Best way to connect up new system digitally

admin_exported

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Hope I don't start an argument about digital here but, I need some help deciding how best to setup my new system.

I'm getting a Rotel RA-1520 with an Audiolab MDAC which has two digital optical inputs and two digital coaxial inputs and I want to know the best way to connect all my kit together.

Things I want to connect through the MDAC are:

TV (3 x HDMI in; digital audio optical out)

PS3 (digital audio optical out; HDMI out)

Apple TV 2 (digital audio optical out; HDMI out)

SkyHD box (digital audio optical out; digital audio coaxial out and HDMI out)

I was thinking of connecting it all together as follows:

TV optical digital audio out -> Audiolabs

PS3 HDMI -> TV optical digital audio out -> Audiolabs

Apple TV 2 optical digital audio out -> Audiolabs

SkyHD coaxial digital audio out -> Audiolabs

So, would chaining the PS3 through the TV using HDMI from PS3 to TV and then optical from TV to MDAC bypass the DAC in the TV and allow the MDAC to do the processing for both the PS3 and the TV? Or is there a better way to do the whole setup? :help:
 

shafesk

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Hey Karl, I see nothing wrong with your idea here. To answer your question, yes it would still bypass the dac in the tv as you are taking a digital out from a digital signal. IIRC the MDAC has two optical/coaxial so you need to make this compromise if you want to hear everything through your mdac. Alternatively, I would suggest just connecting the things you use for hifi to the dac, i.e only the music sources which in this case is probably your ps3 and atv. The dac in your SKY hd is good enough for tv viewing.
 
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Anonymous

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Great, thanks Shafesk.

One other reason for putting it all through the MDAC is to reduce the number of remotes I need to use to switch between sources....simple but true.
 
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Anonymous

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I got my Audiolabs MDAC today and plugged my TV into it using an optical cable. I then had my AppleTV2 plugged into my TV using HDMI thinking that with everything being digital it would all just pass through the TV into the MDAC....how wrong I was!

With music streaming through my ATV2 to the TV and TV to the MDAC it drops from 24bit to 18bit and sounds absolutely terrible! It sounds like someone has pushed the source volume up way too high and is terribly distorted.

I then decided to plug the ATV2 directly into the MDAC using an optical cable and hey presto, perfect!

Another thing I found was that I switched off the pre-amp in the MDAC as it's going into my Rotel RA-1520 integrated amp. I was trying to find the best volume setting on the MDAC but this is much better as it's fixed and uses the pre-amp in the Rotel properly i guess.

Any other MDAC tips welcome!
 

richardw42

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Do you need to connect the digital out of your tv because of Smart functions. If you don't it's not needed, I assume all your tv comes via the sky box.
 

busb

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karl.hey said:
<Snipped>

I was thinking of connecting it all together as follows:

TV optical digital audio out -> Audiolabs

PS3 HDMI -> TV optical digital audio out -> Audiolabs

Apple TV 2 optical digital audio out -> Audiolabs

SkyHD coaxial digital audio out -> Audiolabs

Does this not work? It's exactly how I would connect it up.

My system:

ATV2 optical to OPT1 & ATV2 HDMI to TV

TV optical out to OPT2

Rotel CDR coax out to COAX1

Bluray HDMI to TV (optical out not used)

I'm lucky in that my TV outputs the HDMI signal from my ATV via its optical out at 24bit so when I play music from iTunes, I listen to OPT1 but can also listen to the TV's optical out instead with a small loss of audio quality only. When listening to music through the ATV2 on the M-DAC's OPT1 input, I can see the tracklists on my TV at the same time.

You can buy optical to coax converts for under £20 or buy a 3 input switched optical out boxes:

http://www.cables2u.co.uk/optical-coaxial-converter-p-692.html

http://www.cables2u.co.uk/into-toslink-optical-switch-p-420.html

EDIT:

Don't replace your ATV2 with a ATV3 'cos the latter's optical out doesn't work properly with M-DACs optical inputs - it's a known issue with the ATV3!
 

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