Video Asylum

Posted by John C. - Aussie (B) on April 14, 2003 at 14:24:13

In Reply to: from 2 channel to Home Theater posted by Lethvig on April 14, 2003 at 07:39:37:

... was paranoid about preserving a pure stereo out via the preamp. To do this I have a high quality 2 pole 2 way relay switch which can bypass the digital processor completely.

But guess what? It was a waste of time and dollars. I (and everyone else clallenged) can hear absolutely NO difference in the sound between the two routes. Quite simply, the upsampling followed by downsampling of the analog signal makes no audible deterioration. Now DACs can vary a lot and what we have here (Meridian 861) is state of the art BUT there are some other units around which will be similar.

So my advice is to choose your DAC carefully and you can have the best of both worlds. However if you cannot find a suitable unit then go ahead with the other suggestions but there is really no need to put up with inferior sound in an HT setup. To me, quality sound in HT is just as important as in 2CH and there are a lot of interesting musically orientated DVDs around these days to prove the point.

Good hunting

John

Peace at AA