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soundboy said:
As for "matching multichannel amp", there're a number of compatible home theater receivers and pre/pro that can accept/decode the native DSD bitstream from the 5400ES, such as those from Yamaha, Denon, Marantz, Onkyo/Integra, etc.
My Sony SCD XA 9000 ES has an option for something called DSD direct. It converts directly to analog without first being converted to pcm. On that player at least, the DSD direct sounds better than when I use the level controls and speaker compensation which take the signal to pcm first.
For that reason I would like to see a DSD decoding option which DOES NOT convert to pcm before going to analog. Since I believe in long XLR interconnects and short speaker wire, I prefer a preamp with 5 monaural amps to a 7 ch receiver. That was the gist of my earlier post asking about a DSD convert in a preamp or as a separate box - one like Meitner's DAC-6. Now if that could be set up to receive an HDMI signal.... (currently Meitner uses an optical link between his transport and the DAC-6).
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Windsurfer said:
My Sony SCD XA 9000 ES has an option for something called DSD direct. It converts directly to analog without first being converted to pcm. On that player at least, the DSD direct sounds better than when I use the level controls and speaker compensation which take the signal to pcm first.
For that reason I would like to see a DSD decoding option which DOES NOT convert to pcm before going to analog. Since I believe in long XLR interconnects and short speaker wire, I prefer a preamp with 5 monaural amps to a 7 ch receiver. That was the gist of my earlier post asking about a DSD convert in a preamp or as a separate box - one like Meitner's DAC-6. Now if that could be set up to receive an HDMI signal.... (currently Meitner uses an optical link between his transport and the DAC-6).
I too would like a SACD player, preferably from Sony as I like their sound, that has DSD direct as you call it. But I would like this with multi-channel analogue out. Any ideas, please? If not Sony, anything else.
Money IS an issue, so the cheaper the better. Woudl consider 2nd hand. Many thanks!
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Post by k-spin August 28, 2008 (13 of 90)
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FunkyMonkey said:
I too would like a SACD player, preferably from Sony as I like their sound, that has DSD direct as you call it. But I would like this with multi-channel analogue out. Any ideas, please? If not Sony, anything else.
Money IS an issue, so the cheaper the better. Woudl consider 2nd hand. Many thanks!
Hi FunkyMonkey,
Not sure about the "DSD Direct" bit but the Sony SCD-XA1200ES is available for about £300-£400. It has multi-channel analogue outputs.
The manual is available here: http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/2696254112.pdf
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Peter said:
Secondly, may I request a simple explanation of HDMI and its advantages, and the connections needed for this new Sony player to its matching multichannel amplifier?
HDMI is the only connection you'll need. That's the main advantage: convenience. Some people like to refer to it as "digital SCART" and they have a point. It beats connecting six separate audio wires and three separate video wires -- or about double that if you're dealing with a recording device that's got input as well as output to handle.
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k-spin said:
Not sure about the "DSD Direct" bit but the Sony SCD-XA1200ES is available for about £300-£400. It has multi-channel analogue outputs.
The SCD-XA5400ES is the first Sony SACD player with DSD output via HDMI. There have been two earlier models (and matching receivers) with DSD output via i.Link.
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Post by k-spin August 28, 2008 (16 of 90)
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The Seventh Taylor said:
The SCD-XA5400ES is the first Sony SACD player with DSD output via HDMI. There have been two earlier models (and matching receivers) with DSD output via i.Link.
Hi Seventh Taylor,
I think I may have misunderstood what FunkyMonkey meant by "DSD Direct". I thought he just wanted the DSD signal to be converted directly to analogue and not via PCM. I assume the SCD-XA1200ES would do this within the player. HDMI/i.Link equipped players could pass the DSD signal to an appropriate receiver to be converted to analogue.
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Post by trntbl August 28, 2008 (17 of 90)
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Windsurfer said:
My Sony SCD XA 9000 ES has an option for something called DSD direct. It converts directly to analog without first being converted to pcm. On that player at least, the DSD direct sounds better than when I use the level controls and speaker compensation which take the signal to pcm first.
Yes, the 9000 sounds best with DSD direct-mode, which bypasses bass management. However, it is not clear to me that this improvement is due missing DSD-PCM conversion or because the signal bypasses some active components (op-amps) when not going through bass management routine. The soundquality of digital player is mainly in these analog parts.
About this new Sony 5400 player, it is a logical step following Sony´s totally illogical decision concerning SACD-format. No analog multichannel outputs? Goodbuy old-school audiophiles, like me. No Blu-Ray? Goodbuy videophiles.
Now why didn´t they make a statement Blu-Ray/SACD-transport (HDMI output only) and a nice processor to go with that?
kristian
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k-spin said:
Hi Seventh Taylor,
I think I may have misunderstood what FunkyMonkey meant by "DSD Direct". I thought he just wanted the DSD signal to be converted directly to analogue and not via PCM.
No, you were right and I was wrong. I only now properly read the messages like Windsurfer's. They are two different features:
1) not decoding DSD in the player at all but passing it to the receiver for decoding
2) not converting DSD to PCM before conversion to analog but doing so directly.
Latter feature is apparently referred to as "DSD Direct".
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trntbl said:
About this new Sony 5400 player, it is a logical step following Sony´s totally illogical decision concerning SACD-format. No analog multichannel outputs? Goodbuy old-school audiophiles, like me.
Doesn't that school use stereo only?
Why else do brands like Marantz continue to release stereo-only SACD players (even when other components in the same range are finally going the multichannel way; e.g. AV8003/MM8003)?
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Post by trntbl August 29, 2008 (20 of 90)
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The Seventh Taylor said:
Doesn't that school use stereo only?
Why else do brands like Marantz continue to release stereo-only SACD players (even when other components in the same range are finally going the multichannel way; e.g. AV8003/MM8003)?
Ok. If stereo is old school, the analog-mch is somewhat newer school :)
About stereo-SACD players, I don´t know? Maybe competition drives manufacturers to add almost-useless features to their players. It works in AV-world, so why not in stereo-world?
kristian
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