Audio Quality of DVD "Video Player" ?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Khorn, Aug 13, 2002.

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  1. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian Thread Starter

    Location:
    North York (Toronto) Ontario, Canada
    I'm getting a new RP TV and, along with it a new DVD player the Toshiba SD 4800. The primary purpose of this player is DVD movie viewing. The audio will be fed to my preamp so I can use my main speakers for movies. For the rest of the TV sound I will use the speakers built into the TV.
    The thing that I am curious about is the DVD-A capability of this type of machine. I know it can play DVD-A but I wonder just how good the sound will be. I'll use less expensive interconnects, I have a pair of Cardas Twinlinks that will suffice.
    Anyone have experience with the audio quality of this type of machine? At least I'll be able to play DVD-A stuff that isn't available on SACD through it.
     
    Khorn, Aug 13, 2002
    #1
  2. krabapple

    krabapple New Member

    Location:
    Washington DC
    I have the SD5800; sounds fine to me in DVD-A or CD modes. Of course it mostly depends on the mastering of the software.

    Next step up will be to buy something that does DVD-A , CD, and SACD (and HDCD if I can get it). Then I'll be covered.
     
    krabapple, Aug 13, 2002
    #2
  3. RetroSmith

    RetroSmith Forum Hall Of Fame<br>(Formerly Mikey5967)

    Location:
    East Coast
    Hey Khorn....

    Does the Toshiba have Progressive Scan Output?
     
    RetroSmith, Aug 13, 2002
    #3
  4. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    I'm not Khorn, but yes it does. Specs are available at:

    http://www.toshiba.com/tacp/dvd/current/SD4800.html

    I was considering this player, but went with a Sony SACD combo unit since it did not look like the Tosh had bass management, and my HT uses satellite & sub speakers. If you are primarily a 2-channel or full range speaker multi-channel guy or gal, then this would not make a bit of difference. You can also get a separate external bass management unit such as the Outlaw ICBM, but I was space constrained and it would have cost nearly as much as my player.

    Regards,
     
    Ken_McAlinden, Aug 13, 2002
    #4
  5. krabapple

    krabapple New Member

    Location:
    Washington DC
    which Sony combo unit has bass management?

    The Toshibas have it, but only for Dolby Digital analog surround output (i.e., output of DD 5.1 via the 6 RCA jacks, rather than via the digital out). My understanding is that very few units have proper bass management or time delay of SACD DSD or DVD-A PCM sources.

    (However, a receiver may be able to do bass management of the *2-channel* DVD-A output..mine can).
     
    krabapple, Aug 13, 2002
    #5
  6. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    Bass management for the analog outputs is what I was talking about. Since I am not aware of any outboard DSD decoders (does not mean they do not exist - just that I'm not aware :)), this is the only way to output multichannel DSD. My integrated amp does bass management for DD & DTS. Similarly, I don't think that there are any outboard decoders that do MLP DVD-Audio decoding, let alone players that could output it digitally, so you would need it for the DVD-Audio player's analog outputs as well.

    For the high resolution formats, you are basically stuck using your player's DACs and the 6 analog outs. If the Toshiba has multichannel bass management, this is a good thing that they should list more prominently in their specs. I purchased a Sony DVP-NC650V DVD-Player w/SACD. See the "dipping toes..." thread for more on it.

    It's kind of a bummer that I cannot make any tonal adjustments to 5.1 SACD audio with my amp, but at least I can adjust bass management and balance speaker output levels via the player. I tend to favor 2-channel anyway with surround more of an interesting novelty. :)

    Regards,
     
    Ken_McAlinden, Aug 13, 2002
    #6
  7. dwmann

    dwmann Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Houston TX
    From what I understand, NONE of the players currently available (DVD-A or SACD) has bass management that REALLY works properly, and probably won't until at least the next generation of players. Sony built a $900 ES series multi-channel pre-amp to address this issue. So far as I know it is the only available component that provides true bass control AND individually adjustable volume control for each speaker.
     
    dwmann, Aug 14, 2002
    #7
  8. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    Well, at least nominally, the DVD-SACD combo that I have lets me set up for small and large speakers with a 120Hz non-adjustable cut-off frequency for re-routing the bass. I can also adjust front, center, and rear levels as well as balance between the fronts and the rears, which effectively gives me control of all levels. It seems most multi-channel SACD players will do this.

    I'm sure the Meridian ICBM unit does a better job, but for the money, I'm happy.

    I have a Polk satellite and sub system with the fronts wired through the sub which does its own bass management. I then set my fronts to "large", my center and rears to "small", and my subwoofer to "none". This routes the <120Hz stuff to the fronts. I'm not aware of any DVD-Audio players with this feature built in yet, but I'm sure the coming generation of players will all have it.

    Regards,
     
    Ken_McAlinden, Aug 14, 2002
    #8
  9. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian Thread Starter

    Location:
    North York (Toronto) Ontario, Canada
    All I can say to most of the responses above is: "WHEW!!" is I glad I is a two channel kinda' guy" :winkgrin:
     
    Khorn, Aug 14, 2002
    #9
  10. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialist™

    Location:
    B.C.
    Agreed Khorn. That muti stuff is even more complex than working on tube amps.:agree:
     
    Dave, Aug 14, 2002
    #10
  11. krabapple

    krabapple New Member

    Location:
    Washington DC


    The Outlaw Audio outboard device does multichannel bass management of DSD and DVD-A, but it works with the analog output, AFAIK, not the direct digital stream of either format.

    But again, it is disabled for DVD-A (hi-rez) signals. DVD-A signals are output as full-range analog to all channels in either 6 channel or 2 channel modes. AFAICT, the player's bass managment is *only* there for those consumers who want to use the player as a DD 5.1 decoder, outputting 'managed' DD 5.1 via its 6channel analog jacks to a HT receiver's 6-channel analog passthrough inputs.

    The only reason I can get bass management of the *2 channel* DVD-A analog output is because my receiver does subwoofer routing for analog as well as digital stereo input signals. This is not uncommon in speakers with a 'subwoofer out' jack.

    I see from reviews such as yours that the DVP-NC650V does indeed boast bass management for SACD output -- cool! SACD and DVD-A player mfrs need to get on the ball with this.
     
    krabapple, Aug 14, 2002
    #11
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