The DV-970HD will output 96kHz PCM DVD-A through its S/PDIF. It may not do so with copy protected DVD-A's however.

However, while it will convert DSD to 24-bit/88.2kHz PCM before outputting it through the HDMI jack, I don't know if it will similarly output DSD converted to PCM through its S/PDIF. I don't recall Mr. Phillips writing that he could get an 96kHz signal from SACD through the S/PDIF but he may have done so.

As with many DVD players, you need to turn off the HDMI output to get a PCM sample rate greater than 48kHz output through the S/PDIF. Also be sure to set the maximum sample rate of the S/PDIF jacks to at least 96kHz.

Frustratingly, the Oppo's digital output truncates 24 bit depth samples to 16 bits no matter what you do. Thus, the highest resolution you will reasonably be able to obtain is 16/96kHz.

Good luck!

96kHz SACD signal, no such thing. No such thing for consumer players to get any sort of digital DSD . Only CD PCM.

While there is no such thing as a 96kHz SACD signal per se, there are plenty of units that convert DSD to high resolution PCM prior to converting the digital data stream to analog. The Oppo may additionally output this high resolution data stream via its S/PDIF, although I have my doubts. It would be great to have this option as it would provide another way to listen to SACD disks.

A minor correction: many consumer units output more than "CD PCM". In addition to Red Book CD (16/44.1), many output up to 24 bit resolution and up to 96kHz sample rates. Some output up to 192kHz.

In the Audio Setup Page set SPDIF Output to PCM and the LPCM Rate to 96K. Oppo states that when using HDMI Audio set to SPDIF that "Digital audio output via HDMI will be the same as the SPDIF (digital coaxial/optical audio) output. The SPDIF setting will affect whether 2-channel PCM or raw compressed bit streams will be carried over via HDMI. When this option is selected and SPDIF is set to

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Wes Phillips' review of the Oppo970 HD said that he was able to get a 96kHz output from the coaxial digital out of the player for SACD and DVD-A play back. Oppo's website stresses that there is NO digital out from the coaxial or optical outputs when these formats are playing because of copy protection protocols.

I didn't check what was available from the S/PDIF output when the Oppo was playing an SACD. In general, I believe the SACD license requires the player's digital output to be turned off when the DSD layer on an SACD is being played.

Regarding DVD-A playback, this depends on the disc authoring. A flag on the disc tells the player whether to allow an in-the-clear hi-rez datastream to be output. Titles from AIX, Hires Music, and Classic have all been authored to allow a hi-rez datastream.

It is not documented in the Oppo's manual, but to get a high-sample-rate output from its S/PDIF jacks, you must to turn off the HDMI output. The OSD menu then allows you to set the maximum sample rate to 96kHz or 192kHz.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

Anyone tried playback using the Oppo's universal flash-memory card reader (MS/SD/MMC/SM) or USB input?

Could be the poor man's "Memory Player."

Did anyone actually try the SPDIF out of this device with a proper DAC? More specifically does this DAC confirm '96' and even '192'? (there are such some 192K sampled DVDs out there, yes.). Having a device SAY it is doing something is not always the same as haveing the device DO it..

Additionally, Wes did say that only with the HDMI you could get the 24bit versions. Even though it sounds weird I interpret this statement as saying that on spdif we get 96/16? 192/16?

Is the oppo 970 the only player in existence that actually does 96 and even 192 spdif out while playing DVD-A's that contain such data? I ask because I hear some issues with the oppo while playing PAL sources. Also it doesn't upconvert to 1080p which is a (minor) bummer.

The Oppo's S/PDIF digital output truncates 24 bit depth samples to 16 bits. Thus, no 24/96.

Other players will output digital S/PDIF 24/96, etc. from unprotected DVD-A's, but not all will. There are few that cost below $200.00 that will however.

And the HDMI? Can we pull the 24/192 off there with some.. gizmo?

Or putting it differently: are there any ways to make a settop dvd player send (through some contraption/means/convertor) 192/24 or at least 96/24 to my DAC?

Not that I know of. There are video receivers/processors that will accept and convert high resolution HDMI to audio, but I don't know of any HDMI to S/PDIF converters - although they may be out there.

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There are video receivers/processors that will accept and convert high resolution HDMI to audio, but I don't know of any HDMI to S/PDIF converters - although they may be out there.

Gefen offers switchers and converters for almost any purpose, though their website is very confusing. It looks as if this new product -- www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=4298 -- might do the job.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

I'd be surprised, since HDCP is specifically built by the evil powers that be to prevent people from acquiring the HD data digitally and do what they want with it.

