Question about high rez signals...

[jdallen23]

...How do you get a 96kHz or higher signal to an amplifier?

My current reciever is a Panny SA-XR50 and my DVD/CD player is a Sony DVP-S530D which I know is antiquated and a POS pretty much.

My digital output is automatically limited to a 48kHz sampling frequency. According to my DVD manual, the Sampling frequency stays at 96kHz only when the signals are output from the LINE OUT (Audio 1, 2) connections.

So I am assuming the only way to hear a high rez recording through my current set up would be to connect up the Audio 1 analong L&R output of my DVD player to my analog CD input on my reciever. Is this correct? Because when I connected my analog output of the DVD player and ran it to my reciever's output, my reciever showed it was recieving a 192kHz input. Also there is no true 5.1 surround at the higher resolution like I was hoping...

Gah, I am pretty confused at the moment seeing as how this is my first experience with trying to set up a high rez listening station.



Could you please give me an example of the hardware needed to send a high rez signal to my amplifier that would be complete? By complete, I mean send a signal of at least the 96/24 sampling frequency and also be able to enjoy the true surround info encoded in the media. I am guessing that I need a newer dedicated CD/DVD-A/SACD type player to listen to the high rez audio, but how about for high rez encoded DVD-Videos? Will I need one of those in addition, or is there an all-in-one combo that would work well for my mid-fi set up?

Does this even make any sense? I am not sure because my head is so garbled from reading all the manuals etc. and trying to get my setup's info explained.

 

[krabapple]

Yes, you need a player that plays SACDs and/or DVD-A discs to get high-resolution
playback, and you will have to connect them via 6 analog connections. Your player doesn't offer such features. The actual 'resolution' of the playback will depend on the source -- sampling rates and bitdepths vary. What disc were you trying to play?

 

[jdallen23]

I purchased Todd Rundgren's "Liars" on DVD-A and was experimenting with it as my first DVD-A. I figured that my DVD player was well out of date, but it does tell me in the manual that it will play at the 96/24 sampling frequencies. So would I be correct in assuming that I could use the blended analog L&R outputs on the DVD player to get and idea of how a higher rez recording will sound, at least in stereo?

I am having a hard time deciphering how to go about assuring that I get that 96/24 signal sent to my reciever though by reading the manual. It isn't as easy to follow as I would hope, however some of that may be my own ignorance of HT terminology.

~~edit:
Also, I see on the front page of audioholics.com that the Denon DVD-3910 has this listed as one of it's features:

-24/96 compatible digital outputs - optical and coaxial

I had heard that these outputs were always scaled down to 48kHz to prevent piracy. My reciever at home is a fully digital amplifier and I hear that it sounds best with a digital input. Now, what I am wondering, is this saying what I think, and if it is, do I have to spen $1300 on a DVD player to get an option like that?

 

[drogulus]

jdallen23,

When you play a DVD-A disc on a DVD-V machine, you are limited to the DD 5.1 or 48khz PCM, I think. There may be some discs that differ slightly...some PCM tracks may be 16/48, some I've seen are 24/48.

There are a few music discs that are based on the DVD-V format; Classic Records sells some of them, they're not copy protected and will play 24/96 PCM if you have that selected in the players audio setup menu.

I don't think you need a special player to play 24/96 PCM, which is stereo only. My ancient Pioneer 525 plays them perfectly. If you want surround you need DVD-A and/or SACD. To get both formats to the receiver digitally you need i.Link on both ends. Players start at ~$600, receivers ~$1,000.

 

[jdallen23]

Thanks for the explanation drogulus.

On another note, I tried connecting up my analog 5.1 outputs out of the back of my DVD player which has the 5.1 decoder in it and I had some strange results. My reciever is a 6.1 HT amp and I would get no sound out of my center channel. I had sound coming from the front, sub, and surrounds, but not the center. No dialogue was coming from any of the speakers, just the surround effects. Everything works fine when I connect digitally, and I know that the analog center out worked fine about 1 week before I changed out the reciever because my old reciever was a Sony 5.1 w/ no decoder in it and it worked fine.

Is that because there is a conflict between the DVD player decoding the signal and the way the reciever is doing it? I guess I need a DVD player that has 6.1 analog outs to take care of that?

~~edit:

Just to clarify, is i.Link the only way to send/recieve a high rez digital signal?
I did a Ctrl+F on Denon's website for 24/96 and the reference DVD-5910 all the way to the DVD-2910 says that they have 24/96 compatible digital outputs - optical and coaxial. i.Link is IEEE1394 however.

 

[drogulus]

jdallen23,

The high rez formats formats (DVD-A/SACD) are defined by their high sample rates as well as their multichannel capability. The 24/96 PCM standard is actually part of DVD-V. The major music companies wont release music on it, supposedly for anti-piracy reasons, but the truth is this format never had a chance in the marketplace anyway. The general public doesn't want a new stereo music format to replace CDs.

So your Denon player does play this format. So do most $99.00 DVD players today. But there's not much out there to play.....check out AIX Records , they make double-sided discs, DVD-A on one side, DVD-V (24/96) on the other.

I just ordered the AIX sampler/demo...$19.93 w/ shipping.

 

[drogulus]

On another note, I tried connecting up my analog 5.1 outputs out of the back of my DVD player which has the 5.1 decoder in it and I had some strange results. My reciever is a 6.1 HT amp and I would get no sound out of my center channel. I had sound coming from the front, sub, and surrounds, but not the center. No dialogue was coming from any of the speakers, just the surround effects. Everything works fine when I connect digitally, and I know that the analog center out worked fine about 1 week before I changed out the reciever because my old reciever was a Sony 5.1 w/ no decoder in it and it worked fine.

Is that because there is a conflict between the DVD player decoding the signal and the way the reciever is doing it? I guess I need a DVD player that has 6.1 analog outs to take care of that?

When you use the analog MC out on the player, the receiver just passes through the signal, all processing is done by the player. And that's where your problem lies, most likely. It sounds like you have the center channel enabled in the setup menu, because otherwise the dialog would appear in the LR fronts. Are you sure the center cable is good? Is it connected to the right input?

 

[jdallen23]

When you use the analog MC out on the player, the receiver just passes through the signal, all processing is done by the player. And that's where your problem lies, most likely. It sounds like you have the center channel enabled in the setup menu, because otherwise the dialog would appear in the LR fronts. Are you sure the center cable is good? Is it connected to the right input?

I double checked to make sure that I had the cables correctly connected and I am sure that the cable is good, I tried connecting it all up again last night with a different set of cables and I still have the same problem. The player is a DTS, DD and my reciever is a DTS-96/24, DTS-ES, DD-EX...FYI

I guess after work I can take the center output of the player and connect it to a L or R input on my reciever to see if a signal is coming out of the center otuput. And also take the L or R output of the player and connect it to the center input on the reciever, etc... I was under the gun last night, had stuff to do and didn't have time to try all of these options.