NAD CDP to Arcam AVR350 using coax digital results in distorted sound

 

New member
Username: 50something

Post Number: 1
Registered: Oct-09
Out of curiosity, I tried to connect my NAD CD player to the AVR 350 using a coax cable and got a very distorted sound. The music was barely recognizable as if listening to a small radio with a weak AM broadcast. The analog connection, of course, works fine. I tried connecting to the DVD IN and got the same problem. On the other hand, I have no problem using the same coax cable to connect my DVD player -- the sound is just fine.

Am I missing something in trying to connect a CD player using a coax cable? Both NAD and Arcam manuals say you can use a coax to connect to each other.
 

Platinum Member
Username: Jan_b_vigne

Dallas, TX

Post Number: 14055
Registered: May-04
.

No reason the coax shouldn't work for CDP. You might want to contact NAD for more information. Or check the owner's manual for any setting that indicate correct PCM output from the coax.


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Silver Member
Username: Hawkbilly

Nova Scotia Canada

Post Number: 694
Registered: Jul-07
Did you just use a normal analogue interconnect (rca) cable to make the digital coax connection ? If so, that could be your problem. I believe you need a cable specific to that purpose...75 Ohm I believe.
 

Platinum Member
Username: Jan_b_vigne

Dallas, TX

Post Number: 14059
Registered: May-04
.

Reflections from an improper termination impedance could cause problems but they wouldn't normally result in the sound as described and should show up on the DVD player if they were the issue. A "digital" cable might be worth a try though just to mark one possibility off the list.

.
 

Silver Member
Username: Hawkbilly

Nova Scotia Canada

Post Number: 695
Registered: Jul-07
I just tried mine on a regular cable and it didn't sound awful, just a bit off. So if it truly sounds "very distorted" that's probably not it....unless your Arcam behaves significantly differently than my NAD receiver.
 

New member
Username: 50something

Post Number: 2
Registered: Oct-09
Chris / Jan,

Thanks for your replies.

Yes, I'm using a 75 Ohm digital cable. This is what I use to connect my universal player (Cambridge Audio DVD99) player to the Arcam. No problems there with the sound when playing DVD's.

What I did next was to play a CD on the CA DVD99. The AVR350 recognized it as a PCM signal and played it without a problem. I checked again the Digital Settings on the Arcam and didn't find anything amiss.
 

Platinum Member
Username: Jan_b_vigne

Dallas, TX

Post Number: 14064
Registered: May-04
.

Check that the NAD is outputting PCM. It shouldn't have any options but check anyway.

.
 

Gold Member
Username: Frank_abela

Berkshire UK

Post Number: 3823
Registered: Sep-04
If you've used the same input to the Arcam with the DVD player, you've pretty much proved that the problem is not at the Arcam end *unless* you've fixed the input the Arcam is expecting to something like bitstream. If it's expecting a bitstream input and getting PCM, it could sound very weird indeed.

I'm not sure if this is possible to do on the Arcam - I just don't remember. One way to check is to fix your DVD player to PCM output in its setup menu. If you get the same distortion as with the CD player, then you know the Arcam is not coping with the PCM input. If this happens, check the Arcam setup to see if it's autosensing. You should see it change from PCM (with CDs) to Dolby prologic for DVD menus and then to either Dolby Digital or DTS when you play a movie from the DVD. If it doesn't do all the auto-sensing, have a look at the setup menu to see what the input is set up as.

Frank.
 

New member
Username: 50something

Post Number: 3
Registered: Oct-09
It wasn't a problem after all. I wrote to NAD and they advised me to turn off the upsampling on the NAD C565BEE to see how much the Arcam could handle. It worked. I then set it to 96kHz and it still played. At 192kHz, the sound got distorted. So that was it.
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