I have a Panasonic DVD player hooked up to a Yamaha RX-V570 A/V receiver with a digital optical cable. When I play CD's, they don't seem to have high audio quality. Is this because I'm not using a standard CD player?
The Yamaha amp should be ok, however, I wouldnt have thought Panasonic as being a piece of Hifi. There-in lies your problem i'd say. Only a few DVD manufacturers can approach the sound of purpose built CD players for audio quality. Marantz is one of them.
JOHNNY THE GUN
Posted on
NO NO NO !!! Phil h e shouldn't have to spend bucks to hear a friggin simple audio CD !!
To; anonymous I HAD the same problem. You will not lose quality to your system when you do this: don't disconnect the optical, instead use the analog audio outs and you will hear the CD the correct way, it's vise versa when you connect RCA's to listen to a DVD you will get Stereo surround, not digital, so just do what I said and don;'t listen to numb nuts! BTW PHIL MERRIN, I own a few HIGH end DVD players, including a DENON, which has BURR BROWN DAC's for the stated problem 192/24... help the kid out, don't tell him to get marantz, they suck and are OVERrated. I bet you think NAd and carver and parasound amps are good! they are not
Hawk
Posted on
Anon:
Hmmm. I actually tend to disagree with both Phil as well as the person who is throwing around insults and who thinks he is being funny (not!).
Since you are using a digital optical cable, you are having your receiver do the digital to analog conversion. Are the receiver's DACs up to the job? It doesn't sound like it if you don't like the sound. Changing to the stereo CD connection inputs, a suggested by Mr. Gun, will shift the processing of CDs to your player and you will find out if its DACs are any better. The real problem here is that Yamaha, like Denon and several other audio giants, have all but abandoned the two channel market to push their multi-channel products. hence, your DVD sounds pretty good, but it sucks for stereo.
I like the Marantz CD players, but not their changers (which are really poor). You will notice an improvement if you use something like a Marantz CD5000 (MSRP of $239) and play it through the analog CD input. Better still, the NAD 541i will probably give you the best sound you can hear through that receiver, and they are available for about $350 (it has also won a lot of awards for its sound, too, unlike Denon). Now, I own three Denon CD players (only bought one) and they are really poor sounding (don't ask how I ended up with three different ones--the story is too long). My daughter's Sony Walkman CD sounds better than these more expensive Denon players, which are all very flat sounding, with no depth whatsoever to the soundstage. The music is sterile and lifeless from all three of these Denons. I think it is because they are just more typical mass market homogenized sound products from one of the audio cartels leading suspects. If you buy their real high end Denon CD players for something around a $750, they will sound pretty good, but no better than the NAD which costs half of the high end Denon. There is absolutely nothing about Burr-Brown DACs that makes the Denon CD player worth getting since the rest of the player's analog section is pretty low rent despite its cost.
If you are inclined to spend more money for a really good CD player, ignore Denon and look into some very nice players from Arcam or Music Hall. They sound super and still cost less than a Denon. But as I said, given the limitations of your receiver, you probably can't do any better than the NAD.
Oh, and for the record, I just tried an NAD L70, 45 wpc x 5 (for my study), and it kicks my sorry Denon 3803's butt! It is cleaner and more dynamic--the sound is much more liefelike and realistic. On whole, I would say NADs amps are pretty good, Mr. gun, at half the price.
Emerson
Posted on
Why does home audio have to be so complicated! I am completely frustrated by all the options one has to consider to find the right combo of quality audio playback.
I have the luxury of being able to build this system from the ground up, since I've always relied on my AIWA mini-system and now have the space/money/time to upgrade to a legit receiver, media player, and the appropriate speakers. Problem is, I've only recently taken to educating myself on home audio, and everytime I think I know what I'm going to go with, I discover something I don't like and abandon my plan.
So I could use some advice here... Can anyone suggest a home audio system to fit my needs? It's something I just can't get a handle on...
I'm going to be putting this in my living room/TV room/kitchen... it's a pretty small space, and so I'm looking for compact but quality components. I want to start off with an A/V receiver powering two quality speakers. The receiver also needs A/B switchability to power two outdoor speakers that currently are not in use. I don't need a lot of power here, just enough to provide quality sound (i.e. not loud volume).
To the reciever I would provide: - a signal IN from my digital cable box via S-VIDEO / DIGITAL AUDIO - a signal OUT to my 20" progressive scan 4:3 LCD TV via COMPOSITE VIDEO / ANALOG AUDIO - a signal IN from an MP3/DVD/CD player via COMPOSITE VIDEO / ANALOG AUDIO, which I would purchase in addition to the A/V receiver
The most important features are: - $800-900 total cost for receiver, DVD/CD/MP3 player, and two speakers - A, B, or A&B speaker switchability - quality audio playback, no matter what the source - quality progressive scan playback from the DVD player - ability to add speakers to create a 5.1 ch. surround system - shallow depth (< 14 inches) for all components
Bonus features would be: - DVD-A / SACD playback providing 5.1 ch sound, preferably without analog connections. This could be achieved by matching the manuf. of the DVD/CD/MP3 player with the receiver so that an encrypted digital signal could be sent from the player to the receiver, OR, possibly by providing an integrated DVD/CD/MP3 player/receiver (but remember, i still need A/B speaker switchability!) - universal remote - some sort of "virtual surround" feature that I could use with two stereo speakers until I upgrade to 5.1
So does any one have any ideas? Are there any integrated receivers/players with A/B switchability?
Emerson
Posted on
Whups, there's one things I should clarify...
I'd prefer that the receiver have a quality DAC, and that a digital audio signal be sent from the DVD/CD/MP3 player. But, if the DAC were good in the player, I could go with an analog connection. I'd like to reduce the number of cables used, though, and rely on an optical or coaxial cable to connect the audio from the player to the receiver.