Hello,
For those of you using analog inputs for SACD and DVD-A, which have you found best audio for movies....analog (multi channel input) or digital? What DVD player are you using?

Reason I ask, I have a Denon DVD-2910 player which I find does a much better job processing for movies than my Yamaha Receiver. I am wondering whether a 950 or 990 processor would do a better job than my Denon.

I have absolutely used the digital connection for DVD-Video - in addition to additional processing (Dolby EX, DTS ES, and either Cirrus Extra Surround on the 950 or Pro Logic IIx on the 990), there is better bass management.

I would be surprised if the player does better processing than the receiver. IMO, Yamaha has some of the best DSP available in a mass market component. Like Gonk, for DVDs I always have used the digital input. Plus, you cannot get DD EX or DTS-ES out of a player. You only get 5.1 (if that matters to you).

The Denon DVD-2910 has perfect bass management for my needs. It has a fixed 80Hz crossover and I am able to set all speakers to small the same as my receiver settings.

Sure, the player doesn't decode DTS-ES or D-EX but from a pure 5.1 sonic stand point, I wonder which sounds better in your system....DVD player decoding or receiver?

In my system (Yamaha DVD-S1500 and Outlaw 950), I prefer the 950 for movies.

Would a 950's DAC's be as good if not better than the burr-brown DAC's in my Denon DVD player? I'm considering buying the 990 but want something that sounds good with digital connect and not just analog.

I'm wondering the same thing. I have an Adcom GDA 600 (DAC) that uses a Burr-Brown. Since I'm still running only Dolby ProLogic gear (unitl I get my 990!) I have been, for years, using the GDA 600 as the DAC for my CD player and DVD player (until I moved my combo Tivo/DVD player to my regular TV since getting my HD RPTV that is). I would run the toslink from the DVD player into my DAC, as well as the S/PDIF coax from my CD player. But now, when I get the 990, I'll obviously use that to decode DVD audio (I'm getting the Oppo DVD player). But, if I don't like the way the 990 decodes the CD stream, I'll just continue to use my seperate DAC unit to do that. You should still be able to get some quasi surround modes out of the 990 even with just stereo analogue input from the seperate DAC...right? I can at least with my current Adcom preamp, a 10 yr old GTP-600. Besides, I enjoy listening to CD's in 2 channel stereo anyway.

But, I am currious as to which is the better DAC.
According to my GDA 600 manual, the specs are:

Input decoding...........Crystal CS 8412 receiver
Digital filter............Burr-Brown Linear Phase
Resampling rate.....8x(352.8khz for 44.1khz input)
DAC type..........selected R-2R Burr-Brown PCM-63
resolution................................20 bits

I guess no one can know until they release the specs. I ain't too smart, so maybe someone could enlighten me on whether my GDA-600 has been overtaken in the last 10 years since I bought it by better designs that are cheap and common (and thus, most likely included within the 990).

All I know is that CD's sound great with my current setup, and when I would switch the audio input on my preamp between the analogue output of the DVD player and the analogue output of the GDA 600, I could tell a distinct difference...I could do this as the movie was playing by just changing the source of the audio input...the GDA-600 gave crisper, cleaner highs (of course, I'm sure the audio DAC in my Hitachi Tivo/DVD combo unit is not the greatest).

Finally, someone with my same exact question!! Now if only Gonk would respond and tell us if the 990 DAC's are up to par with the burr-brown in my Denon and your Adcom

Actually assid, the DAC used in the 990 is the Analog Devices 1852 and it's specs can be found here:
http://www.analog.com/UploadedFiles/Data_Sheets/536821559AD1852_0.pdf

Perhaps you could scan through there and compare the specs to the DACs in your Adcom. I'd love to hear what you find out.

I'd help on that if I could, but (1) I haven't had any gear with Burr-Brown DAC's and (2) I haven't gotten to hear the 990 yet. Since there's going to be more to how the unit sounds than the DAC that is used (we need to draw out control volume a bit farther out to encompass the entire signal path inside the unit), the best test - some might say the only test - is to wait until we have a number of them in people's hands and have a chance to listen to them.

For CD playback, the 990 does appear to have an analog bypass option similar to that offered on the 950 - which allows you to readily choose which DAC you listen to for CD's. Not only does that give you the flexibility to use the best DAC in your equipment rack, but it also lets you compare the two pretty readily.