2. home-theater
  3. 1365785366

Passive/line stage HT preamp?

OK, so I'm upgrading my HT. I'm getting the Oppo BDP-105, an HT preamp, and a projector (likely Epson).

My question is this: Is there such a thing as a passive, or straight line stage, home theater preamp? Can't I just let the Oppo handle all the processing? Room correction aside, are there codecs/modes that the DVD player can't handle?

Thanks!
seditious3

Showing 2 responses by jameswei

jameswei
883 posts
 
"the Oppos use 32 bit internal processing for the volume control. Even if you turn the volume down significantly, you'll still have at least 24 bits of resolution. The Oppo's digital volume control is a very good one"

Good point; thank you for pointing that out.

The Oppo uses an ESS Sabre32 Reference DAC. For further insight into the issue, a slide presentation by ESS discusses the pros and cons of their digital versus analog volume controls:

http://www.esstech.com/PDF/digital-vs-analog-volume-control.pdf
jameswei
883 posts
 
"Actually, I guess a better way to ask the question is can I go directly from the analog outs of the Oppo to my amps? Do I lose anything that way?"

The Oppo has a volume control that works in the digital domain? Such controls theoretically lose resolution as the volume is reduced. You may prefer to insert a preamp that has an analog-based volume control like the Parasound P7 that Kal mentioned.
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