[jack963]

Hey, I should be receiving a Sharp SD-NX10 in the mail later this week, and that will be my main source at home from then on. However, I also have a Samsung DVD-S221 DVD player that I may want to try out once in a while instead of the NX10. The DVD player has RCA out, an optical digital out, and a coaxial digital out.

If I were to use an amp (which is not yet purchased, but most likely a Meta), how would I connect the DVD player and the amp via the digital outs?

For the optical, I would need a DAC, right? What about for the coaxial?

And when using the DAC, it'd go S221 -> DAC -> Amp -> phones, right? How would I connect the player to the DAC and the DAC to the amp (what kind of cables)?

Can any recommend a good, fairly inexpensive DAC?

Thanks.

 

[jack963]

Nobody knows the answer to this?

 

[Sol_Zhen]

Do you have a DAC?

If not, just connect the L/R rca jack audio outs to the Meta.

 

[jack963]

No, I sure don't Would the sound be as good through the RCA jacks as it would be going through the digital out? Thanks.

 

[Canman]

Jack, With an outboard DAC you would be upgrading the digital to analog conversion that is already inside the box. So if you got a DAC that was better than what you have, which is likely the case with an outboard DAC, then you may achieve better sound quality. A DAC can then be hooked up to your headphone jack via the RCA outs.

As far as digital connection goes, coaxial and optical achieve the same purpose, they just use different methods. Digital Coaxial RCA is considered better than a toslink optical connection because the optical cable uses plastic, which tends to not transmit the laser optical signal well (ST Optical, is a different story and is made out of glass fibers. AT&T developed this glass cable for superior optical transmission and is the method of choice on some of the more expensive digital products like Wadia).

There are issues with the sampling rate that a DAC uses when you hook it up to a DVD player. A DVD is sampled at 24-bit 96kHz. Many cheap DACS don't sample at this rate yet and in addition most DVD players downsample the digital output to 16 bit. So don't expect to get full resolution when you play DVD's into a DAC.

An inexpensive DAC that is supposed to provide great performance is the MSB Link DAC, at around $300. The MSB Link even has an option to decode a 24 bit signal.

I believe, however, that if you want a better source then just get a better one box player. There are tons of well respected one box players here that are supposed to sound good and not cost too much. I haven't listened to them, but do a search on the Phillips 963sa DVD/CD/SACD or Sony NS500v (I saw one of these for $99 on audiogon) or something like the Sony SCD-222ES which is an SACD/CD player and goes used for $250-$300.

Hope this clears things up a little.

 

[jack963]

Alright, thanks a lot for all the input man. I'll just stick to my NX10 CD/MD system for home use, and not get into the whole DVD thing. And by the way, I was just talking about for music, not movies, with the DVD player. I was just wondering what would be better for music, the NX10 or the DVD player. Thanks.

 

[Canman]

try 'em both out and use the one that you think sounds better

 

[jack963]

I'd really rather not invest in two nice mini 2 mini cables and then not even end up using one. Just doesn't make too much sense to me.

EDIT: Bah, I thought I was reading a reply to a post I made about right angle and straight jack cables. Sorry about that

Yeah, I was planning on just trying both of them once I gte the NX10.