First time dealing with Outlaw Audio's tech advisers

sanford12

Old Stuff New Stuff As long as it's Good Stuff
I just bought a RR2160 receiver last Thursday. Today I threw in a SACD and no sound with optical output switched over to analog plays and sounds great. Do a little fiddling and manual reading for the RR2160. Still no go. Finally call Outlaw and speak to Rob and tell him my problem. He asks what player I have the best # to call me back at and says he'll call when he finds something. 5 minutes later he calls and says page 35 in the manual for your CD player says there is no output from the optical or coaxial output when playing a SACD only from the analog out. Now that's service and someone who knows what he's doing. Great job Rob. Even if I knew where the manual for the CD player was it still would have taken me longer to figure it out.
 
I just bought a RR2160 receiver last Thursday. Today I threw in a SACD and no sound with optical output switched over to analog plays and sounds great. Do a little fiddling and manual reading for the RR2160. Still no go. Finally call Outlaw and speak to Rob and tell him my problem. He asks what player I have the best # to call me back at and says he'll call when he finds something. 5 minutes later he calls and says page 35 in the manual for your CD player says there is no output from the optical or coaxial output when playing a SACD only from the analog out. Now that's service and someone who knows what he's doing. Great job Rob. Even if I knew where the manual for the CD player was it still would have taken me longer to figure it out.

Well, I thought this was going to go another direction! Good to hear they actually called you back, and with accurate info. Hats off for great CS Outlaw!

Cool read!

Kind Regards,
John
 
Does the CD player have an HDMI connection? Some manufacturers use HDMI to transfer DSD from the SACD to an external DAC or receiver.

No HDMI in either piece. I'm looking for a newer CD player but I don't think I'll find something better without laying out 4-500 bucks.
 
I recently had a good experience with Emotiva CS and warranty repair, myself. Glad you didn't need the latter, but I will say Emotiva's turn-around time was PDQ, and communication excellent. Credit where due. I also must say I found Emotiva's policy of the customer paying for the shipping one way, and Emotiva eating the return equitable.
 
I'm certainly no SACD expert, but I do have a Sony SACD player, and it has 6 separate outputs for the 5.1 SACD format. But as I understand it, older SACD has another 2-channel output buried in it so that it would also work with 2 channel stuff. I can toggle between 5.1 and 2 channel thru the CD players menu.

I have no equipment that has 6 individual inputs for SACD, so I abandoned that format after 1 SACD purchase.

Are not all SACD discs muti-channel or am I missing something? There bit rates are different so they won't go thru a regular 44.1/16 DAC......
 
I'm certainly no SACD expert, but I do have a Sony SACD player, and it has 6 separate outputs for the 5.1 SACD format. But as I understand it, older SACD has another 2-channel output buried in it so that it would also work with 2 channel stuff. I can toggle between 5.1 and 2 channel thru the CD players menu.

I have no equipment that has 6 individual inputs for SACD, so I abandoned that format after 1 SACD purchase.

Are not all SACD discs muti-channel or am I missing something? There bit rates are different so they won't go thru a regular 44.1/16 DAC......

SACD is output either through analog outputs (whether stereo 2 channels or 5.1 channels) or HDMI V1.2 digital outputs.

SACD started as a 2 channel stereo format; Sony and Philips mandated that a hi-res stereo (or mono) mix must be on the disc in order for it to be called a SACD. Multi-channel capability (up to 5.1 channels) was added later on to compete with DVD-Audio. A second CD layer was later added as an option for SACD; such a disc is known as a hybrid SACD. Most current SACD releases are on hybrid SACD.
 
Due to copyright restrictions, you cannot play the SACD layer of an SACD on a PC, or via the optical (or coax) digital output of an SACD player. (There are rare exceptions - I think via an XBox??) For a hybrid SACD, you might be able to play the CD layer of a hybrid SACD on a PC.

If you employ the analog outputs from an SACD player, no problem.

My Oppo players can play any digital format (including SACD, Blu-ray, FLAC downloads, CD), and can output 5.1 via analog RCA connections, or downmix to 2.1 or 2.0. The UDP-205 (and earlier BDP-105 and BDP-95) have "audiophile-grade" DACs and analog circuitry, and therefore there is (arguably) no need for an outboard DAC.

As soundboy pointed out, some SACDs contain 2 channel audio, some contain 3 channel (e.g., some 1950s RCA Living Stereo recordings were 3 channel, and have been remastered on SACD), and some contain 5 channels. To further confuse things, some SACDs contain a separate .1 bass channel, others don't.

IME, SACDs are capable of excellent sound. I have some multi-channel classical SACDs that sound fabulous - particularly when played via my vintage tube amps connected directly to one of my Oppo players. :)
 
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I just bought a RR2160 receiver last Thursday.

Congrats on buying the Outlaw RR2160! I've never owned one, but it appears to be a very versatile receiver, given its support of internet radio, HD FM, MC & MM phono inputs, bass management (subwoofer output), and its defeat-able tone controls. And, it offers unique styling.

Please keep us posted regarding how you like it. This looks like a receiver I might recommend to family and friends.
 
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I'm certainly no SACD expert, but I do have a Sony SACD player, and it has 6 separate outputs for the 5.1 SACD format. But as I understand it, older SACD has another 2-channel output buried in it so that it would also work with 2 channel stuff. I can toggle between 5.1 and 2 channel thru the CD players menu.

I have no equipment that has 6 individual inputs for SACD, so I abandoned that format after 1 SACD purchase.

Are not all SACD discs muti-channel or am I missing something? There bit rates are different so they won't go thru a regular 44.1/16 DAC......
This player has the 6 outs and I had an old Yamaha home theater receiver that had the 6 in's. The Riding with the King audio DVD sounded amazing. 2 channel audio playback was pretty bad but A-dvd:rockon:
 
No HDMI in either piece. I'm looking for a newer CD player but I don't think I'll find something better without laying out 4-500 bucks.

Well, if you are looking for something with SACD, know that high res content from SACD is not sent by optical or coaxial output from any player. That is by analog or HDMI* connection only.

*there are a couple proprietary connections that will as well, but those are not present on your Outlaw.
 
After some research that's what I was finding out. The SACD's sound great on analog. CD's sound better on the optical out. There was a Sony SACD/CD player I was looking at but there's no analog outs so it's a no go for that.
 
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