[wyki]

Happy New Year!
 
I recently got the Musical Fidelity V-DAC to use with my Pioneer DVD player's coaxial digital output.  The idea was to have good quality music CDs using the DVD player.  The results are excellent.  So is the audio quality via USB on podcasts.
 
Tonight I thought I would try a film, and I winced when all I heard on my headphones was sharp digital clicks, the sound of unprocessed bits.  I took the DVD out and tried another.  Same result.  Then I inserted a CD, and all was fine.  I connected the analog audio outputs of my DVD player to the amplifier, and I could hear the film audio normally.  In fact, the quality is fine for film anyway.
 
I inserted the film in the disc drive of my computer.  Again I got nothing.  I inserted a CD, and the audio was excellent.
 
Have others had this experience?  Does the V-DAC support film audio?  If so, I suppose I have a defective unit, but that's hard to believe, since everything else works so well.
 
Thanks and best. 

 

[AuralRelations]

Have you tried messing with the output settings for your DVD playing application?  I find that sometimes the if audio isn't set up correctly, I get those annoy static/clicks.  Scares the crap out of me when I'm watching something in my dark room at night.  Look for settings for either the DVD player or a setting for the V-DAC.  
 
Be sure to try a different media player to see if the results differ. 

 

[wyki]

Thank you for the very intelligent suggestion.  I just tried it, making sure the audio out on my DVD player was set to digital.  Unfortunately, it makes no difference.  I would be more likely to suspect the DVD player (which is a cheaper piece of equipment than the V-DAC) if everything weren't working fine with music discs played on it through the V-DAC.  And if DVD audio weren't fine through the player's analog outputs.  
 
All of which leaves it something less than a catastrophe: I have a perfectly good way of hearing movies, by moving the cables from the V-DAC to the DVD player's analog outputs.  But it's a matter of intellectual curiosity.
 
Thanks again. 

 

[Morph]

Your DVD's output doesn't downmix the 5.1 movie audio track to stereo. V-DAC is a stereo DAC, so any attempt to play multichannel content through it will result in noise/clicks.

 

[AuralRelations]

Quote:

Your DVD's output doesn't downmix the 5.1 movie audio track to stereo. V-DAC is a stereo DAC, so any attempt to play multichannel content through it will result in noise/clicks.

AH!  That's why.  I suspected something simple like that.  Just couldn't put it into words.

 

[wyki]

Many thanks!  I went back to the setup screen for my DVD player and opted for Dolby > PCM.  Now it works fine.
Happy New Year!