Originally posted by: SparkyJJO
Originally posted by: PurdueRy
No, the DAC's in his sound card are likely better than those in his speakers. This means the analog connection is superior.
And no, DVD audio cannot use a digital connection.
If DVD audio can't use digital connection, why do standalone DVD players like for TVs have digital audio out?
Because they can't play DVD-audio unless they have 5.1 preouts on them
Ways of connecting and playing a DVD-audio disc.
1. The 6 audio channels can be decrypted and extracted in the player and sent to the amplifier along 6 standard analogue cables.
2. The 6 audio channels can be decrypted and then re-encrypted into an IEEE-1394 (Firewire) signal and sent to the amplifier, which will then decrypt the digital signal and then extract the 6 channels of Audio. The IEEE-1394 encryption is different to the DVD-A encryption and was designed as a general standard for a high quality digital interface. The amplifier has to be equipped with a valid decryption key or it won't play the disk.
3. The third option is via the S/PDIF (or TOSLINK) digital interface. However, because of concerns over unauthorised copying, DVD-A players are required to handle this digital interface in one of the following ways:
* Turn such an interface off completely. This option is preferred by the music publishers.
* Downconvert the audio to a 2 channel 16 bit/48 kHz PCM signal. The music publishers are not enthusiastic about this because it permits the production of a CD quality copy, something they still expect to sell, besides DVD-A.
* Downconvert the audio to 2 channels, but keeping the original sample size and bit rate if the producer sets a flag on the DVD-A disc telling the player to do so.
* Encrypt the digital multichannel signal at the original high sample rate and send it, typically via three S/PDIF digital paths (L/R front, L/R surround, CF/LFE) or HDMI to the processor/preamp for decryption, such that the digital signal is never available 'in the clear' for potential copying.
4. A final option is to modify the player, capturing the high resolution digital signals before they are fed to internal D/A converters and convert it to S/PDIF, giving full range digital (but only stereo) sound. There exist already do-it-yourself solutions for some players.
Note that with the digital connection you will get a compressed DD or DTS track.
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