Thread: Anyone want to help a few newcomer questions?

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Post by Lord Falconer March 28, 2013 (1 of 14)
Hi there, long term browser and finally decided to make the plunge and register for the website. I have a few SACD's (The Dead Can Dance Set, Beck's Sea Change, a few Depeche Mode releases and Bowies Heathen being personal highlights).

My current set up is an Onkyo TX-SR605 alongside an Oppo BDP-83. I have it hooked up via HDMI at the moment which seems to do the right business with DVD-Audio discs as well as Blu-ray audio. However I am finding it hard to find out what is the best way to play my SACDs. According to a few posts it would seem that the Onkyo-605 will not handle DSD via HDMI playback and I have to use Bitstream audio instead.
My question would be am I not getting the full output range I should be getting as a result of not getting DSD via HDMI?
Are HDCDs similarly gimped?
If I were to connect via the analogue multi-channel inputs would I get the best audio output all around?

Sorry for so many questions. I'm afraid despite having been trying to get into this stuff for the past 5 years I am still relatively clueless on what a lot of this stuff means so ny helpful pointers would be much appreciated- thanks very much :)

Post by soundboy March 28, 2013 (2 of 14)
Why not use the multi-channel analog inputs/outputs? This is the way to extracting the best sound quality out of SACD with that combination of player/receiver. Let the Oppo doe the processing and let the Onkyo handle the amplification.

Post by Lord Falconer March 28, 2013 (3 of 14)
Hey, okay so use the multi outs/ins of the Oppo and Onkyo?
Would this degrade the quality of HDCDs, Blu-ray audio or DVD/A's or would they still play to their best ability? (I'd been led to believe that they required HDMI inputs).

Thanks for the quick reply :)

Post by Ubertrout March 28, 2013 (4 of 14)
I used to have a 605...it's a good entry-level receiver. And I used to play SACDs on it via a Oppo DV-980h, so this is pretty apropos, actually. I also compared it to the sound of a Sony SCD-CE595 via the 605's analog inputs (sadly, the Sony isn't being made anymore, it was a great entry-level CD/SACD unit). The short version is that I found the sound of the Oppo via HDMI kind of harsh, while the sound of the Sony via analog was warmer and more mellow.

So, what should you do? Try SACDs over HDMI, and using a 6-cable analog connection. Sample a few discs and see which one you like more.

The 605 can't handle DSD over HDMI, and I wouldn't be too bothered, given the receiver's class. Just keep the SACD output mode over HDMI as PCM, which should be the default.

The DACs in the BDP-83 are likely substantially better than those in the 605, which might suggest that analog will give better sound. But don't assume...try both and see which one you like.

Oh, and HDCD has nothing to do with this...it's just an encoding scheme to give regular CDs 20-bit dynamic range. The Oppo should see it and handle it automatically, don't worry about it.

Post by Kal Rubinson March 28, 2013 (5 of 14)
Lord Falconer said:

1. According to a few posts it would seem that the Onkyo-605 will not handle DSD via HDMI playback and I have to use Bitstream audio instead.
My question would be am I not getting the full output range I should be getting as a result of not getting DSD via HDMI?

2. Are HDCDs similarly gimped?

3. If I were to connect via the analogue multi-channel inputs would I get the best audio output all around?

1. No, you want PCM, not Bitstream.
2. Probably not.
3. No. If this was an 83SE (and the Onkyo had great analog bypass), one might possibly consider this but I would stick with HDMI.

Post by windhoek March 30, 2013 (6 of 14)
I wonder though, if by using analogue connections, would that bypass the AVR's DSP features such as room setup (speaker distance, levelling and EQ etc)?

Post by Links March 30, 2013 (7 of 14)
windhoek said:

I wonder though, if by using analogue connections, would that bypass the AVR's DSP features such as room setup (speaker distance, levelling and EQ etc)?

yup all of the above... and bass management.
DSP means Digital signal processing.
Speaker level settings may stick.

I am using 2 Vintage Sony TA2000f preamps (has a mono output for feeding my subs)
That gives me 4 channels plus sub feed.
Nothing yet for center channel.
2 1/3 octave Technics SH 8065 equalizers along with a RTA for setup
to help things along.

Post by windhoek March 30, 2013 (8 of 14)
I thought that would be the case, thanks.

Post by Links March 31, 2013 (9 of 14)
Pure analogue is more expensive than digital these days.

Post by Kal Rubinson April 1, 2013 (10 of 14)
Links said:

Pure analogue is more expensive than digital these days.

Mebbe. I just bought an analog preamp!

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