DVD player used as a CD player good/bad

I have a few suggestions......

1) Try the analog audio outs from the DVD player.

2) Like Royy suggested try the Coax instead of the optical.

However, I must inform you that there is a multitude of things that could be at work individually or simultaneously. Aside from the obvious, like speaker characteristics, room acoustics, Interconnect characteristics, Speaker placement, Speaker cable characteristics, just to name a few, could all be the culprit.

Very nice external DACs can be had, here at A'gon, for very little. I can tell you from first hand experience that an external DAC can really work magic. But you need to have a handle on your systems specific strentghs/weaknesses or that magic may slip right through your hands. i.e. A great DAC might not sound so great if you have a crappy sounding IC mucking things up.

A little tweaking and experimnenting can go a long way.

Just curious what Toshiba unit are you using? I have a SD6200 unit which I use for both 2 channel and HT (5.1 surround) When listening to music I switch over to the 2 channel connected to my reciever through the analog audio outs.
Good luck

The Toshiba DVD you are using needs to be stated. Their models differ greatly. I have a cheaper toshiba DVD and used the digital coax output to my receiver. All of my assets are wrapped up in my two channel system so one day just for kicks I decided to compare the sound of the DVD and the CD player using the same source material. I compared the sound to my more expensive CD player (Resolution Audio Opus 21). It was sad how poorly the Toshiba DVD player sounded. Much, much worse than I had anticipated. IMHO if you have a cheaper Toshiba, don't expect that cables or receivers will rescue the sound.

I agree with the comments about using analog connections to your receiver instead of digital (and using the receiver's dacs). There is night and day difference when I connect my toshiba sd5700 thru analog to my NAD T752 receiver...simply the toshiba sounds more natural and better dynamic range.

I agree with Thsalmon, I also have a Denon receiver with a Toshiba DVD player but I have both the digital and the analog connections hooked up. In two cahnnel "direct" mode the analog connections sound much better. I doubt that you would hear much difference between the optical and coaxial digital connections.