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Rec. vs. DVD: who should be responsible for DAC?

I am in the process of putting together a system. I currently own a Rotel RSX-972 receiver. I am now in the market for a DVD player. Specifically, I am looking at either a Panasonic DVD RP-56 or a Rotel RDV-995. Though not directly compared by my own ears, I am going under the assumption that the Rotel will produce a better audio output (I assume that implies analog). I have two questions:

1) Is there a distinct advantage of sending, from the DVD player to the receiver, an analog or digital signal? (i.e. using DAC of the receiver or the player)

2) If the DAC of the receiver is to be used, does it really matter which player is purchased to provide a digital output? (Most players in this range use similar drives anyway)

Note that the Panasonic is considerably less expensive and probably has superior video quality. Though I currently do not have a hidef TV, I may upgrade someday. At this point, however, the audio quality is my main concern.

Thanks
agrumet

Showing 1 response by sean

sean
6,231 posts
 
If the receiver does not have an analog pass through, it would simply take the analogue output from your DVD player's DAC section and reconvert it into digital. If that is the case, skip the audio outputs of the DVD altogether and simply use the DVD player as a transport. One thing that i would check into with the various DVD players would be what types of digital output jacks it offers and what your receiver accepts. No sense in buying a component or cable if it will not work with the other components. Sean
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