It has come to fruition. Did anyone else see the pix of the Pioneer equiped1394 DVD-A&V as well as 1394 equiped reciever? Nice I can't wait.

the only 1 thing i dont like about SACD and DVD-A is the price of each disc!!! its outragous.

I have a simple question:

Will a firewire digital output from SACD and DVD-A only be needed if you want those discs to be decoded by a different DAC? In other words, if the DVD-A/SACD player has the same quality DAC as an outboard one, will the sound quality be pretty much the same?

thanks

You won't be able to perform any processing such as time alignment or bass management in the processor if you're using external DACs from the SACD / DVD-A player. Also, the signal is travelling farther in analog mode, through more cables, which could affect its quality.

A good point to those that worry the Outlaw is obsolete without firewire.

This is just another technical hoop DVD-A expects their users to jump through, narrowing their buying public even further. Not enough to have a DVD-A player with mutlichannel speakers properly set up with a 5.1 passthrough. Now you need equipment with a firewire port and software to handle the input?

Even DTS discs don't throw those kind of requirements at you, and look how few people buy those?

With SACD needing nothing other than the right cd or dvd player, it has a much better chance of reaching the broader public.

The outlaw will already work DVD-A through analogue inputs. The only obsolescence I'd worry about is with the DVD-A format itself.

Here is a little update on the DVD-A with Firewire output:

http://www.highfidelityreview.com/news/news.asp?newsnumber=424422

Basically, we will not see any solution for DVD-A digital output anytime soon. Long enough for Outlaw to come up with either an upgrade or trade-up option for the 950. I am still planning on buying one...

-Kurt

I beg to differ. If you saw any reports from the CES show(obviously you didnt) You would have saw the 2 new products from denon and pioneer slated for release later this year. In fact the denon 9000 is coming in March 2 months away. It has a digital link output to the new 5803 reciever. Please I wish everybody would stop with the never gonna get here, or have to wait a while or not coming soon. Its here now, live with it and quit trying to make excuses. We are all buying the 950 because $899 is alot cheaper to replace than $4000. There is nothing wrong with that. The 950 is an exceptional value and thats that.

Yes, but isn't the Denon link a proprietary one? I didn't think it could connect to anything other than a Denon receiver, unless I misread it.

Yes, Matthew, you are right-- you will need Denon's new 5803 ($4200?) and their new $3500 DVD machine if you want a DVD-A digital out connection- and it is propriatary. (I must have missed the Pioneer solution so maybe somebody can point me to it?) I'm afraid a "generic" connection will be later rather than sooner (IMHO)! Thanks

Jeffery,

I work for an open standards digital consortium. The Denon and Pioneer connections are proprietary solutions. The Denon solution is different from the DVD-A solution and will probably require at least a software change in both the receiver and DVD player to work with any DVD-A solution.

What I am saying is that people shouldn't worry about "future" solutions that have no end in sight. A digital solution for DVD-A is at least 2-3 years away...

Adding a currently useless Firewire connector will do nothing to enhance the 950. On the contrary, it would just slow the release down. Worry about Firewire when there is actually "stuff" that supports it. The 950 isn't being marketed as "upgradeable" and "futureproof". For that, currently, expect to pay $3000-4000 from other companies.

The 950 is the BEST bargain out there for what it has! Buy it! Don't worry, be happy!

-Kurt

P.S. I don't buy proprietary solutions, if I can help it. So Sony and Phillips can take SACD and shove it. I will not buy a player for it or the discs. IMHO, SACD is a poor solution for digital high fidelity anyway.