[haycheng]

Since mp3 player is so much small compare to cd player, I am thinking about getting one.How they compare with MD and what if you use amplifer?

 

[Gergor]

Why do you want optical out which send MPEG audio? Is there any audio equipment which has a optical IN which accept MP3? I only know audio equipment which use PCM (well, maybe also AC3 and DTS).... but again I don't know much about MP3....

 

[Watchdog]

I agree, it doesn't really make sense to have an optical out on an mp3 player.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

It does if it is converted to pcm... which I think you would need to do to feed the DAC on the mp3 player anyway

 

[Watchdog]

Quote:

Originally posted by Joe Bloggs It does if it is converted to pcm... which I think you would need to do to feed the DAC on the mp3 player anyway

True. Is there any hardware on the market that converts mp3 to PCM?

I suppose you could feed into a sound card with optical in and then use software to do the conversion.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

No, what I mean is that it would be converted into pcm already in the player and can be outputted through the optical out in that form.

 

[Tachyon]

Panasonic CT-800 MP3/WAV/CD player has line and optical out.

 

[audioqueso]

Yes, there are receiver capable of decoding mp3. I know my Onkyo does. And so did my last Denon.

There are options in my receiver that allow me to let it decode as mp3 or decode as PCM.

I'm not sure how many other receivers do this. But I know I found that option in my receiver by accident and did test it out.

 

[daniel422]

Quote:

Yes, there are receiver capable of decoding mp3. I know my Onkyo does. And so did my last Denon.

How does it receive the data? I've never heard of a consumer bus for mp3 data. Does it receive it over a standard SPDIF line? How did you test this? I find the transmission of mp3 data directly pretty unlikely, but converted to PCM should be fine. That's not to say it's not possible (your DVD player can put out Dolby Digital in PCM or bitstream format), but it sure doesn't seem like a popular use. What did you use to transmit the data>

Most mp3 payers DO convert to PCM (in I2S format for the most part) before the data is sent to the DACs. It's just not often sent to the outside world. This is likely to become LESS and LESS common (converting to PCM that is) as mp3 systems become more and more integrated, IC-wise (combining the processor, DAC, and amp into one chip is becomming more common).

 

[ProFingerSk8er]

optical out on dvd/cd players that can decode mp3 cd'z just a bonus, they added optical out for high-quality audio recording off cd and dvd, they dont just add optical out just for mp3 cd feature.

think about it, why would you need high-quality sound output when the music your listing to had already lost sound quality because its compressed? (MP3)

 

[austonia]

The new iRiver IHP100 will have line out, headphone out, optical IN and optical OUT. Its a little smaller and lighter then iPod. 10gb, and an in-line remote with LCD. optical in/out can certainly be useful.

 

[AIM9x]

NJB3 has an optical in... just not an optical out.

 

[audioqueso]

I correct myself on my last comment.
I was just typing that I connected my Santa Cruz soundcard, set it to pass-thru, and played an mp3, but no sound card outputs mp3 as-is. They either decode as PCM, or use pass-thru DVDs.

What I had done was connect the soundcard to the receiver's digital coax input, and under MPEG selected MPEG (other choice was PCM), but if I think about it, it would have been received by the receiver as PCM, not MP3. Nevermine.

I do wonder why it has that then. I know I saw that in the past Denon I had. Don't know.

 

[swalker]

the new MP3/CDP and HDD based MP3 players from iRiver apparently have optical out (and the HDD one has optical in as well)