Mp3 decoding with HK AVR520 receiver (1 Viewer)

[Asim]

Ok, i have an HK AVR520 receiver and a Denon CDM-380 CDP which can play MP3s and has a digital coax out. When i use the Denon's mp3 decoder (set thru CD through the receiver via interconnects), mp3s play fine. However, when i have the Denon passing a digital signal to use the HK's mp3 decoding, no audio and NO mp3 LED lights on the HK come on. When i play just a regular CD and use the HK's DACs via the digital coax, the audio is fine. Am i doing something wrong here and/or have i missed the boat on some key point? Thanks for the input.

- asim

 

[JeremyFr]

thats odd I have a Toshiba/Yamaha setup my reciever doesnt do MP3 but my DVD does and passes it through the optical connection just fine as 44khz audio. I've never heard of a reciever have MP3 decoding but I've not been really looking since I purchasd my gear recently.

 

[JeremyFr]

I did some research and it, and what I've found is that it only plays MP3's off a computer through a digital connection. Heres a link to a site that covers this.

http://www.onecall.com/PID_13505.htm?PMNID=418&BCPID=241#FID_1356[/url]

You're going to need to scroll down to the specifications section where it says features in red are new from the 510 and about half way down the list it says, "MP3 Decoding Through Coaxial or Optical Digital (S/P-DIF) Inputs enables Playback of Hours of Music From a Compatible Computer " Hope this helps.

 

[Jonathan_D]

I did some research and it, and what I've found is that it only plays MP3's off a computer through a digital connection.

The 520's manual contradicts this. It specifically states you can connect either a computer sound card or an MP3 compatable cd-player with digital out to the receiver and it will decode the MP3.

However, what you might want to do is check out HK's faq regarding this at http://www.harmankardon.com/faq/show...asp?faqId=827. I have my computer's digital out connected and haven't been able to figure out how to switch to "mp3 to mp3" mode yet, but the faq indicates with newer codecs, letting your computer decode and send a PCM signal is better anyway. Plus, you get to use the digital surround fields if you want, though I have found that MP3s play havoc with Logic 7 and, to some extent, DPLII. It may have to do with the bit-rate - I haven't really tested it that thoroughly.

 

[Asim]

actually, i might have found my answer around 4 am this
morning. From the denon manual buried in midst of
god knows where....

To protect copyrights, no digital signals are output when playing MP3 files.

Well that's great! But it will send out a digital signal if playing CDs which are copyable. go figure.

Jeremy: I don't think it would matter where the source is (computer, etc.)as long as it is sending an mp3 bitstream.

Well thanks for your help guys. gosh darn friggin copy protection stuff. ok, so they only will make 45 billion in profit this year instead of 45.3 billion.
- asim

 

[JeremyFr]

Well thanks for your help guys. gosh darn friggin copy protection stuff. ok, so they only will make 45 billion in profit this year instead of 45.3 billion.

hehe yeah I've never heard of anything actually passing an undecoded MP3 signal over SPDIF. I've got an Audigy Platinum Card in my computer with more SPDIF's out than I know what to do with and it has no mp3 passthrough mode. And thats kind of funny that Denon will not decode MP3 to PCM for digital passthrough that kind of sucks. I know my Toshiba does and I dont know what kind of decoder they're using but it does a really good job at cleaning up the MP3 audio and tightening it up it sounds way better playing through that then on the computer.

 

[AlvaroD]

There's a small USB device from Harman, the DAL 150 which can pass native mp3 on the spdif.

I still haven't figured out the way to do it with a regular soundcard though

 

[Jonathan_D]

Well, I figured out how to get my soundcard to pass through a pure digital signal but I can't figure out how to get any software to do it. Windows MP 9 doesn't seem to have an option and neither does WinAmp that I can tell. If anyone knows differently I'd like to hear from you!