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Better Blu-ray player....

Question,

Do not most people who have a Blu-ray player, especially those that cost under a grand, use HDMI cables to hook up the player? If I understand correctly, if you use HDMI to hook up you player it by-passes the on-board Audio DAC and sends bitstream to the A/V Reciever and uses the DAC in the A/V Reciever. If this so why are there no Blu-Ray "transports", I do not see the need to pay for a bunch of DACs I will not use.

This is especially rediculious on the very high end Gear like McIntosh, Krell, Theta Digital, and others. They want you to buy their Processors, that have all the latest bells and whistles, best DACs, heck even Extreme DACs in some cases, then they would also like to sell you their Universal players that are also loaded with multiple DACs. So you eventually end up paying for DACs that you would never use.

In the world of CDs they make "transports" that require a separate DAC, seems to me this should be they way they approach blu-ray.
zaphodbeeblebrox
8 responses Add your response
unsound
7,329 posts
 
http://www.hometheater.com/discplayers/608denon2500/?q=discplayers/608denon2500
unsound
7,329 posts
 
Though I would tend to agree with you, most high end pre-amps/DACS yet to have HDMI inputs.
zaphodbeeblebrox OP
78 posts
 
Yes, I remember the Denon 2500BTCI but I believe it has been discontinued.

My first and Current Blu-ray is similar, I have the Denon 3800BDCI.

Great Blu-ray player, I have had it for years and have watched thousands and thousands of movies on it. Still works great and I have seen no evidence that the newer players are so much better it is worth the investment of a new player.

However, if they would release a silver or champagne finished blu-ray then I would be interested in a newer player. The denon is way over built, if you open the cover there is not a lot of unused space, unlike the modern players that are smaller and still have empty space inside. I do not believe that things should be made small, I like to see big caps and other electronic parts. Heck, I wish someone make a factory Tube Audio Stage Blu-ray player (I know Modwright makes a tube upgrade Mod for the Oppo 95).

That is all.
pdn
438 posts
 
The objective with all interconnects is to do the least amount of harm. We agree on that? So to keep it simple and minimize steps, I simply connect my Marantz Blu-ray player's video out via HDMI directly into my LCD TV. That takes care of the best in video. For audio, I've tried both analog and digital audio out to my Rotel AVR. Without question, the digital audio output is superior. I invested in a quality digital audio interconnect cable and connect directly into the AVR. That's it. Simple. Works well. Keep it simple and minimize physical hardware steps.
edorr
714 posts
 
Theta will be releasing an all digital modded Oppo 93, with the analog section stripped out. This will be the Compli Blu 3D - MSRP $4000.

I was thinking like you a few years back and got myself a Denon 2500. It sucked.

But puzzling indeed why no one is jumping on this. I can even envision Oppo creating a premium variant of the 103 optimized as digital transport. Linear powersupply for just digital section, and upgraded clock for starters. The DIY community of course can already do this.

I would think the demand for a $1000 Oppo 103 premium digital transport would at least equal the 105 optimized for analog.
dtc's avatar
dtc
1,047 posts
 
Pdn - if you are using a S/PDIF or optical out of your Blu-Ray player you are not getting the new codecs - dts Master Audio or Dolby Digital HD. You need an HDMI cable to get them to your receiver. You can decode in either the player or the receiver, but in either case the signal has to go over HDMI to get the full HD audio.
velocityofhue
186 posts
 
I have owned the 2500BTCI for five years and it's a great machine with army tank construction. I was drawn towards it by the simplistic design approach "all inside the box" Though it's slow to load it has the best Bluray picture I've seen and use instead of the PS3 here.
pdn
438 posts
 
Dtc, yes I know and right now I'm OK with that. The problem I have is physical location. The Rotel AVR and Marantz Blu-ray player are not near each other in my room. I would need to run two HDMI interconnects in order to achieve full Master Audio and DD-HD, one out to the AVR and the other back to the TV. I don't have the room for those cables as my conduit run is completely full. Hard to explain. However I have only two Blu-ray concerts DVDs with these codecs. The rest do not. I have noticed though that when I select those formats in those Blu-ray DVDs, the audio is improved through the existing digital output cable. Does that make sense?
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