DTS issue a concern if connecting a CD/DVD player to a stereo receiver via RCA vs Optical?

[Breezy]

I have a Yamaha stereo receiver (R-N303BL) and I'm in the process of attaching a 20-year old (but previously unused) Sony CD/DVD player to it to play audio CDs. (DVP-NS725P).

The manual for the Sony CD/DVD player warns about connecting it to receiver via digital cable if playing DTS CDs to avoid damaging speakers and equipment. Problem is that I don't know if my family member, for whom I am setting up this system, has any audio CDs with DTS encoding. He has a big collection of music CDs, but they are mostly older, like at least 10 years old. The internal DAC/processing on this DVD player sound quite good to me, so I'm personally fine with connecting it as transport to the stereo receiver via nice chunky RCA cables I already have on hand.

But what if one of my family member's audio CDs happens to have the DTS encoding? Will it matter for a stereo receiver? Should I connect via optical to be safe and use an optical cable for that potential scenario? I have yet to test what the Receiver's DAC will sound like in comparison, as I don't have a spare optical or coaxial cable on hand; have one on order from Amazon, however.

Thank you!

 

[jcarys]

I can't even imagine a situation where the lawyers thought this was a concern, but apparently they did. All CDs are PCM, so no DTS encoding.

Some DVDs could be using DTS. If you use RCA then it's converted to analog in the CD player, so again no concern. Even if you connect via digital and the player sends out a DTS signal that the receiver can't decode, it would most likely mute. Really the only possible issue would be a DVD-Audio disc encoded in DTS, and even then you would have to select that option from the setup screen. When in doubt, keep volume low and turn it up slowly, just in case.

 

[DVDdoug]

DTS CDs are an oddball format and you are unlikely to accidently run-across one. I've never seen one.

From what I understand, it's encoded in a way that the 2 most significant bits are not used (zeros) and that would limit the peaks to -12dB and the un-decoded "noise" shouldn't damage anything.

The analog won't be any different. They are encoded to "look like" regular PCM audio so the CD player will play them.

All CDs are PCM, so no DTS encoding.

They do exist and there was a tool for burning your own.

 

[Breezy]

Thank you! Good to know I can just stick with the analog out then via RCA cables. When the optical cable arrives, I'll test it to compare receiver processing, but I'm really enjoying the sound coming out of this player via RCA cables right now. Nice and full and clear. That receiver is not any kind of high-end, so I'm not actually sure which has the better DAC, this Sony DVP-S725P player or the Yamaha R-N303BL receiver.

https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/product/dvp-ns725p/manuals

 

[Peewee12]

DTS CDs are an oddball format and you are unlikely to accidently run-across one. I've never seen one.

From what I understand, it's encoded in a way that the 2 most significant bits are not used (zeros) and that would limit the peaks to -12dB and the un-decoded "noise" shouldn't damage anything.

The analog won't be any different. They are encoded to "look like" regular PCM audio so the CD player will play them.


They do exist and there was a tool for burning your own.

Yes! I used to play around with encoding my own DTS CDs back in the day. It was very easy. You would grab 5 or 6 (or any number, really) .wav files, and the program would just create a .wav file for you to burn a regular CD using whichever program you wanted. I personally had a SCSI Plextor CD burner. I still have those CDs laying around and they still play fine. I also purchased quite a few DTS CDs along with SACDs. I have a DTS demonstrator CD with some great musical selections on it that were put together to show off the format.