OK, this is late in the game for this thread and slightly off topic, but the insights provided here may be helpful to me. I have an Arcam AVR400 receiver and have been trying to set up a modest music and HT system around it and Monitor Audio Apex A40 fronts and Apex A10 rear speakers and B&W PV1D sub. I currently have and old Yamaha CD player but was hoping to be able to use my Blu-Ray player as a transport with the Arcam internal DACs at first and eventually upgrading to an external DAC for two channel.
Multichannel DTS and Dolby Blu-Rays on a Panasonic BDP and CDs played on the Yamaha sounded great through the Arcam, but the Panasonic as a transport for Redbook two channel using either HDMI or Toslink optical cables was not good. Clear but lifeless sound, no swing whatsoever. USB Redbook FLAC files on flash drive plugged directly into the Arcam sounded similarly sterile. I was thinking that the problem was with the Arcam DACs for two channel.
Then my Panasonic BDP quit working reliably, so I replaced it with a new Samsung BD-H6500 which was really well reviewed in Sound and Vision. Using the Samsung as a transport for CDs the sound is completely different, much better, and closer to the Arcam fed by my vinyl analog set up. Good pace and timing, tone, spatial resolution, etc. The Samsung has the ability to feed the Arcam AVR raw bit stream data, and this setting makes a big difference using the Toslink optical cable.
Question for this group, WHY DOES RAW BITSTREAM OF CD DATA FROM SAMSUNG SOUND BETTER ON THE ARCAM THAN THE SAME FILES RIPPED ON FLASH DRIVES PLUGGED DIRECTLY INTO THE ARCAM? AND WHY IS THE SAMSUNG MASS-PRODUCED BLU-RAY SO MUCH BETTER SOUNDING THAN THE SIMILARLY PRICED PANASONIC FOR REDBOOK WHEN THEY ARE VERY SIMILAR SOUNDING FOR DTS OR DOLBY MULTICHANNEL AUDIO?
Thanks in advance for any insights.
kn
Multichannel DTS and Dolby Blu-Rays on a Panasonic BDP and CDs played on the Yamaha sounded great through the Arcam, but the Panasonic as a transport for Redbook two channel using either HDMI or Toslink optical cables was not good. Clear but lifeless sound, no swing whatsoever. USB Redbook FLAC files on flash drive plugged directly into the Arcam sounded similarly sterile. I was thinking that the problem was with the Arcam DACs for two channel.
Then my Panasonic BDP quit working reliably, so I replaced it with a new Samsung BD-H6500 which was really well reviewed in Sound and Vision. Using the Samsung as a transport for CDs the sound is completely different, much better, and closer to the Arcam fed by my vinyl analog set up. Good pace and timing, tone, spatial resolution, etc. The Samsung has the ability to feed the Arcam AVR raw bit stream data, and this setting makes a big difference using the Toslink optical cable.
Question for this group, WHY DOES RAW BITSTREAM OF CD DATA FROM SAMSUNG SOUND BETTER ON THE ARCAM THAN THE SAME FILES RIPPED ON FLASH DRIVES PLUGGED DIRECTLY INTO THE ARCAM? AND WHY IS THE SAMSUNG MASS-PRODUCED BLU-RAY SO MUCH BETTER SOUNDING THAN THE SIMILARLY PRICED PANASONIC FOR REDBOOK WHEN THEY ARE VERY SIMILAR SOUNDING FOR DTS OR DOLBY MULTICHANNEL AUDIO?
Thanks in advance for any insights.
kn