Hi,

I just bought a Denon 756 DVD player and am happy to finally be able to listen to SACDs. I don't have any yet but will be getting some soon...

Anyway, my impression was that the 5.1 Analog would be used for SACD only. But, when I fired up the player I got sound with regular DVDs and DVD Audio discs. It actually sounded better when I switched the audio from Analog to digital and used the coaxial digital connection instead of the RCA connections. I used the menus in the Denon player to configure the levels and distance etc...I also did the same in my Harman Kardon 435.

Ok, so here are my questions:

1. Which source should I select when watching regular DVDs?
2. Ditto of #1 but with DVD Audio discs?
3. What is PCM? I have a selection for bitstream or PCM....when should I engage this?

4. When listening to SACD, should I use the Analog outs?

Thanks for the help!!

Hi there.
I have found most sacd/dvd players to have their own quarks, but from memory this is the typical setup:
1. Usually regular DVD's are best decoded by your AV Receiver, so use the fiber or coax digital connection.
2. You can use the 6 channel analog out for DVD-A.
3. PCM stands for "Pulse Width Modulation" or the type of digital encoding that cd's and dvd's have. Bitstream is the type of encoding for SACD's.
4. The analog out is the ONLY way that you are actually getting the high resolution SACD signal.
Hope this helps, and if you are lucky, Gonk can give you more advice as well...
Welcome to good sound - it is a shame that SACD is going to die, of the two, I prefer it to DVD-A.
Dustin

I would really be suprised if SACD's died any time soon. I think Telarc is still alive and kickin'.

You can use either the digital connection od the 5.1 analog for DVDs depending on where you want to do the processing (5.1 would have been processed in the player, digital would be processed by the pre/pro . I alwys use the digital for DVDs and CDs as my 990 has better DACs than my disc player. For DVD-As and SACDs the processing will have to be done in the player so you've got to use the 5.1 analog connection for multi-channel. For 2 channel, either the 5.1 or a standard analog connection will work.

I read an article, I guess about a year ago, on the future of SACD. It predicted the format's inevitable demise. Evidently, it just did not catch on as a particularly marketable CD format. If I recall correctly, the article blamed the iPod-ization of music consumption.

Look at it this way, how many people do you know who sit down and critically listen to high quality recordings on a good playback system -- multi-channel or otherwise? The whole concept presumes a lot: a properly set up and calibrated system, tailored to a listening sweet spot where the two-channel (CD) or surround envelope (SACD) experience is going to come together.

Compare that to the masses of people who like portable music and are perfectly content with lossy formats like MP3 played over a cheap pair of earbuds. Folks, we're definitely in the minority.

Sad to say, but read the press and they'll tell you CD's days are numbered, much less SACD. CD sales were down 20% in the 1st Q of 2007; but digital music sales are way, way up.

I think as storage space gets cheaper and more of the public gets acclimated to music downloads and portable music, audiophile formats will appeal to a smaller and smaller niche of the overall market.

Ok, so I'm not going crazy then. I can have sound from both outputs. (Except for SACD which requires the Analog)

It appears then that the Analog output for DVD Audio is not as good through my DVD player. I have to crank the volume way up to hear anything. But, when I switch to digital, it is loud!

I'm bummed that the SACD and DVD Audio market is shrinking. I really love the sound of DVD Audio discs. They blow away regular CDs. I'm really excited to get my first SACD to really hear what all the fuss is about.

Thanks for chimming in guys!

Any suggestions for some great SACDs?

SACD Suggestions? Sure. It depends on you tastes of course.
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
Nora Jones - Come Away With Me
LAGQ (LA Guitar Quartet)
Boston - Boston
and if for no other reason than because it is really cool whether you actually like the album or not... Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (The SACD version is totally kick-ass and I am not really a huge PF fan, but the multichannel version of "Money" is so worth it!)

But as you can see as I was saying earlier, you will not find something mainstream. Go find coldplay, DMB, etc. If you start to look, if you aren't into eccentric & classical music, or if you live in a decade other than the 70's, you will quickly find the number of SACD's is really limited.

I hate it because SACD is a wonderful format. But "audiophiles" tend to gravitate towards a small selection of music. (I too am somewhat guilty of this.) So most random CD's you have will never be remastered and released on SACD.

Well, without being too presumptuous, I kinda think everybody should own Miles Davis's Kind Of Blue, and I can't remember ever meeting anyone who's heard it that doesn't like it—though I'm sure they're out there somewhere. Nonetheless, I'd be astonished if it wasn't available on SACD.

$.02 anyone...

Actually...
It is available on SACD. I have it. My friend said "Buy it, if you don't like it, I'll buy it from you and I don't even have a SACD player"

Well, I am not holding his word to buy it from me, but it is just not my thing.

Yes, the sound is amazing, but I'm just not a Jazz guy. I am holding onto it thinking one day the mood may strike me and I'll come to like it, but after a few serious listening sessions, I don't see it coming off the shelf anytime soon.

I still definitely recommend it, even though it is not my thing.

Well, if you don't find it absolutely repulsive, I'd say leave it on the shelf and wait for it to kick in—sorta like the good bestseller you bought but just haven't found time to finish. I don't even think of that record as "jazz" per se; it's just great iconic music, like Hank Williams or Hendrix or the Rolling Stones. As for Pink Floyd, not trying to start a war or anything, but Wish You Were Here is the record that really hooks me. Any Outlaws out there have that disc on SACD?

Thanks for the suggestions. I also heard that the Pink Floyd disc was killer. So, it must be true :-)

Last night I went home and read the manual to my Harman Kardon and found out that it has a function you can select for automatic signal input assignment. I switched that from coaxial to the analog and on the dvd player I switched the audio from HDMI to analog.....WOW!!! My dvd audio discs now sound incredible. I'm hearing things so much better now. (BTW I'm not currently using the HDMI since my TV is not HD...I bought the player for the audio capabilities) The quality of the recordings are about 3x better than regular cds. I'm really excited to hear the Floyd disc on SACD!

My advice to anyone buying an SACD/DVD Audio player....read the manual!! Not only for the player but also your receiver/pre-pro I know that seems obvious but some of these finer details are buried in there not easily or logically presented.

It's a real shame these formats never made it to the mainstream. Ipod music quality really sux in comparison. I feel like we are taking a step backward, not forward.