Ears, the parasound manual, which is at my house so I cant reference it at the moment, explains that only one input bypasses the DSP and that was Multichannel. All other inputs, balanced or SE, pass through the DSP. Tone(trim) adjustsments are handled by the DSP. Thus eliminating analog only. I can offer this however, the Motorola 56367 is an awesome chip, and offers the cleanest DSP I have heard to date.
Also this can be tricky, some SACD/DVD-A players have multiple outputs. When outputing a multichannel format they obviously use the multichannel outs, but, the same format may use the 2 channel outs for all 2 channel material. e.g. I have 8 SE cables from SACD to Processor, 6 for 5.1, and 2 for 2 channel. My unit will automatically send 2 channel SACD material down the 2 channel outs, not the 5.1 outs.
Since my primary concern was flexability with analog bypass, I wanted a Processor which allows me to "analog bypass" all the 2 channel inputs. Thus effectively becoming an analog 2 channel preamp, Bryston goes so far as to provide each section, analog and digital, their own dedicated toroidal power supplies. I suspect thats where the very black backgrounds and impressive dynamics arise.
Bryston literature is a little ambigious about "analog bypass" with the multichannel input. They do call it a "bypass" but, I suspect it doesnt "bypass" the DSP because you have sub control in multichannel. It gets a little fuzzy from here....you can attenuate the sub but not change its Xover, I bet that attenuation is handled via the DSP. This may be an advantage to Parasound(my old Rotel RSP-976 was the same as the Para in this respect). It's fine by me since I listen to most SACDs 2 channel layer regardless.
Anywho, we surely are getting into the details arent we? which I thoroughly enjoy =).
Also this can be tricky, some SACD/DVD-A players have multiple outputs. When outputing a multichannel format they obviously use the multichannel outs, but, the same format may use the 2 channel outs for all 2 channel material. e.g. I have 8 SE cables from SACD to Processor, 6 for 5.1, and 2 for 2 channel. My unit will automatically send 2 channel SACD material down the 2 channel outs, not the 5.1 outs.
Since my primary concern was flexability with analog bypass, I wanted a Processor which allows me to "analog bypass" all the 2 channel inputs. Thus effectively becoming an analog 2 channel preamp, Bryston goes so far as to provide each section, analog and digital, their own dedicated toroidal power supplies. I suspect thats where the very black backgrounds and impressive dynamics arise.
Bryston literature is a little ambigious about "analog bypass" with the multichannel input. They do call it a "bypass" but, I suspect it doesnt "bypass" the DSP because you have sub control in multichannel. It gets a little fuzzy from here....you can attenuate the sub but not change its Xover, I bet that attenuation is handled via the DSP. This may be an advantage to Parasound(my old Rotel RSP-976 was the same as the Para in this respect). It's fine by me since I listen to most SACDs 2 channel layer regardless.
Anywho, we surely are getting into the details arent we? which I thoroughly enjoy =).