To add to what Rex said. How many HTs have 5 full range speakers that are equidistant from the listening position? Defaulting "source direct" to "off" makes a lot of sense.
Why does Denon 3910 default to PCM for sacds?
I have been made aware of this by Alex Peychev. He states, "Anyway, the 3910 Source Direct ON/OFF mode is in the On-Screen menu in the Audio Settings. You need a monitor. When you select Source Direct ON you have true DSD. If it's OFF the DSD is converted to 176.4/24 PCM. Be aware that the Factory Default is Source Direct OFF, so the machine converts DSD to PCM. You need to go and change that." I have tried it both ways and it makes a substantial difference in the realism of the sound.
I suspect that Denon's indifference to sacd and the desire to hear sacds in dsd conversion is overridden by their expectation that most will be interested in only dvds and HT.
I suspect that Denon's indifference to sacd and the desire to hear sacds in dsd conversion is overridden by their expectation that most will be interested in only dvds and HT.