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Bluray player not cutting sound wise, will DAC help much?

SimplyOrange

SimplyOrange

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I have a tube CD player and an older model Oppo BDP-80 BluRay player in my setup. I use an RCA splitter and use the BluRay solely for DVD/BluRay audio. Unfortunately, it sounds pretty sharp and lacking low end. I have a spare DAC in the house (Cambridge Audio DacMagic). Would it be worth hooking up the DAC to the player to see if that would improve the sound?

I was under the impression that the onboard DAC was going to suffice, unfortunately it's not for some reason. I'm using the RCA outs, as my receiver is analog.

If I do use the DAC, should I use a digital wire (ie. Toslink/Coax) or will RCA work just as well?

Thanks.
 
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I would use the optical , but if the digital cable was good quality it shouldn't make a difference.
 
botrytis said:
I think you are just used to the tube sound.

Blu-Ray cannot be output to anything other than RCA or HDMI.
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Hmmm. . ??? My Sony BDP-S550 has toslink output. And even my cheapo LG BD550 has a wired Digital out for sound. It should work for DVD audio at least.
 
What @botrytis meant is that Blu-ray audio can only be output via RCA analog outputs or an HDMI cable. Blu-ray players also play DVDs and dvd audio can be output via digital optical or coaxial outputs. So, yes @Phase700b, you blu-ray player has a toslink optical out most likely.
 
BmWr75 said:
What @botrytis meant is that Blu-ray audio can only be output via RCA analog outputs or an HDMI cable. Blu-ray players also play DVDs and dvd audio can be output via digital optical or coaxial outputs. So, yes @Phase700b, you blu-ray player has a toslink optical out most likely.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I got that after reading between the lines after I posted. HE left out the word "audio". But on the other hand, audio DOES come out of the toslink when playing a Blue-ray movie. So. . . specifics.
 
Maybe this will help clarify things a bit.

Toslink and digital coax will pass basic Dolby Digital and DTS, not the newer hi-rez formats unique to Blu-ray discs. They require HDMI, or analog audio when it's decoded in the player.

Nor will digital coax/toslink pass SACD. Dunno about DVD-Audio.
 
Phase700b said:
Yeah, I got that after reading between the lines after I posted. HE left out the word "audio". But on the other hand, audio DOES come out of the toslink when playing a Blue-ray movie. So. . . specifics.
Click to expand...

The toslink is outputing a down-sampled version of the higher resolution blu-ray audio, that is my guess.
 
Thanks for the information guys. I'll try using a DAC when I get back home and see if it improves the sound any. I plan on playing SACDs so I don't think Toslink/Coax will work.
 
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