Using inexpensive DVD player as transport for an external DAC

[Joe Smith]

As some folks around here know (i.e., any who'd even notice!), this is what I've been doing for some years now, with a dump-find DVDP, no less.

Ha, I have that same Denon in my basement, one of my backup players. Flimsy tray but other than that, works OK. P.S. Love Richard Thompson, he's so good...

 

[Julf]

Yes, Richard Thompson is great.

 

[Sal1950]

Yes, Richard Thompson is great.

Lots a great stuff, Rumor and Sigh still always my fav.

 

[NiagaraPete]

What about it?
Who are you talking back to?

I’m wondering if hdmi will degrade the signal

 

[dufferdan]

An honest man!
The stories of the horrid sound of early CD players even from the 80s are greatly exaggerated.
My first CD player was a Magnavox cdb560 from the late 80s and with good quality CD's it sounded incredible, till the day I lost it in the divorce. LOL

I recall back in 1988 or 89, when I purchased my first CD player, the Magnavox and the Phillips units, which weren't really brands we saw in Canada, were reviewed extremely highly. I bought a Phillips which we lost two years later when our Vancouver apartment was broken into. They grabbed that, a Bucherer watch I had bought 5 years prior while backpacking Europe, my wife's Bucherer watch and other small items. the watches and player were missed.

 

[Julf]

I’m wondering if hdmi will degrade the signal

Why would it?

 

[mhardy6647]

Why would it?

That's what I was thinkin', too (FWIW).

Oh, while I am recycling photos and wasting forum bandwidth this is the other cheap DVD transport that I use, now and again, with an outboard DAC -- and sometimes, rarely, even on its own, since it will "play" (by whatever means the cheap players do so) SACDs.

Picked this one up from the freebie table at the NEARC (now NEVEC) semi-annual fleamarket a few years back. I actually rather like it -- and the price was certainly right.



Oh... and... (FWIW) these were all the rage in certain circles, with a few audiophile-style tweaks, some years back.
This one was a dump find, with (?!) remote control. That is a rare occurrence, indeed.

Toshiba SD-3950/3960 HIGH PERFORMANCE Mods & New Units

Toshiba SD-3950/3960 HIGH PERFORMANCE Mods & New Units

www.audiocircle.com

Toshiba SD 3950/60 - Mods?

There has been much hype regarding the 3950/60 and I am hoping someone here can lend some clarity as to why this is such a good machine (besides it being cheap), what will be gained by the Swenson mods, what will be gained by going with the full Vinnie mods (including the op amp change) and what...

audiokarma.org

Both the SD-3950 and its sibling, the SD-3960* seemed to get the nod for these mods and tweaks BITD.

I report, you decide.

________________________
* I can almost hear Nigel Tufnel saying "well, it's ten more, innit?"

 

[Sal1950]

I’m wondering if hdmi will degrade the signal

Why would it?

Agreed

 

[NiagaraPete]

I just wondered if there was anything up/down sampling the signal hdmi to optical

 

[pjug]

I was playing around with the Sony X800 tonight. I haven't used it much but I do like it. I noticed that the digital output options are only multiples of 48KHz. Is that just for movies? These things don't resample CDs, right?

 

[Limopard]

I was playing around with the Sony X800 tonight. I haven't used it much but I do like it. I noticed that the digital output options are only multiples of 48KHz. Is that just for movies? These things don't resample CDs, right?

It sets a maximum output. CDs will not be resampled. A 192 kHz stream wil be converted to 96 or 48, a 176,4 stream to 88,2 or 44,1. SACD output will most likely be 88,2 if at all.

 

[jsrtheta]

Re
If both the CD player and the DVD player are competently sending digits to the same DAC I would expect no difference.

That's what I would have thought and expected. But with all of the "mysticism" about hifi audio I thought it would be good to ask. I will probably go the dvd/dac option when my cd player dies because inexpensive cd players with digital outputs are very hard to find.

Thank you for all your replies.

Used, inexpensive CD players with digital outputs are as commopn as hen's teeth. It's players with remotes that are hard to find.

 

[jsrtheta]

Yes, Richard Thompson is great.

Richard Thompson is brilliant. Richard Thompson acoustic? Meh.

 

[jsrtheta]

I recall back in the mid-2000s a $25 Toshiba DVD player was pronounced the ne plus ultra of CD transports. It sounded fine. Just like every other swinging disc-slinger out there.

At least it was really cheap.

 

[Rex Chan]

Did you ever try @gvl 's suggestion to hook the Samsung to a tv to check the settings? What model is the player?

Hi all, I'm a bit late to this convo, but in case anyone reads this thread in the future or plans to do something similar: I just got a used Samsung BluRay player (BD-D6500, circa 2011) for $40 AUD (off FB Marketplace). The Samsung manual is quite detailed, and there are several options for audio output (via RCA L/R or digital/optical).

One is for PCM vs bitstream (maybe this applies to BluRay more though?), and also for Dynamic Range Control (though for Dolby Digital only).

My guess is that the op was either hearing nothing real, or the player was doing some re-coding, since it *is* a disc player. Please check your player settings.

System: Monitor Audio Silver RX1, NAD C326BEE, Zero DAC