Digital out does not improve sound quality of DVD player.

[Peter Larsen]

I have no 5.1 set up, so I send PCM out of my Denon DVD-1940 either via the Denon's analog stereo output or via coaxial to my DacMagic. I was hoping that going through the DacMagic would improve the sound quality immensly, but it doesn't. It sounds just as flat and unexciting. My question is therefore: is the sound quality of the player somehow shaped before it reaches the digital or analog outputs? I guess the downsampling from 5.1 to 2.0 also must have something to say.

 

[professorhat]

I guess it suggests the DAC built into the Denon unit is as good as the one in the DACMagic.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Peter Larsen:I have no 5.1 set up, so I send PCM out of my Denon DVD-1940 either via the Denon's analog stereo output or via coaxial to my DacMagic. I was hoping that going through the DacMagic would improve the sound quality immensly, but it doesn't. It sounds just as flat and unexciting. My question is therefore: is the sound quality of the player somehow shaped before it reaches the digital or analog outputs? I guess the downsampling from 5.1 to 2.0 also must have something to say.

Is this for cds or dvds? If dvds, the DacMagic can't work with a 5.1 codec like Dolby Digital. If you have both analogue and coaxial connected at the same time, you might find that it's the analogue cable you are hearing both times.

 

[Peter Larsen]

Hi guys, you obviously haven't read my post thoroughly

I state that I output into PCM, not bitstream. I do this for DVD's.

Believe me, the Denon's DAC does not compare in any way to the DacMagic, so thats why I ask if the sound quality of the DVD-player is somehow "set" further back when processed and not only by the analog or digital output. What Hifi bashed the Denon 1940 for its boring sound, and they have no doubt listened to it via the digital 5.1 bitstream. This suggests that the sound quality is somehow degraded somewhere before it reaches the outputs, and possibly degraded even more when the machine is set to output intp PCM and thereby have to downsample the audio from 5.1 to a stereo signal. I just thought that when using the digital out I would bypass all circuits that could influence the sound in a bad way, and thereby enhance it by using the DacMagic instead of the Denon's own.