I’ve been intrigued lately by the prospect of experimenting with different DACs to see if I could improve my CD playback. I’ve asked before about advice on a new CD player. Up til now I was using my HD-A2 to play CD’s, using an optical cable to the 1070, hence leaving the job of DA conversion to the 1070. In the pursuit of what I’ll call “a different” sound, I started looking at various used NAD and Rotel players on Ebay and Audiogon. I haven’t purchased anything yet but I consulted with my father in law and he gave me an interesting piece of equipment – it’s a Pioneer DVL-700 LaserDisc/DVD hybrid player.

He said that at the time it was produced, it was noted to have a very good DAC and it would be worth my time to try it out. And so I did.

I have to admit it was really fun to play around switching between the following scenarios and I have some questions that have cropped up as a result of my weekend experiment.

My three primary scenarios were:
1.) HD-A2 via optical to 1070, 1070 in “Stereo” mode with Digital Bass Management set to “Digital” – (my original setup)
2.) DVL-700 via analog to 1070, 1070 in Bypass mode – bass management same.
3.) DVL-700 via analog to 1070, 1070 in Stereo mode

My understanding of this is Scenario 2 is the most “pure” mode. I spent some time listening and relistening to an excellent rendition of Sinatra’s “when I was 17” – and to my pleasure was able to actually, for the first time, really notice the added warmth to the vocals in bypass mode, as well as the airyness to the background instruments. I found myself thinking – does a 9 year old source really have better DACs than my 1070? I think the answer was yes. Well, not necessarily "yes", but different, and different as my ears perceived, in that the player offered a more natural sound than what I'd been hearing. I was pleasantly surprised.

However I found that I preferred the added bass of running the 1070 in Stereo mode so as to include the subs.

Q: When running in Stereo mode (scen 3), is the ONLY processing for the bass? What is the essential difference between bypass mode and stereo mode, when the source and the 1070 are linked via analog cables?

More questions sure to follow, but I’m enjoying the ongoing experiment. If anyone has any recommendations of settings/modes to try out, please let me know.

Thanks!

You mention NAD, I have a C521i CD player and I think it's fantastic sounding. If I ever bought another CDP, I'd go with NAD again.

I purchased a Denon DVD-1940CI today to extend me experiment. really looking forward to the DVD-A and SACD exposure that I've lacked until now.

Just would like to say I'm really REALLY happy with my purchase...and loving the use of Bypass mode more than ever. Can't wait to get my multich. analog cables.

I use a Denon 39390Co I bought with a nice Discount cuase I coudl nor afoord the high cost. The DACs are high end yet after some time i have teh unit Modified and the SQ is like Analog Vinly!

Reds: Glad to hear you're enjoying the unadulterated pleasures of bypass mode! Like you, I experimented a bit with different CD playback options, including:
(1) A Cambridge Audio 640C
(2) A Squeezebox, with it's analog outs
(3) A Squeezebox, with digital out to the 970's DAC
(4) A Squeezebox, with digital out to a Musiland DAC
(5) A Squeezebox, with digital out to a Behringer SRC 2496, upsampled, then sent to the Musiland DAC.

I've been content with the last option for some time now and think I'll stay put for awhile.

In all cases, I listen in bypass mode with the bass management switch on the 970 set to HPF/LPF, that way everything is kept in the analog domain. It's a great set up for 2 channel listening and I'm very happy. SO happy in fact, it is with mixed emotions that I look forward to the 970's successor.

Best,

- VD

I recently connected my Pioneer Elite DV59AVi using the analog outs, but I haven't had a chance yet to do a close comparison. I have been using the 5.1 analog outs for DVDs, and I think that works very well for movies. So I'm looking forward to comparing CD playback.

Bob, what player are you using for movies when using the 5.1 analog out? I'm assuming you've compared your player's onboard decoding to your pre/pro?

Videodrome,

I only spent a little bit of time experimenting with the digital/HPF_LPF/bypass toggle on the back of the 1070. If I switch from digital to HPF/LPF, will my subs play in bypass mode? I didn't think they would. And if so, isn't there some analog > digital > analog conversion going on? I'd like to talk about this, and understand it better.

Without a 1070 or 970 in front of me, I'm going just from memory of discussions from when the 1070 was newly released. The bass management switch is there principally for the 7.1 Direct input, but I thought that I'd heard that the HPF/LPF switch would work with the stereo analog bypass mode just as well as it would with the 7.1 Direct input. And since the HPF/LPF switch engages a purely analog bass management circuit, it would not require any A/D/A conversion. The "Digital" position does produce an A/D/A conversion for the 7.1 Direct input, something that otherwise does not take place, but I hadn't ever heard of having it set to "digital" actually influencing the analog stereo bypass mode at all.