[audio file]

After lurking for quite a while (sorry, wallet), I have a few questions that probably have very obvious answers.

I've enjoyed my Sennheiser HD-555s for a couple years now, but I'm think about upgrading to some HD-600s and an amp for watching DVDs/blurays, playing games, and listening to CDs. My questions: can I use my PS3 as a source, e.g. PS3 -> HDMI cable -> TV -> amp -> headphones without significant loss in sound quality? Would I be messing things up by having the TV in the middle of things?

Also, would a tube amp like the Little Dot MK II/III be suitable for movies and games in addition to music?

I've learned a lot on these forums, but am still quite an audio noob. Any help or advice would be great! Thanks.

 

[El_Doug]

with that kind of audio chain, you WILL experience a quality loss. the reason for this is that your TV undoubtedly has a poor HDMI audio decoder, and a poor internal DAC. for music listening, it would definitely be advisable to invest in a DAC (using the PS3's optical-out) or A/V processor.

tube amps are perfectly fine for playing games and watching movies

just as long as you get the sound you want, they will work for anything in the same way transistors will.

 

[oqvist]

There is hardly any external DACs that decode the HD formats. You would probably have to get a bulky receiver for that purpose. However I haven´t tried this but if you run the component cable instead of HDMI? PS 3 supports component right? You would get 2 analogue channels and the PS 3 can decode HD signals itself.

Would be a better solution then going through the TV I am sure but well if you have a recently modern monitor it may not be worth the loss in image quality for movies.

Another option is to ge these soundcards for PC that decodes the HD streams and can output it through the analogue channels. Auzentech X-fi Home theater HD and Asus HD AV 1.3 deluxe for example. Price around 200$ so not that much cheaper. 100$ or something for a bluray/HD DVD combo drive.

Flexible and as a source should be significantly better then the PS 3. Otherwise bit perfect works fine on the PS 3 I do believe. But I have not really done any scientific approach it´s there as an option and I have no complaints about playing cds out of it to my Keces DAC.

If you already have a PS 3 you may just as well get one of the cheaper receivers with good DACs if going PC is unpractical. My RX-V663 certainly sound great as well as my other sources. Though looking at pure specs soundcards mentioned above should be better for stereo listening.

 

[71877]

PS3 isnt exactly ideal as a source (slow interface, no display on the device itself and noisy), but if you want to use it, I would go for PS3 -> HDMI -> HDMI receiver -> headphones (makes full use of the PS3 this way) and maybe HDMI from the receiver to the tv for the display (and this way you'll have HD sound for blu-ray).

 

[carm]

I second El_Doug idea to use PS3's optical output with some DAC, and then use amp of your choise

 

[audio file]

Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. I do already have the PS3, and I use it quite frequently for bluray and games, which is why I want to use it as a source. Here are the followup questions: if I use the optical output and a DAC for audio, can I still use HDMI for video? Or would I need a reciever to make this work? I'm a little confused on this point.

Thanks again!

 

[SoFGR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audio file /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. I do already have the PS3, and I use it quite frequently for bluray and games, which is why I want to use it as a source. Here are the followup questions: if I use the optical output and a DAC for audio, can I still use HDMI for video? Or would I need a reciever to make this work? I'm a little confused on this point. Thanks again!

yes it should work fine,fyi if you ever need to do this on a xbox 360 you'll have to buy this adapter first AUDIO VIDEO HDMI AV CABLEGaming Cables For Xbox 360 on eBay (end time 01-Aug-09 03:58:04 BST)

 

[oqvist]

I haven´t tried hooking the HDMI cable straight to the television but it works fine with HDMI to receiver and output audio via optical so should work fine

. Can say that with 99.9 % certainty. But you don´t get access to HD audio if you use optical which is a major bummer if you have bluray discs of any kind.

 

[Koolpsych]

I have a PS3 and occasionally use the optical output to my DAC. Sounds fine, just as good as the coax out on my computer.