help jitter, toslink, and DVD question

Your proposed approach sounds like a good one-- I used it myself for several years. If your DVD player has coax out, by all means use it instead of Toslink, if not the DIP will convert Toslink to coax. I can recommend Cardas High Speed Data digital cables at about $80. new. I haven't used the DIP, but did effectively use SF Ultra Jitter Bug(s) and Theta TLC for the same reason. The DIP, being newer, is supposed to be improved over older technology. Good Luck. Craig

I have the cheap Pioneer "Elite" DVD player (434) I am running into a Monarchy 96/24 DIP and then into my B&k Ref 30. When I ran it in using TOSlink first and then bought a couple of Coaxial cables to try the sound. I prefer the coaxial much more over the TOSlink. Also I could not believe the dramatic difference the Monarchy made in the sound!! It was night and day.

I spent about $600 for the pair of coaxials, but after some experimentation with other coaxials I think the Onix cables you can pick up from Av123.com should suit you just great and only set you back about $200 for a pair of the Thunder digital cables.

Try Camelot Dragon 5.1 jitter reducer. It is actually the first unit to reduce jitter in 2-channel from Music CD and 5.1-Channel from DVD Movies while other jitter reducers can only do 2-channel (as stated on Camelot website).

I'm using it with Pioneer DVD Player to smooth out the sound of DVD Movies. For 2-channel music I use "Digital Flywheel" features from my EAD TM Signature.

Supakit -- I'm a little confused here. Monarchy claims that "the DIP's circuit is compatible with all S/PDIF audio signals from 16 to 24 bits at frequencies up to 96 kHz, including Dolby Digital and DTS. In fact, the new and improved lock function will lock onto anything between 32-96 kHz", yet Camelot claims to be the only 5.1 channel jitter reducer. What's the deal? I was under the impression that D.Digital and DTS are S/PDIF signals.

The advantage of the optical connection is that you don't get electrical noise through the cable. I have a Toshiba DVD and have compared the outputs, the coax gives you much better sound. The transport though is not very good whwn compared to a good CD transport. I compared it to a Theta Jade, CAL, and Spectral. Raanking them 0-10 measuring how accurately they were able to reproduce high frequency sine waves from a test disk:

Spectral 10
Theta 8.5
CAL 7
DVD COAX 5
DVD TOS 3

Hi Felthove,

I know a lot of people are using DVD players as transports. I used my Pioneer DV-05 for awhile (unmodified) and I thought it sounded pretty great. It did actually, but when I compared it to my old Denon DCD2560 there was no contest. When I recently tried using my old Studer A727 CDP things got even better (all with an EVS Millenum 2 and Cardas digital cable).

I hate to encourage anyone here to spend any more money, but...based on the comments of others, as well as my own experience...you might want to experiement with a CDP or dedicated transport rather than the DVD player. I've found that they provide a larger, more precise soundstage...stronger, more realistic bass, and more low level resolution.

That said...I could easily go back to my Pioneer DV-05 as transport and still enjoy every second. The CDPs sound better, but the DVD player still sounds great (and it's certainly very convenient to use the DVD for video AND audio).

Phil