The new Sony UHP-H1 plays everything - Blu-ray, SACD, CD, even DVD-Audio

How does it compare in performance to the 5400ES?

 

In terms of audio, I only use it for digital playback so as far as I'm concerned, they're both bit perfect and identical. Not much help, I know.

I prefer the UHP-H1 because it can play almost all disc formats and has more features. Also, it's a lot smaller and neater.

 

OK. I'm not sure what you are getting at here. I'll put it another way - Do they have a different presentation playing SACD or CD and is one better (in your opinion) than the other in audio terms. I would be surprised if they are exactly the same. I'm just trying to gauge where these new players are positioned in terms of sound as they are cheaper and not built like ES models were.

 

All I'm saying is, if I'm only taking the digital stream from the player, then I get exactly what's on the disc, same as the SCD XA5400ES, so personally, I can't see how there'd be a difference. Sorry, I know that's not very helpful - maybe other people can chip in if they feel the UHP-H1 is in some way colouring the digital output but I'd be more than surprised if it was!

The analogue output could be a different story for all I know but as I say, I bought it for its digital output and its features, with the price a big plus.

 

Thanks, but if you play SACD you have to output analogue unless you have a Pioneer AVI receiver which has unique handshake for DSD data streams. I'm assuming then you are using a separate DAC with these, in which case they are identical sounding as transports.

 

Nope. The HDMI output will work for any number of AVRs and prepros and for a few DACs,

That's what he is saying and I agree.

 

Actually many AV receivers accept direct DSD streaming via HDMI — in example, my Yamaha RX-V777 does.

 

Yeah, lots of high-end AV receivers will decode DSD over HDMI. I think some of the Denons have it. Some from Sony used to do it as well, although they seem to have pretty much abandoned the high end until recently. Might have been a feature on some Marantz AV receivers, too.

 

There were several manufacturers who built AVRs with special circuits on their HDMI inputs to help reduce jitter. Pioneer had PQLS, Sony had HATS and Denon had Denon LINK 4. Don't necessarily need these to play SACDs over HDMI but they may help them sound better. I don't know of any current ones being offered.

 

Not sure why you'd bother building a special HDMI circuit to reduce jitter - I think all modern D/A converters reclock the signal anyhow, so it doesn't matter how much jitter might be introduced in transmission. It's all gonna be removed by the D/A converter.

 

HDMI Jitter: HDMI has the highest jitter of any interface - Charles Hansen - Computer Audio Asylum »

If you don't know, Charles Hansen is the chief designer at Ayre Acoustics

 

OK, but that was almost seven years ago. Sure that present systems don't take this into account?

 

Just to clarify, my UHP-H1 is connected by its HDMI output to the HDMI input on my NAD M32 all-digital stereo amplifier. So when playing an SACD, I'm playing stereo PCM. Admittedly, the UHP-H1 has to convert from DSD to PCM but so would the SCD-XA5400ES if used in my setup and I wouldn't expect to hear a difference between the PCM output of the two players.

Note to self: must update profile.

 

Nope. The systems referred to were proprietary variants and no one (almost no one) adopted a standard.

 

I bet only when matched to same brand of transport otherwise the SACD licence is infringed.

 

No, I play my SACD's by an Oppo BDP-93 linked via HDMI to an Elite Pioneer A/V receiver. Also used a year ago Sony's BDP-S6500, so DSD over HDMI from a SACD player is standard.

 

No.

 

Again, HDMI jitter wouldn't matter - all modern D/A converters reclock the signal, which eliminates jitter.

 

May I start by stating I don't know the answers here! Why do hi fi companies still make expensive transports if a dac does all the work and jitter/errors have been eliminated? Is it just a claim of those selling dacs?

It seems to me that if you have huge errors going into a dac it's probably going to affect what comes out the other end?

 

So you have tried it with different makes and established you get a DSD stream rather than PCM? I've had this discussion elsewhere and nobody has produced evidence that DSD (from SACD disc) over HDMI is not manufacturer specific. Perhaps this deserves another thread because I would like to establish what the true situation is on this.

 

Thanks. You have confirmed what I suspected.

 

Does your receiver indicate you are actually getting DSD rather than a conversion to PCM? (As in Backtovinyl's set up).

 

Jitter isn't "huge errors" though. It's jitter, and can be completely eliminated by reclocking.

 

Similar jitter errors are not "huge" — instead, they are minimal and I doubt anyone would hear any artifact induced by this kind of problem. With HDMI, we are talking about 74.25 MHz of clock, wich is an order many times greater than the mere 20 kHz of audible audio content maximum density.

Moreover, I think modern processors take this into account and fix the problem. I work in multimedia and I often deal with digital audio hardware, like audio interfaces, which successfully manage jitter.

 

I don't know about EddieVanHalen's, but my Yamaha AVR, when it's getting a DSD streaming, proudly announces it (see picture).