Newbie Cable Question (1 Viewer)

[BradL]

Hello Everyone,

I've just started my venture into home theater and I have a question about cables.

I want to hook up my Sony DVD (Model DVPNS755V) player, which supports SACD to my Denon 1803 tuner. Currently, the DVD player is hooked up to the Denon via an optical cable. This leaves me with 2 questions:

1) Can I play SACDs through the DVD player/optical input or do I need the analog cables?
2) Can I use standard RCA cables to hook up the multichannel playback to the receiver or do I need those special Monster cables.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Cheers and Happy Holidays!

Brad

 

[Eric_R_C]

Brad, as far as I know, you will need the RCA cables for SACD sound, for 2 reasons.

1) SPDIF cannot carry 5 channels of 24/96 music (Not sure about 2 channels, though)
2) If if 2 channels were possible, DVD and SACD players downconvert the digital signal anyways. This prevents you from making a perfect digital copy of the 24/96 recording.

Yes, you could use RCA cables, though there will be some signal loss, the results of which may or may not be detectable by you. Use them for now, and save up for better ones later. Better yet, see if you could borrow some MOnster cables (or get them from Best Buy, easier to return) and see if you can discern a difference.

 

[BradL]

Eric,
Thank you for your reply.
I've actually got everything working. I dug up some spare RCA cables I had kicking around the house, and I'm now enjoying SACD through my new receiver.
Honestly, for the time being, I don't think I'll rush out and buy Monster cables. The sound quality is very impressive over cheap RCA cables. Plus, I'm using my old speaker setup from my previous receiver, and while the speakers are decent and will do until my MasterCard recovers, they aren't worth talking about.
Perhaps I will try your suggestion when I upgrade my speakers in a few months. Until then, I'll use the standard RCA cables.
I will keep the monster cables I bought for the component hookup to the TV though.
Thanks again for the info!
Cheers!
Brad

 

[Nick A. G.]

The optical out surely has the capacity to carry 5 channels of discrete audio for SACD, but copyright protection prevents manufacturers from supporting that. Therefore, you must use analog cables for SACD playback. This is the same case with DVD Audio.

Anyway, just hook up both the digital and analog audio cables. You'll use the digital for DVD playback and the analog for SACD. If you're interested in enabling multichannel SACD playback, run the 5.1-channel outputs directly the 5.1-channel inputs on your receiver or processor and also run the 2-channel outs to a CD hookup on your receiver/processor. You'll notice the importance of having a separate hookup/source for 2-channel SACD if you do a side-by-side comparison.

On a side note, SACD is NOT a 24/96 technology. It's DSD (Direct Stream Digital), which is something completely different. It has a sampling frequency that far exceeds 96 KHz with 2.8 MHz (64 times the rate of the PCM technology used on standard CDs). The DAC in an SACD player only has to make two digital-to-analog conversions while playing back an SACD, whereas standard CDs normally have to make eight.

 

[Eric_R_C]

You got me on one point...SACD is DSD technology, not 24/96. I concede that error.
However, SPDIF does NOT carry 5 full channels of high resolution digital information. Check these sites..
http://www.ambisonic.net/pdf/dvda.pdf

It uses Cat 5 output jacks (like the ones we use for network cards in our PCs). This is because standard SPDIF jacks (such as RCA jacks) won't handle the high frequencies needed with 24/96 and 24/192 digital bitstreams.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...up-1-2001.html
It apparently can carry 2 full channels at this bandwidth, but copyright features prevent this.
And DON'T call me Shirley