HK520. CD player hook up? (1 Viewer)

[Greg Kolinski]

Since the 520 doesnt appear to have an analogue bypass to use the CD player DAC instead of the recievers...........
1)in just running in stereo mode,even using RCA connectors,the HK's DAC still does some converting?
2)Running the RCA cables to 2 of the 5 channel inputs(for SACD etc?)as I am now,this should bypass the recievers DAC completly?
Thanks for any input

Greg

 

[John Garcia]

EVERY time you use stereo analog inputs, you are bypassing the receiver's DACs. While there may not be any processing going on, that does not mean the signal path is the optimum one. You may POST-process that signal with DSPs, but that is not the same thing as D to A conversion. If you run it in stereo mode, the only guaranteed processing that should occur is bass management.

In most cases (not all), when you use the multichannel analog inputs, you will not be able to use the internal DACs. This typically utilizes a different circuit path than the stereo analog inputs, often optimized for better sound for "hi-res" sources such as DVD-A and SACD.

On my Marantz, I have "source direct" for all analog sources, which essentially defeats all tone controls and bass management. The multichannel only functions in "7ch direct" mode, which may not be post-processed.

 

[JohnnyG]

EVERY time you use stereo analog inputs, you are bypassing the receiver's DACs

Well, most of the time, the analog input goes through ADCs and what is digital must eventually be converted to analog, so yes an analog input DOES travel through DACs in most cases.

However, the AVR520 is one unit that does not digitize it's analog inputs. That's why you can't apply bass management to an analog signal.

 

[Steve_AS]

However, the AVR520 is one unit that does not digitize it's analog inputs. That's why you can't apply bass management to an analog signal.

It's not quite bass management, but for any of the AVR520 inputs, if the input mode is set to *analog*, and the 'surround mode' set to *stereo*, then you still do have a choice of sending bass to the subwoofer , in the 'speaker setup' menu , by choosing 'SUB L+R' instead of 'SUB NONE' -- *however*, the same bass is also sent to the main speakers, which are presumed to be large. You aren't given the option of setting the front speakers to small. I don't know if this bass routing is done digitally or not.

You *are* given the large/small fronts option if the input mode is set to 'optical' or 'coax' (i.e. digital), though. So if your mains are small, make sure you are listening via one of the *digital* inputs, and make sure that *stereo* playback is configured correctly for this input. (The AVR520 default seems to be front LARGE; change this to SMALL). This ensures that bass frequencies are *only* sent to the sub. Obviously in this instance, you are using the receiver's DAC.

Alternately for an analog stereo input, you can use a surround mode, such as DPL II, and that, too, can be set to use a sub or not, and to set mains large or small, in the OSD speaker setup menu. This must involve ADA conversion since DPL II is a digital process.

For the analog 6-channel inputs, there's no bass management per se -- the subwoofer channel only gets what what the DVD player ouputs from its .1 channel -- but you can at least set subwoofer channel (and the other 5 channel) levels in the AVR520.

When I first got the AVR520 I was unaware of how configurable its inputs are -- it took me some time to realize that for *each* input (DVD, CD, VIDEO, 6/8 CHANNL, etc) you can store separate speaker size/delay/level/crossover settings for *each* mode (stereo , Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic, LOgic 7, DSP, etc). And that there are different limitations on options in different modes. Never assume that a setting you made for one particular combination of input/mode will apply to another; for example, just because mains are set to SMALL for the DVD input playing Dolby Digital surround, doesn't necssarily mean they are set to SMALL playing PCM (CD) digital stereo input. You have to explicitly tell the AVR520 to do that.