Steven Or

Optical or 5.1 Analog

I have a Pioneer DV-45A DVD and a Klipsch AVR4802 receiver. When listening to DVD-A or SACD it seems best to use the 5.1 analog audio outs and the Ext in on the Denon. Is this correct? How about for home theater and movies, optical or 5.1 analog? If 5.1 is there any reason to have an optical cable as well?

Scott Merryfield

In order to listen to DVD-Audio or SACD, you must use the 5.1 analog outputs of the player. This is due to the recording industry's concerns regarding providing high resolution music via a digital connection.

For standard Dolby Digital or DTS decoding, it is usually preferrable to use a digital connection and the decoders built into your receiver. Receivers generally have better bass management, speaker distance and level calibrations. Plus, I believe your Denon receiver is THX certified, and you will only be able to use the THX post-processing for DD and DTS via the receiver's decoders (and, hence, a digital connection).

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ChristopherBer

I have a Sony DVD player it does not play SACD or DVD-Audio however when comparing optical and multi-channel analog inputs, using the multi-channel input seems to make my satellites less tiny sounding. With the optical input the satellite sound almost like they have no bass. Just my opinion.

Rick_Brown

Christopher, sounds like the DAC's in your DVD-player are much superior to the DAC's in your receiver, assuming that you are using the same soundfields and speaker level settings in both cases.

Jeff Gatie

Christopher,

Did you calibrate the system using both methods (5.1 outputs and digital) before you compared? It may be the case that the receiver's surround levels are defaulted lower than the 5.1 outputs. You cannot really compare the two unless they are both calibrated to reference. You may be missing out on a superior DAC just because the levels are mismatched. Just a thought (and a chance to return 5 expensive interconnect cables).