later. But, I'm still not convinced it is a good audio source.....tell me what you think.