Thread: Sony BDP-S370 and Pioneer SC-LX83

Posts: 7

Post by nige-b October 8, 2011 (1 of 7)
Hi,

I am just starting off with SA-CD and would like some advice please.

My Sony BDP-S370 can output SA-CD as either DSD or PCM

My Pioneer SC-LX83 can accept DSD but I think in this case it has to do a DSD->PCM conversion even in pure direct mode.

When the BDP-S370 is set to PCM the LX-83 shows the input signal as 176.4KHz.

When the BDP-S370 is set to DSD the LX-83 shows either DSD->PCM 88.2kHz in direct or pure direct mode or DSD->PCM 44.1kHz in other sound modes.

Based on the above what would you recommend that I set the BDP-S370 SA-CD output to, either DSD or PCM?

Many thanks,

Nigel.

Post by Kal Rubinson October 8, 2011 (2 of 7)
nige-b said:

Hi,

I am just starting off with SA-CD and would like some advice please.

My Sony BDP-S370 can output SA-CD as either DSD or PCM

My Pioneer SC-LX83 can accept DSD but I think in this case it has to do a DSD->PCM conversion even in pure direct mode.

When the BDP-S370 is set to PCM the LX-83 shows the input signal as 176.4KHz.

When the BDP-S370 is set to DSD the LX-83 shows either DSD->PCM 88.2kHz in direct or pure direct mode or DSD->PCM 44.1kHz in other sound modes.

Based on the above what would you recommend that I set the BDP-S370 SA-CD output to, either DSD or PCM?

Many thanks,

Nigel.

I suspect that it doesn't matter as the LX-83 processing will be the limiting factor in any case.

Kal

Post by Claude October 9, 2011 (3 of 7)
The quality of the Sony internal DSD-PCM conversion can also be a limiting factor.

Post by Kal Rubinson October 9, 2011 (4 of 7)
Claude said:

The quality of the Sony internal DSD-PCM conversion can also be a limiting factor.

While this may or may not be an issue, the OP was clearly focusing on the different bit-rates and I was trying to disabuse him of that concern.

Kal

Post by nige-b October 10, 2011 (5 of 7)
Thanks both for the advice.

Looking at the specs for the Pioneer SC-LX83 they are as follows

192 kHz/32-Bit DAC (117 dB S/N)
192 kHz/24-Bit ADC (112 dB S/N)
Sampling Rate Converter – 192 kHz/24-Bit All Sources

Does that have any bearing on a recommendation.

Nigel.

Post by Kal Rubinson October 10, 2011 (6 of 7)
nige-b said:

Thanks both for the advice.

Looking at the specs for the Pioneer SC-LX83 they are as follows

192 kHz/32-Bit DAC (117 dB S/N)
192 kHz/24-Bit ADC (112 dB S/N)
Sampling Rate Converter – 192 kHz/24-Bit All Sources

Does that have any bearing on a recommendation.

Nigel.

Strange since the throughput you are getting is much more limited:
"When the BDP-S370 is set to PCM the LX-83 shows the input signal as 176.4KHz."
This tells us the LX-83 can accept that rate.

"When the BDP-S370 is set to DSD the LX-83 shows either DSD->PCM 88.2kHz in direct or pure direct mode or DSD->PCM 44.1kHz in other sound modes."
This shows us that the LX-83 is not set up to or not capable of processing full bandwidth DSD. It makes one wonder what it is really doing with 176.4kHz PCM. In other words, without more internal processing info from Pioneer, one cannot decide. I would try both and see whether there is, in practice, any difference.

Kal

Post by nige-b October 12, 2011 (7 of 7)
Kal Rubinson said:

Strange since the throughput you are getting is much more limited:
"When the BDP-S370 is set to PCM the LX-83 shows the input signal as 176.4KHz."
This tells us the LX-83 can accept that rate.

"When the BDP-S370 is set to DSD the LX-83 shows either DSD->PCM 88.2kHz in direct or pure direct mode or DSD->PCM 44.1kHz in other sound modes."
This shows us that the LX-83 is not set up to or not capable of processing full bandwidth DSD. It makes one wonder what it is really doing with 176.4kHz PCM. In other words, without more internal processing info from Pioneer, one cannot decide. I would try both and see whether there is, in practice, any difference.

Kal

Okay thanks Kal I will try that.

Nigel.

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