HDTV Forum

I was thinking about getting a dvd audio player, but i saw that the new sound blaster audigy 2 sound card can play DVD audio. it is a 24 bit encoding system. i am wondering if anyone knows if i need a different type of dvd player in my computer than the standard one that comes with most computers. also will hte audio be as high of a resolution as i could get from a stand alone dvd audio player with ananlog interconnects.

George

PC's are well renowned for being excessively noisy environments for audiophiles. The solution is to use an out board D/A convertor. Unfortunately DVD-Audio is just now starting to support this concept using 1394 between a player and receiver. May be a while before you see this in the PC world.

Richard F. Fisher

ok thanks richard, i will probably just get a sperate dvd audio player soon.

George

The SCD777ES is a reference piece for 2 channel SACD and CD playback. The XA777ES is the same thing for multi-channel and comes with the same high performance rating. Please note that both of these players are reference pieces and have a neutral sonic signature.

I really, REALLY want the XA777ES, but I can't seem to figure out the connectivity issues. You obvioulsy have the multi-channel connections, but this unit also has a seperate stereo sacd connection that devotes three (!) dacs per channel! But my pre/pro only has the one set of 8ch sacd/dvda inputs. Is there any way to take advantage of both high rez outputs on the Sony unit without having to switch cables multi and 2ch (with three dacs per) sacd?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as one can not seem to get a straight answer from supposedly knowledgeable sales people.

Tombanjo

Hi Steve,
If i understand you correctly, you have 1 set of 8 analogue inputs on your processor.

I have the Sony dvp650 which is connected to my Denon reciever.

If the sacd disc has the option of mlti ch and stereo, youreally don't have todo anything with cables.

You just choose the 2 ch option on the Sony remote (mine is the same button) and the player will cancel out the other inputs internally.

If you wish to play a regular cd (redbook) you should have l/r outputs from your player. Iwould suggest you plug this into any unused (the best is supposed tobe the tapeloop) on your processor and handle it that way.
If i'm misunderstanding please clarify.

Peter m.

George,

One thing that i use the computer for is playing HDCD discs, which will be decoded by Windows mltimed plr 8 or 9 if you have an optical or coax out of your snd card to your processor which will act as the dac.

Peter m.

I own and love this unit!! (XA777ES) I only use the 6 -channel outputs. You still get the 2 -channel performance with just the 6 hooked up. I play
traditional CD's and 2-channel SACD's all with using the 6-channel outputs.

Plus the Sony has "two front" channel (2 rights and 2 lefts) outputs if you want to run two of the fronts into traditional "stereo" inputs.

From the TIPS List

I own and love this unit!! I only use the 6 -channel outputs. You still
get the 2 -channel performance with just the 6 hooked up. I play
traditional CD's and 2-channel SACD's all with using the 6-channel outputs

Richard and Peter,

From what I gather Richard, you are not getting the full rez this machine has to offer when you are using the same six channel outputs for both multi and 2ch listening. The way I read the following Stereophile review of the XA777 is that you need an extra two cables to take advantage of the triple dac per channel feature this unit has to offer. Then again, I'm a novice in this area of sacd. Where exactly do those extra two plug in to? My Sunfire pre has an 8ch set of analog inputs but I just assumed the extra two are for side surrounds. The link for the whole article is below.

"In addition to the IEC power connector, the Sony's rear panel has coax and TosLink digital jacks, a pair of two-channel RCA-type analog audio output jacks, and another tier of six RCA jacks for multichannel analog output. The XA777ES has six discrete dual Super Audio DACs, each of which is allocated to one of the six channels for multichannel SACDs. Because they use the same set of DACs differently, the two-channel and six-channel jacks are not active simultaneously, and therefore must be connected to a preamp or receiver by eight interconnects. Gimme a break. Simply using the digital output for two channels is precluded by the absence of any digital output from SACDs, regardless of the number of channels. Oh well, more interconnects."

http://www.stereophile.com/showarchives.cgi?491

Tombanjo

From what I gather Richard, you are not getting the full rez this machine has to offer

That almost brings tears because I don't own one and would love to...

Anyway, I ran into this on the Toshiba SD9200 DVD-A player and as I recall it was NOT necessary to hookup the 2 channel to receive the full benefit of stereo mode. It was reviewed by Stereophile and they also were confused by this. Since I do not own the XA777ES, bummer, I cannot tell you absolutely what the situation is except I have a hard time believing based on design experience that in stereo mode you would have 2 different sonic signatures depending on which jacks you are using - anything is possible though.

Richard F. Fisher

As I give this more thought...

I cannot think of any reason why you would NEED an additional left right output. I can think of reasons why this could be of convenience for a non-audiophile application.

Richard Fisher