On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 15:48:59 -0800, willbill wrote
(in article ):
Sonnova wrote:
On Sun, 11 Nov 2007 07:34:00 -0800, willbill wrote
(in article ):
surround sound 5.1 cables: 6 RCA vs toslink vs HDMI
for DVD movies with half decent DD5.1 and/or DTS5.1
sound, anybody else notice that their AVR (that has 6 RCA
inputs for 5.1, as well as a player with 6 RCA outputs)
sounds better when used with the 6 RCA cables?
i.e. than 5.1 audio via either a toslink connection
or an HDMI connection
for the moment, i'm inclined to not buy either
of the new hi def movie players (i.e. HD-DVD
and/or Blu-Ray) unless it has 5.1 via 6 RCA cables
agreed or disagreed?
Sounds to me like what you are saying is that
you like the surround-sound decoder chip in
your DVD player better than you like the one
in your AVR because that's the only difference.
my DVD player = $230 OPPO DV-981HD
my AVR = $800 Denon AVR-2307CI
if it is due to a decoder quality difference,
i hardly expected it to favor the OPPO;
meaning that it raised a couple of other
possibilities including that the audio data
transmitted via either toslink or HDMI may
not be as "good" as that via 6 RCA
Let's try again. TOSLINK and HDMI are not carrying audio at all, they are
carrying the digital bit stream. The RCA's ARE carrying audio. The OPPO has a
very good reputation for sounding extremely good, so it doesn't surprise me
that you find the OPPO's decoder to be better than the Denon's.
TOSLINK and HDMI carry the un-decoded 5.1
DIGITAL bit stream from the player to the
Dolby/DTS decoder in your receiver,
where it's processed into analog,
yes, i'm aware of that
while the 6 RCAs carry the already decoded
ANALOG signal from your DVD player (many of which
have surround-sound decoders already built-in).
So the choice is yours decode the sound in the
player or decode the sound in the receiver.
Here's the rub: just because the surround-sound decoder
in your DVD player seems to be better than the one in your
receiver, doesn't necessarily mean that the decoder that
comes in a Blu-ray or HD-DVD player will continue that
tradition and there is no way (except by auditioning at
home before buying) to tell beforehand.
tell me about it!
i still remember my 1st big, heavy, expensive
solid state amp, circa 1975
what a major learning experience/disappointment
that was. 
but since you bring the subject up, and since i'm
thinking about getting one of the Toshiba HD-A2 players
(or the still newer HD-A3), and assumming it has 6 RCA
as well as toslink and HDMI, does it decode/sound ok?
I have an HD-A2. I use coaxial digital to connect to my Harman-Kardon
AVR-7000. This receiver uses Lexicon surround-sound processing - which is why
I bit the bullet and paid close to $2000 for it and is excellent. I've never
tried the 6 analog outputs from the player.
also, don't get me wrong, the Denon AVR is rather
good and i don't plan to toss it out
In other words, the type of interconnect is NOT what is
determining the quality of the surround-sound in your system.
as far as i'm concerned, it's still an open question,
and hopefully i get closer to a more informed judgement
as to what reason(s) the difference is due to
Actually, it's not an open question. You are comparing apples to oranges.
HDMI/TOSLINK is digital, and the RCAs are analog. You're just moving the
location of the digital decode for your surround sound. It's that cut-and
dry.