Ruben1
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Is is better to let the DVD player decode (DAC) or the receiver
Yiangos
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From a technical point of view,it is better to let the dvd player do the conversion but you should try both ways.Based
on personal experience,Denons have better dacs,especially the top-of-the-line ones.

CECE
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Why is it better for the DVD to convert?

Yiangos
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Less jitter,Dup.Oh,wait-a-minute.Jitter,what the hell is this ?

Ruben1
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Let me ask the question another way. What specs do I need to understand in order to determine which unit is the better choice for converting? I assume there are some basic facts/specs about DAC capabilities which one can look at and make an informed desicion as to which unit is better at converting the digital signal to analog. Are there such specs?? Thanks

Yiangos
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Ruben,i am not the technical kind of person but i am curious
why you ask this.It is not a matter of technical stuff.What matters is which method sounds best and the only way to find out is to experiment.All you need is your dvd player to have a digital output and your receiver a digital imput.

RGibran
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Ruben,

Yiangos is correct

CECE
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I'm baffled, one says the Denon has a better DAC but he is using the Pioneer DVD, and he says to let that do the DAC? What the heck is this talking bout? Let your ears decide, he just said one is better than the other jitter, that's measurable ain't it? But the brand he says is better, don't use let the Pioneer do it....Bizzare.

Yiangos
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Just remember Dup.we're all nuts here.We can say whatever we like ! Yippieee !!!!!! lololol

Jim Tavegia
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Rgibran has given good advise.

First trust your ears in all things audio. Since you do not have the measuring equipment to do jitter testing...et al.

Your 45A is also an entry level SACD player. A simple test of running the 2 channel analogue out from your 45A to the CD input of the Denon and you can easily toggle back and forth between cd analog and the digital in to the Denon for a instant comparison. The levels may not be perfectly matched.

In my Pioneer Elite HT receiver the receiver has an input selector (digital or analog) for each input. It is easy to compare sound quality on the fly. The Denon probably does this as well.

Since the 45A is more than the $50-$100 entry level DVD player the converters inside are probably decent. Your ears will tell you. Maybe.

I hope you are using the 5.1 analog SACD output as well. It should be better than cd or HT sound from the Denon in redbook or dvds, depending upon the quality of SACDs.

mrlowry
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Ruben-

For best sound when using digital connections you should avoid Toslink and stick with coxial. It has much less jitter. I will go out on a limb and say that I'd bet that the DAC's in the Denon sound better and that the digital to analog conversion should take place there. I haven't done the comparison with those exact pieces but with similar pieces from a couple of generations ago. Again I would NOT use the Toslink, get that thing connected coxial digital. PRONTO! On Dolby Digital and DTS it shouldn't matter because the information is sent as packets so jitter should have little effect, however PCM information (what's on a CD) is sent as a stream so jitter is a very real problem.

So what is jitter? Think of jitter as a miss-timing of the digital data. All the "1" and "0" of the digital data are the same but their time relationships have changed. Jitter messes up the word clock. The best example that I can think of right now is if you had the world's best marching band with a great bass drummer marking time. They would sound great. Now take that same band and substitute a bass drummer with no rhythm (say me for example) all of the information that the band is playing is the same, their sheet music and instruments haven

BachToRock
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The best 5.1 sound I have heard is a Denon 5910's Analog outs through a Sony TA-P9000ES 5.1 channel ANALOG preamp... no preamp or processor at all. A clean, pure and direct as possible signal path... the traditional Hi-Fi mentality for great sound.

MUDSHARK
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I have read many comments similar to MrLowry regarding the superiority of coaxial digital over optical. Yet the packages containing optical cables at wal-mart indicate the following quality order.
1. HDMI
2. Optical
3. Coaxial

Enlighted self-interest?

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