how to get best 2-ch audio from video player?

[lovinthehd]

@music4Luis also curious just what your expectations are for the lossless codecs are based on. For your setup I seriously doubt you're going to hear a great deal of difference over a lossy codec if that's the issue. Your audio quality of cd per channel is hard to beat already....your gear is a bit dated to easily take advantage of digital audio is the bigger issue IMO.

 

[Swerd]

Are the OPPO 203 and 205 able to output Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD decoded lossless audio via their FL, FR and C RCA outputs?

Yes. It's exactly as lovinthehd said. If you have an Oppo Bluray player, it's onboard DAC can decode the digital audio into 7.1 channels of decoded analog audio transferable by standard audio interconnects with RCA outputs.

Is that audio the high-quality sound processed via Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding?

Yes.

Or is the benefit of the audio goodness of those codecs only available via HDMI outputs therefore necessitating an AV Receiver?

No. The only way these codecs can be digitally transferred from one device to another is by HDMI connection. Once they are decoded into analog audio, they are transferred by multiple standard RCA audio interconnects.

 

[lovinthehd]

I'd actually wonder, now that I think about it (as I usually have the speaker set more capable than the original recording) as to just what downmix capabilities the Oppo units have.....

 

[hatman900]

For anyone who has the 205, how does the pure audio compare to the 203 as well as the best CD players you have used?