Toshiba HD Anyone still watches?

[Djizasse]

Is the A30 and A35 also players with good DACs?
I've I got a decent CD player and just didn't knew?

 

[allargon]

Is the A30 and A35 also players with good DACs?
I've I got a decent CD player and just didn't knew?

Well-the XA2 and its clones have Burr-Brown DAC's. I wouldn't put much money expecting the A30 to have good DAC's. My A20 definitely doesn't wow me in that dept, but then again I always use my receiver's DAC's anyway.

 

[Lordoftherings]

Is the A30 and A35 also players with good DACs?
I've I got a decent CD player and just didn't knew?

The Tosh HD-A30 has the TI* PCM-1755 (a good reasonable Dac) for it's 2-channel analog output.
The Tosh HD-A35, I don't know for sure, but my guess is that it also has three of these Dacs (TI* PCM-1755) for the multichannel analog output and a Wolfson Dac (WM8740) for it's 2-channel analog output. The Wolfson Dac is not bad either.
The Tosh HD-A3, I don't know, but my guess is that it also use one TI* PCM-1755 Dac.

According to some people, the TI* PCM-1755 is the better Dac.

The Tosh HD-XA2 has three TI* PCM-1755 Dacs and one Wolfson WM8740 Dac, same as the Tosh HD-A35.

Now, the Tosh HD-A1 and HD-XA1 have four TI* PCM-1755 Dacs, which made them the best CD players for 2-channel, and also for multichannel.

The Tosh HD-A2 and HD-A20, both have the Wolfson WM8740 Dac for their 2-channel analog outputs.

So, if you have the HD-A30, it will make a good 2-channel CD player.
And if you have the HD-A35, it will also make a good 2-channel CD player.

How good? It's up open to questions. Me, I'll say not bad, not great, but good enough.

Bob

* TI stands for Texas Instruments, formely Burr-Brown.

 

[Djizasse]

Thanks for you answer.
The DACs on my Marantz SR-6003 should be better, right?

 

[PENG]

Thanks for you answer.
The DACs on my Marantz SR-6003 should be better, right?

For more than 2 channels you have no choice but to use the AVR's DACs so I assume you are talking about stereo listening. It is not possible to tell without knowing the model number of the SR-6003's DACs. Do you have that information? Just guessing though, if the 6003 has Burr Brown DACs in them they will likely be of lower quality than the PCM-1755 in the HD-A30. Again, this is just a guess and I hope I am wrong.

 

[Djizasse]

I could not find any info on the 6003's DACs. But thanks anyway, it's not a problem. I will continue to rip my CDs to flac and use my flac player with optical out. Would I even notice the different DACs?

 

[PENG]

I could not find any info on the 6003's DACs. But thanks anyway, it's not a problem. I will continue to rip my CDs to flac and use my flac player with optical out. Would I even notice the different DACs?

I should mention that my guess was based on thinking that the 6003 for Marantz is like the 2809 for Denon and the 2809 uses a lower grade Burr Brown DACs than those in the 3808. I could well be wrong because most people (not me) believe Marantz focus more on sound quality so they may have invested more on the audio DACs. I did try to search the web for info but so far come up with nothing.

Regarding you last question, I doubt you will hear the difference even if the player has slightly better DACs. The higher end DACs typically have higher dynamic range, S/N ratio and lower distortion but when you get to the level of high quality AVR such as the SR6003, they all offer respectable numbers that are good enough for most situations unless you are have high end gear to play SACD/DVDA etc.

 

[Lordoftherings]

Marantz SR6003 Dac serial # possibility >>> To be continued for confirmation.

I could not find any info on the 6003's DACs. But thanks anyway, it's not a problem. I will continue to rip my CDs to flac and use my flac player with optical out. Would I even notice the different DACs?

