[sssboa]

Hi
 
Could someone explain what happens if Dolby Digital, DTS, 5.1, 7.1 etc. signal is fed into a standard DAC like DACMagic? I always was interested only in stereo hi-fi sound so don't know much about the topic. I wonder whether the signal should be demuxed into stereo at my dvd player level or left unchanged. Also think about using virtual surround systems for headphones.
 
Regards
Andy

 

[i019791]

A standard dac decodes stereo PCM signals. You should convert all other signal types to PCM at the source.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Could someone explain what happens if Dolby Digital, DTS, 5.1, 7.1 etc. signal is fed into a standard DAC like DACMagic? I always was interested only in stereo hi-fi sound so don't know much about the topic. I wonder whether the signal should be demuxed into stereo at my DVD player level or left unchanged. Also think about using virtual surround systems for headphones.

You can get a computer sound card that will take the 5.1 (6-channel) or 7.1 (8-channel) Dolby or DTS audio and convert it into Headphone Surround Sound (2-channel).
Which can be sent thru the sound card's S/PDIF (optical or coaxial) output to the S/PDIF (optical or coaxial) input on the external DAC (DAC Magic).
If your computer is not your audio source, then is it a home audio setup?

 

[sssboa]

  You can get a computer sound card that will take the 5.1 (6-channel) or 7.1 (8-channel) Dolby or DTS audio and convert it into Headphone Surround Sound (2-channel).
Which can be sent thru the sound card's S/PDIF (optical or coaxial) output to the S/PDIF (optical or coaxial) input on the external DAC (DAC Magic).
If your computer is not your audio source, then is it a home audio setup?

 
I have Asus Xonar Essence ST that has 7.1 for headphones and Dolby Headphone. I use the latter one. Never was impressed by 7.1 tho I use my pc for playing stereo mp3 and gaming rather than for sources in 7.1 so the 7.1 is improvised from stereo and does not impress me as Dolby Headphone alone does.

 

[jaddie]

  Hi
 
Could someone explain what happens if Dolby Digital, DTS, 5.1, 7.1 etc. signal is fed into a standard DAC like DACMagic? 

Unless the DAC can decode the Dolby Digital, or DTS bit stream, you'll get nothing or a lot of noise.

I wonder whether the signal should be demuxed into stereo at my dvd player level or left unchanged. 

If all you're worried about is playing a 5.1 channel track in stereo, then you can set your DVD player to "down mix" to stereo.  Down-mix is actually a function built into Dolby Digital and DTS, so you get a more or less proper balance between all the channels that way, and it will even decode back to surround with an old analog ProLogic processor.  A stereo downmix is ok for headphones.

   Also think about using virtual surround systems for headphones.
 
Regards
Andy

AV Receivers with virtual surround for headphones, like Dolby Headphone for example, depend on the full 5.1 bitstream to work well.  You won't find that function in much besides an AVR. Dolby Headphone is a pretty decent compromise for headphones.
 
If you're using an AVR, you can set it up to handle the stereo down mix, as it will "know" how many speakers you have.  The DVD player just passes the bitstream to the AVR, and the job is done in the AVR.  That's actually a more universal solution, and leaves the door open for Dolby Headphone processing.