Mark Lanctot Wrote: > I was using my DVD player to play CDs before. It's just a Toshiba > SD-1800. But it's connected to my receiver by coaxial digital, so it's > only acting as a transport. > > I find both an SB2 and an SB3 over optical digital sound much better > when listening to the same CDs ripped in FLAC using EAC. I mean the > treble isn't as harsh and there's definitely more expansiveness using > Dolby Pro-Logic IIx Music as a decoder. > > But how can this be? Bits are bits, right? > > I know EAC would have a slight advantage, but most of the tracks ripped > with no errors. > > Could it be that: > > 1. The DVD player introduced more errors than just the minor ones EAC > corrected? > > 2. The DVD player has a worse S/PDIF interface than the SB does? > > 3. The receiver's optical S/PDIF decoder is better than its coaxial > one? > > 4. The SB's jitter is lower? This is almost surely true, but does > jitter really make that much of a difference? When I hear arguments > about more jitter/less jitter I always thought these were the golden > ears who were debating the audio equivalent of how many angels they > could fit on the head of a pin. ;-) > > 5. It's not a proper double-blind test, my mind is playing tricks with > my ears. > > Or something else? > > BTW I don't buy the "optical cable is better than coaxial cable" > argument or that "one digital cable sounds better than another", so > please don't suggest those arguments or I'll have a hard time believing > you. :-) In fact the coaxial cable retailed for 3X what the optical > did (although I didn't pay retail for it), and the coaxial cable is a > better name brand, so this can largely be discounted. > > At any rate, the SB2 and SB3 sound VERY good.
Probably a combination of 2 and 4. It could be number 5. You might not believe that digital cables sound different, but they do. In your case though, it is just a matter of swapping the two inputs and test. If the DVD sound better now, it is one of two things. a) The optical input is configured different from the co-axial or b) the cables do sound different. Tom -- tomsi42 SqueezeBox2, Rotel RC-1070/RB-1070, dynaBel Exact. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ tomsi42's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2477 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=19240 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