Hey Djizasse, the best I could come up with, without any search at all, is that the Marantz SR6003 uses the Cirrus Logic Crystal Dac, a 99.99% chance that it is a single 8-channel Dac chip.
And the Marantz SR8002 and the SR7002 both use the Cirrus Logic Crystal CS 4382A Dac, an 8-channel single Dac chip. And the Marantz AV8003 pre/pro also uses that same very Dac.

So, my deduction is that your SR6003 is also using that same Crystal CS 4382A Dac. But I cannot confirm for sure. the other possibility is that it could be the Crystal CS 4398 Dac. It's one or the other, I'm prety sure. I will eventually do some research to confirm which one.

As to know if it's a good Dac, it has to, because it is used in top notch flagship receivers and the excellent sounding Marantz AV8003 pre/pro that normally retails for $2,600 usd.

I'll get back to you when I find more about this.
Just don't expect it to be tomorrow or the day after, it might take a week or so, depending on my schedule. My moto is Patience. Just remind me in about a week, in case I forget.

Cheers,

_______
Bob

 

[Djizasse]

Don't sweat it.
But I'll ask another thing. If I want to use the DAC on the Toshiba, the 6003 can't touch the signal. This can only be achieved with "pure direct". Right?
It will be Toshiba DAC ->analog out->6003 analog in->bypass all circuitry (no ADC and DAC)->speakers.

 

[Lordoftherings]

Dac & Adc.

Don't sweat it.
But I'll ask another thing. If I want to use the DAC on the Toshiba, the 6003 can't touch the signal. This can only be achieved with "pure direct". Right?
It will be Toshiba DAC ->analog out->6003 analog in->bypass all circuitry (no ADC and DAC)->speakers.

Absolutely right. To use the Dacs In your Toshiba player, you have to use the analog stereo or multichannel (if avail) output from it.
So, the Dac in your Marantz SR6003 is completely bypass in Pure Direct audio mode.

But if you are using some type of DSP processing from your Marantz through it's analog input, the SR6003 will use it's ADC (Analog to Digital Converter), and the it's DAC (Digital to Analog Converter). So, a lot of processing is happening in this last method.

What is always a good way trying to figure out if it's best to use the analog or digital out of your player, is to listen in both configuration.
And good luck telling which one sounds best.
But usually, most people use the digital connection, so the Dac(s) from the receiver, and that way you have more options to fine tune from the bass management, etc., from your receiver.

The people that usually use the analog connection are the ones that have a high eng CD or Blu-ray player ($2,000 and +), that have top notch Dacs.
Or the ones that don't have any choice, from a legacy receiver without HDMI connectors and want to get the full multichannel high resolution audio from Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA.

* If you use your Toshiba HD DVD player as your main CD player, try the digital and analog connection to see if you can tell which one sounds best.
If I was you, I'll use the digital one, and let my Marantz SR6003 take care of all the goodies that it can do with it's Dac, and DSP, and Audyssey, and Bass Management with all the fine tuning in channel levels, speaker's delay, speaker's x-over(s) and you name it...
Also your Marantz SR6003, being the latest model, has the most recent and better performing Dac than your Toshiba player, which is an older model and not the best CD player around, duh, at only a couple hudred clams or so.

Hope this clear up some misconception and steer you in the right direction.

Best regards,

Bob

 

[Lordoftherings]

Djizasse, some more precise info for you (CS4382A, it is).

Ok Djizasse, I did a little more research.

The Cirrus Logic Crystal CS4398 Dac is a 2-channel stereo Dac used in the specific model A/V receiver Onkyo TX-SR806. The 806 uses four or perhaps five of these dual-channel Dacs.

Now, the Cirrus Logic Crystal CS4382A is a mutichannel (8-channel) Dac used in the Marantz SR8002, SR7002 and AV8003.

So, now my % of certitude about which Dac(s) your Marantz SR6003 used, has just increased to 99.9999%. Your SR6003 is using the Crystal CS4382A in all very strong probability.

Bob