Video Asylum

Posted by Joe Murphy Jr (A) on September 25, 2011 at 09:21:13

In Reply to: RE: it's $86 overpriced, . . . Mabey posted by Mel on September 25, 2011 at 08:07:11

Each box, the Gefen and the monoprice, must convert to PCM in order for their onboard D-A converter (the one that feeds the analog stereo output) to work. It would be nice, at least for people who wanted a 2.0 PCM signal instead of a Dolby Digital or DTS signal, if you could just have the signal that feeds that D-A converter available on the coax/optical output.

I would bet that the sound quality from the Motorola FIOS box, the Gefen converter and the monoprice converter, will be no match, by far, for the audio quality that you get from the Lavry DAC fed by an optical connection. The reason is that, even with a PCMed lossy Dolby Digital signal, the analog stage of those devices are no match for the analog stage in the Lavry DAC. Most people do not realize that the analog stage contributes more to the sound quality of a DAC than just about any other part of the DAC. The total cost of the analog stages in the other devices, combined, is less than $6 -- and that's being generous.

If I come across another option or, better yet, a simple device that just converts a Dolby Digital/DTS signal to 2.0 PCM, I'll try to remember to post a link here.