HDMI to RCA Converter?

[mykyll2727]

 The one person I know who's heard both felt the 5400ES sounded slightly better thru the analog RCAs (unbalanced). And that was on RBCDs as no A/B'ing was done on SACD. But there could be so many factors contributing to his opinion. It seems to me from all reports that they both are excellent sounding units._mykl

[jeromelang]

On 2011-06-19 05:43, mykyll2727 wrote:
3 things have me curious though and I'm sure you can set me straight. First I thought that the 2ch/mch switch on the rear of the 5400 was for HDMI only as both units have a button on the front for switching SACD modes.

the switch at the rear panel sets the priority whether the player reads the m-ch area or the 2-ch area first on a m-ch/2-ch disc when it is inserted.

so, if the switch is set to 2CH setting, the player will always default to reading the 2-ch area of the m-ch/2-ch sacd disc as a priority. this is convenient when the user is predominently a 2-ch sacd listener, and wants only to listen to the 2-ch area even though the sacd disc is fully loaded with 2-ch/m-ch music information

the 2CH/MCH button on the front panel allows the user to toggle between playing back the 2-ch or the m-ch area. even though the back panel switch is set to 2CH, the user can still press the 2CH/MCH button on the front panel to get the player to read and playback the m-ch area on the sacd disc.

On previous players like the xa9000es, this function used to be found under the menu settings. but for the reasons I mentioned in my earlier post, engaging this function using software implementation has severe audio degradation effect on the sound quality, specifically when the default setting is MCH. (xa9000es was shipped from factory with MCH as default)

the sony engineers took my suggestion to set the new generation player to read 2-ch area by default, and taking it 1 step further, they implemented it as a physical switch, which i believe further isolate the power supply from being degraded from whatever is causing this problem in the first place.


  

[jeromelang]

On 2011-06-19 05:43, mykyll2727 wrote:
Second I thought the standard and optional filter settings in the XA9kES only worked on digital playback. (It says so in the manual but I've run into erroneous info in owner's manuals before particularly Sony's.) Do they work on analog as well?

the optional filters are supposedly applicable to cd playback only. they are not supposed to have any effect on sacd playback.

yet, if the user changes the cd optional filters from standard (sharp brickwall slope) to optional (slow roll-off), the user will still hear a difference when playing back sacd!

the problem again is that any functionality that uses dsp implementation on this player will have some strain on the power supply, leading to impaled sonic performances even while playing back sacd discs - noticeble as truncation of the lowest bass notes.

[jeromelang]

On 2011-06-19 05:43, mykyll2727 wrote:
Third I use my 9kES combo thru iLink where I've found it to sound it's best on both CD and SACD. Do you feel that with these tweaks to the XA9kES it sounds better thru analog than iLink with HATS? BTW my analog connections were thru the 2ch outs (as I realise these use the "Tri-DAC" configuration as Sony calls it) to the MCH ins on the DA9kES._Mykl

when i first discovered the sonic improvements that can be had after removing the iLink power supply cable, i was using the scd-xa9000es and ta-da9000es combination.

in my experience, the xa9000es (with my proposed changes) using its dedicated 2-ch analog outputs into the ta-da9000es' multi-channel analog inputs sounded better (more musical and dynamically robust) than using the iLink connection between them. of course analog cable choice also plays a part.

a few things you have to watch out for:

1.  iLink cable are highly directional.
when i was using the sony supplied iLink cable, they sound correct, when the iLink cable was connected in the reversed direction to the printed words on its cable jacket. this is the correct signal flow direction. i check several samples and they all sound correct this way. maybe the cable you get may give you different results....
never hurts to try both ways to find out.
the correct signal flow direction is when the projected soundstage is taller, wider, but more recessed into the behind of the speaker baffles.

2.   when you are using the ta-da9000es' m-ch analog inputs, you can further cut down on board digital noise by first selecting one of its analog inputs, then engaging the "analog direct" button, before selecting the m-ch analog inputs. this will give you quieter results. when you select the m-ch analog inputs straight from any of the digital inputs (like DVD), the background is less quiet. i suggest selecting the PHONO input first, then engage the "analog direct" function, before selecting m-ch analog input.

3.  when you are doing sonic comparisons, always connect only 1 type of cable at a time. there is potential noise being radiated from digital cables that might disadvantage analog audio cables.

  

[mykyll2727]

Jeromelang_Thanks for the explanations!! I truly appreciate it.

 I was shocked to read that iLink cables are directional. I'm surprised that I never gave any thought to it. Now I'll have to test the three cables I have and see what the results are. Thanks, again._mykl

[Welwynnick]

Hi All,

Lots to digest there, but don't forget that the DA9000 / 7100 don't have analogue pass-through like other receivers.  They digitise all analogue inputs, which are then fed to DSP. 

Nick