[bigshot]

They sound the same if they have reached the threshold of audible transparency. There may be a measurable differerence, but it’s too small to hear. Headphones don’t reach that point, but electronics usually do.

 

[ScareDe2]

Let's try to sort that out quickly. When using any DVD or Bluray players with the digital outputs, it's just feeding a digital signal to the receiver. So the player is not using its own DAC to convert the signal. That is why they "sound" the exact same. In fact, they sound like your receiver ! Because it's the receiver creating the analog signal. You don't want to use the digital outputs of a quality DVD/Bluray player. You want to let the player do its own conversion of the digital signal. Right?

 

[bigshot]

It doesn’t matter which of my players or DACs or outputs I use because they all produce a signal that is better than my ears can hear- audible transparency.

I know this is different than what you might hear from people in other audiophile forums.

 

[ScareDe2]

It doesn’t matter which of my players or DACs or outputs I use because they all produce a signal that is better than my ears can hear- audible transparency.

I know this is different than what you might hear from people in other audiophile forums.

For me, it's like saying the color conversion is not important because it produces more shades than you can detect. But as a matter of fact, each color conversion looks different. Each DACs applies its own conversion and sometimes the result is dramatically different. For example I have swap the board inside my Schiit Bifrost DAC, and the music sounded different. One board can produce a warmer sound, one can be more analytical, and so on.

 

[old tech]

For me, it's like saying the color conversion is not important because it produces more shades than you can detect. But as a matter of fact, each color conversion looks different. Each DACs applies its own conversion and sometimes the result is dramatically different. For example I have swap the board inside my Schiit Bifrost DAC, and the music sounded different. One board can produce a warmer sound, one can be more analytical, and so on.

I once believed in stuff like that. That was when I was heavily influenced by product marketing, audiophile myths and before I understood thresholds of audibility and did my own double blind tests. I had to swallow my pride when I discovered that the $1,000s I was spending on updating DACs were not audibly better than the one in my mobile phone.

I do not doubt there are measurable differences but for most DACs produced over the past 30 years they are transparent within the realm of human hearing. There are some DACs that do sound different and inevitably they always have measured lower fidelity - ie introduced colour distortion for a 'signature sound'.

 

[ScareDe2]

Anyway to close this parenthese before the mod goes crazy, please, if you buy a $6k bluray player, do not use the digital output lol ! Use the component video cable and RCA audio. Do not let a cheaper receiver or TV replace the quality conversion you have paid a pretty penny for. Throw your HDMI cable to the thrash can.

 

[sander99]

Anyway to close this parenthese before the mod goes crazy, please, if you buy a $6k bluray player, do not use the digital output lol ! Use the component video cable and RCA audio. Do not let a cheaper receiver or TV replace the quality conversion you have paid a pretty penny for. Throw your HDMI cable to the thrash can.

Let's continue in:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/off...-is-on-topic-here.928412/page-9#post-15714643

 

[bigshot]

Each DACs applies its own conversion and sometimes the result is dramatically different. For example I have swap the board inside my Schiit Bifrost DAC, and the music sounded different.

Have you done a line level matched, direct A/B switched, blind comparison? If you have, I'd like to hear more about how you came to this conclusion. If not, I'd suggest doing a test like that before making up your mind. Was one of the boards you were swapping a non-oversampling DAC? That would result in a high end rolloff. I wouldn't recommend using a DAC like that.

Anyway to close this parenthese before the mod goes crazy, please, if you buy a $6k bluray player, do not use the digital output

If I buy an expensive blu-ray player it's for features (ability to play SACD, DVD-A, MKV, rip SACDs, region free, etc.) I wouldn't buy one for sound quality, because regardless of whether you use HDMI or analogue, you are going to hear the exact same thing, and a $100 Sony blu-ray player is going to sound just as good to human ears as a $6000 one.

You probably should read more in this forum. You seem to have gotten your information from poor sources. (Who are telling you this bunk to make themselves rich.)

 

[Davesrose]

Anyway to close this parenthese before the mod goes crazy, please, if you buy a $6k bluray player, do not use the digital output lol ! Use the component video cable and RCA audio. Do not let a cheaper receiver or TV replace the quality conversion you have paid a pretty penny for. Throw your HDMI cable to the thrash can.

I certainly won't! Lossless Dolby Atmos, 4K resolution, and HDR space require HDMI. And flat panel displays are digital: I have confirmed that using an internal app displaying a movie in Dolby Vision on my OLED TV looks exactly the same as using HDMI pass through from my Apple TV 4K going through ARC with my receiver. The main aspect for picture quality is making sure your display is calibrated.

 

[ScareDe2]

I don't use expensive new bluray player but logic tells me you must have an analog out that gives the best audio and video quality and that's what you should use.

 

[Davesrose]

I don't use expensive new bluray player but logic tells me you must have an analog out that gives the best audio and video quality and that's what you should use.

I think you're still missing the point that there is no analog connection for the newest standards in digital display (they have a higher bandwidth for higher resolutions, refresh rates, and color depths than what component cables were capable of). With 3D audio, it also needs a digital signal for extracting positional info in meta-data. Ergo, no...analog is not just inferior quality, but can not support the current standards.

 

[sander99]

I try once more to move the continuation of this discussion to the off-topic-is-on-topic thread:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/off...-is-on-topic-here.928412/page-9#post-15716031