Obviously they are afraid of piracy but it is frustrating that they are preventing me to do what is perfectly legit (at least in spirit). Not to mention the fact that their actual formats (HD-DVD/BD/DVD-A) have already been cracked. If I wanted to be evil I would download the unencrypted disks off the internet.

For the record, my personal goal is to play a DVD-A or Blu Ray disk, extract - say - left, center, right, subwoofer and send that to my 'audiophile' set (Quad 989, Bel Canto eVo4, Bel Canto DAC3), and somehow send the rest (surround channels) to a separate auxilary amp. (not for audio-only of course, purely for movies with Ahnold being chased by helicopters etc )

But I've mailed gefen, will come back with what they say.

As promised, my report about Gefen scalers etc.

It turns out that the main issue remains HDMI. Of course. Problem is that the source device does all the mixing, depending on what the target device says it can do. Gefen's device indeed is able to play back 192/24 off of its digital out, which means that with DVD-A, stereo mixes, you will get what you want. Cool.

The downside though is that with MOVIES you will get stereo, i.e. everything, downmixed to stereo. You will not get Left+Right+Center+LFE into your 'pro' stereo and two (4?) separate rear channels to an auxilary device.

Interesting.

Thanks!

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The Oppo's S/PDIF digital output truncates 24 bit depth samples to 16 bits. Thus, no 24/96.

Other players will output digital S/PDIF 24/96, etc. from unprotected DVD-A's, but not all will. There are few that cost below $200.00 that will however.

Can you tell me the names/model numbers of one or more of those players which will output 24/96 via SPDIF from an non-copy protected DVD-A?

I'm recording music at 24/96 (a hobby, not business) and wish to be able to author a DVD-A with my file and play it back via an outboard 24/96 DAC.

Thanks, Pete

I went through actually this search process some time ago for exactly the same reason.

I bought a Pannasonic DVD-S77 (the S97 also outputs 24/96). As I recall varies Denon models do.

I should have kept notes!

The AVS Forum loves these sorts of issues, maybe you will find more help there.

I'm sorry I don't recall more specifics.

Thanks much for your help! I will look into Panasonic & Denon and search the AVs forum for more info.

BTW, is there any way you can be sure it is outputting the higher bit rate and sampling rate?

This can be a problem for most people. I have a bit meter that shows me the number of bits used in a given digital stream which I have because I engineer recordings as a hobby.

Most DACs have LEDs to show the sampling rate. Some also have an indication of the resolution, but this is rare in my experience.

The display in my receiver (Sony 5200ESD) certainly confirms that the OPPO sends a 96 k stream through the COAX for DVDA
My test DVDA is the Beatles "Love"
Unfortuantely it doesn't report how many bits, I guess JA is right and there are only 16
A more intreaguing issue is what happens with SACD: it certainly plays 2 channels through the digital coax connection but the receiver does not report any sampling rate. Some people suggest that the rate is 88.2 k however if I connect my son's playstation 3 (and play a CD)enabling the upsampling to 88.2 the receiver reports 88.2 correctly. It must be something other than 88.2 pcm, DSD maybe? Can somebody with the proper test equipment and an open mind about budget high end test the signal and pull us out of the darkness?
By the way, the PS3 sounds good also, but the fans are noisy

i know, late..
DSD is converted to 24-bit/88.2KHz. This is the nominal cycling rate for a DSD to PCM conversion. This signal can't be passed over digital coaxial or optical.

DVD-Audio is truncated to 16-bit/192KHz at 2.0 Stereo when outputting over optical or coaxial. This is a hardware limitation. HDMI will support 24-bit/192Khz multi-channel over HDMI. The multi-channel analog is also performed at the same bit and cycling rate.The hardware is not designed for 24-bit over optical or coaxial. The physical ability to drive the signal is not present in the hardware transmitter. It will be 16-bit maximum.

Has anyone looked at this:

http://www.switch-box.com/Oppo_DV980H_Modified.html

This modified Oppo has 6 digital outs via 3x s/pdif.

They claim "SACD/DSD is converted to PCM data at 88.2kHz sampling rate for playback over the S/PDIF outputs. DVD-A is output at the native rate up to 192kHz sampling rate."

Quote:
Has anyone looked at this:

http://www.switch-box.com/Oppo_DV980H_Modified.html

This modified Oppo has 6 digital outs via 3x s/pdif.

They claim "SACD/DSD is converted to PCM data at 88.2kHz sampling rate for playback over the S/PDIF outputs. DVD-A is output at the native rate up to 192kHz sampling rate."

Yup. I am using that now with a Meridian 861. Lots of discussion on the Meridian HitchHikers website.

Kal