If a receiver cannot decode SACD, what does that really mean?

[jcPanny]

SACD decoding

If you get a decent Denon or other SACD/DVD-A player with good D/A converters and bass managment then the receiver decoding is a non-issue. The analog outputs will work great with any receiver. The digital connection is only a benefit when the receivers D/As and bass management are superior to the DVD player.

The problem is when cheap D/As and crappy bass management in entry level multiformat players negate most of the benefits in the higher res audio formats.

Also FYI, HDMI v1.1 can handle a DVD-A audio signal and v1.2 supports SACD. So receivers with these inputs might be capable of the decoding.

 

[krabapple]

I realize that there a few, very few specifically manufactured player/receiver pairs that can do this decoding at the receiver level. That's where the "virtually" comes into play. Perhaps you can offer more advice.

Actually, you can mix'n'match player/AVR pairs, as long as they both have ilink. For example, I use a Pioneer AVR and a Yamaha universal players, and they communicate just fine via ilink(Firewire/IEEE1394).

What percentage of SACD and DVD-Audio players do NOT decode and pass analog outputs?

I would guess: zero.

Conversely, what percentage of receivers DO possess the ability to decode SACD and DVD-Audio? Care to list a few? Do they require a specific player?

The Denons do, because they use a proprietary link rather than ilink/IEEE1394, but the other mass market ones (Pioneer, Yamaha) don't, AFAIK.

What are their prices?

Not sure what the least expesive one is these days, but the rather feature-heavy Pioneer 74txvi can be had for about $1000.

 

[krabapple]

If you get a decent Denon or other SACD/DVD-A player with good D/A converters and bass managment then the receiver decoding is a non-issue. The analog outputs will work great with any receiver. The digital connection is only a benefit when the receivers D/As and bass management are superior to the DVD player.

Actually, keeping the SACD/DVD-A signal entirely digital is of benefit when the AVR is going to be performing any downstream DSP such as Dolby Pro Logic II or room correction EQ, in addition to bass management and time alignment.

And I've seen few uni-players that treat DVD-A/SACD/DD/DTS/CD the same in terms of bass management (crossovers, slopes), channel levels, and time alignment (yes/no), much less the same as the AVR they;re connected to. A one-cable digital link to the receiver, where all the decoding/processing takes place for all sources, helps increase the odds that all sources will be processed similarly,

 

[krabapple]

The new Samsung DVD-HD1080 can transfer DVD-A/SACD data digitally via HDMI 1.2.

http://www.audioholics.com/ces/CEStransports/SamsungDVDHD1080p.php

However,the new Samsung DVD-HD1080 no longer appears on the Samsung website, and may prove to be vaporware, at least as far the US is concerned.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=674182&highlight=HD1080

 

[sivadselim]

A benefit of decoding the DVD-A/SACD formats at the receiver/pre/pro is that, unlike universal players, receiver/pre/pros will NOT drop the LFE channel when set up as having NO SUB, but will "properly" reroute the LFE channel to the LARGE fronts. This can allow for a true 5.0 hirez system for someone interested in that sort of setup.

Currently, if you set up a universal player for 5.0 playback via its multichannel analog outs, with NO SUB, it will NOT reroute the LFE channel properly, but will instead simply drop it altogether.