The 1050 has one "direct" mode: that is the 5.1 inputs. The A-D-A conversion is avoided, you hear the CD player's DAC. If your CD player's DAC is really great, then as Gonk said, you'll lose out on hearing it if you let the receiver do it's A-D-A conversion; you want to use the 5.1 input to avoid that. The 1050's DAC is bypassed. You have one D-A conversion done in the CD player.

If your CD player's DAC is not as great, then you want the 1050's DAC to be used. The best way is to bypass the CD player's DAC; use the CD player's digital out, take that into the 1050 and let the 1050's DAC do the conversion. You still have one D-A conversion, done in the 1050.

The worst of both worlds is to use the CD player's analog out into one of the 1050's analog inputs, then you have two D-A conversions and one A-D conversion, for D-A-D-A. Neither unit's DAC is bypassed.

If your input source is analog, such as what comes out of your TV, or your tape player, then this may not be so bad. The 1050's DACs and ADCs are pretty good. Even with a CD player, it's not going to degrade thigns too terribly much. (One can argue that you won't even notice it with a casette because the signal is already degraded by the tape.) But if you want the very best output you can get, why put up with more A-D-A than you have to? Use only one DAC if you can.

The 950, BTW, has the ability to do a bypass on any input; the 1050 can do it only on the 5.1 input.

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net