PS3 dac

A

analognewbie

New Member
I have a blu-ray disc which has the audio track @ 24bit 192khz 2ch.
I use PS3 for bluray discs. My amp is Pioneer SX-1250. If I'm only interested in stereo (not multi-channel), is it worth the hassle to get an external DAC which has HDMI input & output (to TV) to decode the audio track to feed my amp, or should I simply let the PS3 do the job and connect directly to my amp via analog lines?
I guess the question is also about the quality of the dac in PS3.
Your input would be appreciated.

Thanks,
 
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As far as I know, no PS3 has analog outputs. Your best bet is to get an external DAC and pipe an optical signal to it, then analog out to you Pioneer. And yes, it will be worth it.

-Steven
 
StevenZ said:
As far as I know, no PS3 has analog outputs. Your best bet is to get an external DAC and pipe an optical signal to it, then analog out to you Pioneer. And yes, it will be worth it.

-Steven
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure my PS3 (the fat version) came with an adapter for analog out. If I remember correctly, I used it for SACD when I didn't have an HDMI receiver in the bedroom.
 
That's interesting. I have the original release 60gb "fat", and the new "slim" version, neither came with an analog output. Or an adapter. I guess anything's possible.

-Steven
 
StevenZ said:
That's interesting. I have the original release 60gb "fat", and the new "slim" version, neither came with an analog output. Or an adapter. I guess anything's possible.

-Steven
Click to expand...
If you have a working, SACD-capable 60, you might not want to use-it-up as a transport. Those units have some unique capabilities which make them valuable.
 
Keep it clean and that early PS3 should last just about forever. The problem with them is overheating. Mine has an add-on fan unit clipped to the back of it, but I need to get a new one. The fans are getting old and loud.
 
Indeed. IIRC they cost Sony over $800 to produce back when they were first released. Basically, they lost money (a lot) on every unit they sold. Hence why they started taking out the hardware based backwards compatibility and other neat features. I only use it for Bluray movies in the main room every now and then. The "slim" gets most of the work but is no comparison when it comes to build quality and silent operation. It also loads a tremendous amount faster than my slim. I'm scared to take it apart and give it a good cleaning since it's in perfect working order, and I'm also scared of taking it somewhere to get cleaned since I've read that some "service stations" will rip out all the good stuff and put old/refurbed junk in there. Though at some point I will definitely need to blow the dust out and give it a thorough inspection to make sure it lives a long life.

-Steven
 
StevenZ said:
As far as I know, no PS3 has analog outputs. Your best bet is to get an external DAC and pipe an optical signal to it, then analog out to you Pioneer. And yes, it will be worth it.

-Steven
Click to expand...


My PS3 (fat 60GB) came with an analog audio adapter.

The problem with the optical / spdif output is that it does not support 24bit 192khz 2ch format. It will downconvert to standard dolby 5.1.

Does anyone know the specs of the dac in PS3?

What is the cheapest route for me to enjoy 24bit 192khz 2ch audio track on a bluray disc with my stereo amp (Pioneer SX-1250)?
If the dac in my PS3 can decode 24bit 192khz 2ch, I will just use that, but I'm not sure if it is possible.
 
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goldear said:
If you have a working, SACD-capable 60, you might not want to use-it-up as a transport. Those units have some unique capabilities which make them valuable.
Click to expand...

What are the unique capabilities and do the capabilities work with the newest firmware? I seem to remember that they could record SACD, but it required an older firmware than I had when I read about it.

I have 2 of the old (fat) 60GB PS3s and don't really use them very often these days, so I am curious about the other capabilities.

One of mine has a very loud fan, but it still works. Should I stap another fan to the back of it? I tried to blow it out with compressed air, but it didn't help. One of the tech guys at work said he would open it up and change the fan, but I was hesitant to go that route.

OP, I can't remember what the DAC was inside it and what its capabilities were. This thread may have the answer, though.
 
Besides being SACD-capable, the early models had complete PS2 hardware built-in. The later models used somewhat buggy PS2 emulation software, which was eventually dropped completely. Those models will still play PS1 games, but not PS2.
 
uofmtiger said:
What are the unique capabilities and do the capabilities work with the newest firmware? I seem to remember that they could record SACD, but it required an older firmware than I had when I read about it.

I have 2 of the old (fat) 60GB PS3s and don't really use them very often these days, so I am curious about the other capabilities.

One of mine has a very loud fan, but it still works. Should I stap another fan to the back of it? I tried to blow it out with compressed air, but it didn't help. One of the tech guys at work said he would open it up and change the fan, but I was hesitant to go that route.

OP, I can't remember what the DAC was inside it and what its capabilities were. This thread may have the answer, though.
Click to expand...
Just Google "PS3 SACD" and read through the results (should be somewhere in the top 10) if you are curious to learn about some of this unit's unique capabilities.
 
If the firmware is 3.55 or earlier - do NOT upgrade it. These can 'back-up' SACDs to stream-able DSD files and are becoming rare and highly sought-after by those who want to do this. If that doesn't interest you but you have the right PS3 for it, selling it might provide the funds to get something that can play 24/192 - it can be done via USB from a computer and several low-cost DACS now.
 
I do not believe you can send DSD over toslink on the PS3. For a digital connection you gotta use HDMI. The DAC using the multi-av isn't "bad" but it is not great for SACD. If you were to get a DAC with an HDMI in than it would certainly improve it, but there are two things you also must consider. 1. HDMI DACs aren't that common (right?), and 2. PS3 does not output DSD in any way. Even via the Multi-AV it is internally converted to 176.4 PCM before being converted to analogue. 176.4 out via HDMI as well unless you manually set it to send it as 88.2khz.
 
Billfort said:
If the firmware is 3.55 or earlier - do NOT upgrade it. These can 'back-up' SACDs to stream-able DSD files and are becoming rare and highly sought-after by those who want to do this. If that doesn't interest you but you have the right PS3 for it, selling it might provide the funds to get something that can play 24/192 - it can be done via USB from a computer and several low-cost DACS now.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, both of mine are at 4.2 right now. I have read they are working on a way to roll back, but so far, it isn't possible.


It does seem unusual that so few DACs work with HDMI since you can buy a cheap receiver that can.
 
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I guess I just got lucky, really bought this thing way back when just because it could play SACD (which I have always been a huge fan of) and never bothered with games or Netfilx on it - it just sat unused for years as I played those SACDs on better players.

It sure is cool to be backing-up some of my SACDs now with it though - some of the stuff I have and love is out of print and so stupid expensive now that they are essentially irreplaceable for me. Also nice to know I am ready to stream them when I get a DSD capable DAC.
 
analognewbie said:
I have a blu-ray disc which has the audio track @ 24bit 192khz 2ch.
I use PS3 for bluray discs. My amp is Pioneer SX-1250. If I'm only interested in stereo (not multi-channel), is it worth the hassle to get an external DAC which has HDMI input & output (to TV) to decode the audio track to feed my amp, or should I simply let the PS3 do the job and connect directly to my amp via analog lines?
I guess the question is also about the quality of the dac in PS3.
Your input would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Click to expand...

http://www.cirrus.com/en/pubs/proDatasheet/CS4351_F1.pdf
 
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