DVD, DACS and CD Play back

[Droogie 2001]

I have recently posted before about wanting to increase the sound quality for CD play back through my Pioneer DV717 DVD player. There was a good response and the most tempting idea is to purchase an external DAC unit. Namely the Tag DAC20 unit.
Now the other kit I have is a Denon 3802 Receiver and Kef 2005 Egg speakers with a Sub.
I know the Kef’s are no way ideal speakers to use for stereo play back but I just bought these and am very pleased with them for movies etc, I just want to get the quality up higher. I have a few questions (excuse me if they are obvious or stupid!):
Do you think I will notice at least some improvement with the Kef eggs? I can get the DAC for a good price i.e. £350 so would this cost be worth it?
How would I connect the DAC up, do you use Analogue Interconnects out of the DVD player, connect to the DAC unit and then what? Do you use analogue again to the CD input on the Receiver or perhaps use an Optical link from the DAC to Receiver. Or could I not simply use Optical on the DVD and link that through the DAC to the receiver. Please help!
Second question how do stop the DVD player from using its internal DAC’s as this is what I guess I am trying to achieve. Do they still play their part and the external DAC cleans it all up? Are there any menu settings on the 717 DVD player I need to amend?
Lastly is there a way of connecting up the DAC so that I can improve DVD movie 5.1 channels?
Hopefully someone can clear some of this confusion up for me!

Thanks

Mike Raggett

Hi mraggett ,

I have just purchased the TAG DAC20. I use it with a Technics CD Player via optical connection to an AVR-3802 to four B&W DM6xx speakers. the DAC20 is amazing! as i understand it i have the DAC20 connected in pretty much the worst way (i.e. crapy cd player via optical link) but it is still leagues ahead of the cd player and internal DACs in the 3802. TAG say that using a optical cable bypasses some of the DAC20's functions!

To connect your DAC20 to your DVD you will need to set the DVD to output a PCM or BIT signal (im sorry, i dont use a DVD yet so im not sure what one) and connect it to the DAC20 via a digital coaxial cable.

Then either connect the DAC20 to the 3802 using one interconnect into the CD inputs, or for better 4 stereo surround, connect the DAC20 to the 3802 using 2 interconnects into the EXT.IN inputs.

see her for a little more info..

Connecting external DAC to AVR-3802

...you should download the DAC20 user manual from the TAG webpage.

The only thing is I'm not sure if the Denon 3802 has an analogue bypass or source direct mode....this means even if you are decoding with an external DAC, your amp may well take that analogue signal, change it back to digital so it can control tone and decide what speakers get what volume and what frequencies etc (as specified by the settings you select), before finally converting BACK to analogue and driving the speakers!!!

The best improvement you'll get with CDs is an amp that let's the signal through (relatively) untouched. Even if you use the amp to decode, if it has a source direct mode you should notice a huge improvement in clarity and soudstaging!

Hello his Dudeness,

The 3802 has a DIRECT mode and a TONE bypass. i don’t know how good these modes are, but it seems (as you suggest) they were probably included to let an externally converted analogue source pass to the amp (relatively) untouched. I can hear a difference between DIRECT mode and 5channel stereo.

Is mragget aware of this?

As I said, when I discovered the source direct mode on my amp, the difference was astronomical, even when using the amp itself as a DAC!

[Droogie 2001]

Thanks guys for the replies.
I currently use the Direct modes for CD playback as well as the Tone defeat options.
With regards to the Coaxial connect. I have a coaxial cable currently going out of my DVD player into the Receiver for 5.1 sound.
How do I continue the connections so that I still get 5.1 sound for movies?
Do I connect Coaxial from the DVD player to the DAC and then Coaxial from the DAC to Receiver Coaxial input for 5.1 sound.
Does the DAC have a Coaxial output?

I do have optical outputs on the DVD player and one on the Receiver so I guess I could just use these for Movies but I would like to able to get the 5.1 sound through the DAC to increase the quality of this as well
Is this possible?

MRaggett

no you cant improve the quality of 5.1 surround sound with the DAC20.

check this link out and the one that CJcross gives at the bottom of his post.

Adding a DAC to a DVD-V Player for improved CD Playback