Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems worth adding SACD in DSP stereo system?

I think I have now acquired most of the few DVDA classical discs worth acquiring (other than some that now seem unobtainable, even from abroad). But of course there is still SACD. I have had the following correspondence with Switch-box concerning possible addition of a modified Oppo 980 SACD player to my stereo-only Meridian system.

I own a Meridian G91 and a pair of DSP 6000 speakers (in the UK). I
> listen to DVDA and CD in Stereo. I have no plans to go multichannel
> but am interested in the idea of hearing SACD in high res digital
> stereo, without intermediate DA/AD conversion. The G91 provides the
> following inputs:
> "Analogue: three stereo inputs, unbalanced 0.5-2.5Vrms on phono.
> Digital SPDIF: two stereo coax inputs and two stereo Toslink optical inputs."
> One Toslink is used by my cable TV box. Can you provide (and would
> you recommend) an Oppo DV-980H conversion that would work in my
> system? I was thinking of your 2 channel downmix mod, but it is
> possible that I have misunderstood what that involves.
> Many thanks
> Michael Hirst

Hi Michael,
The Oppo DV-980H with my 3x SPDIF mod would work fine for you. You would configure the Oppo for 2 channel downmix then take the L/R S/ PDIF output I add and connect it to one of your coax SPDIF inputs on the G91.
The DV-980H uses a universal power supply so with the appropriate
cable it will work on 220v. It can also be set for PAL output. As a
DVD player it would be Region 1 though. SACD/DVD-A is not region coded so that would not apply.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks,
Shawn

So, the idea is viable. My question for this forum is whether you think this is the best way to go. I often (but by no means always) find DVDA in stereo to be superior to upsampled CD from the G91. How might stereo SACD via the Oppo and my G91 compare with DVDA (or upsampled CD) straight from the G91? Is there any real point in going down this route, given that I have no plans to go into multichannel? Is there any alternative worth considering? If I go ahead, any advice as to pitfalls or perils of buying from USA?

Have those who purchased from Switch box been pleased with the results?

Michael,

My DV980H modified by Shawn is en route from USA at the moment. All dealings with Shawn have been first class and his communications have been excellent. Subject to the usual uncertainties introduced by the Royal Mail, I hope to receive the unit later this week, after parting with a no doubt exorbitant sum for import duty and VAT. Once it is installed, I shall be pleased to post comparisons in Direct mode on the limited number of SACDs which I currently own. I should point out that I use a G68 (currently fed from a G98DH), 559 analogue amplifier and Martin Logan Ascent speakers rather then DSP speakers. However, it should be possible to achieve relative comparisons.

My purchase of the Oppo was prompted by reasons similar to yours.

Nigel

Use UPS when shipping from US to UK.

You can declare value for VAT to be anything you want and use the real value on insurance. UPS store said he does it all the time and was no problem.

I don't know if you have to set it to any mixdown but, rather, set the Oppo to select the stereo, not the multichannel, tracks. You do not want a mix-down of the multichannel tracks.

I am. :-)

Kal

Why's that Kal? Say you had a two channel setup and the SACD or DVDA only had a multichannel mix would using a mix down be undesirable?

Dumb question but I have 100 or so SACD's and, as far as I can tell, they all have stereo. Do many SACD's out there have only multi channel?

Ken

I also have the Oppo 980 with Switch Box mod. It has worked perfectly for me, and Shawn was very responsive and easy to do business with.

You all who are using this mod, remember to use the setup menu in the 980 and set your output levels all the way up. The default settings in the Oppo will reduce the digital output level by 10 Db, which effectively throws away some of your SACD resolution.

I listen primarily to classical, and there is a considerable SACD classical catalog out there now - mostly smaller labels, who seem to be putting out most of the best performances these days in any case. And the very best SACD multi-channel sound is definitely a step up from the best 2-channel - just that much closer to what I hear from my Oregon Symphony subscription.

Edit: I'm also using the 980 as my primary DVD player these days, over my G98 which is less compatible with various DVD +R discs. Picture quality is very good outputting straight 480i into the internal scaler in my JVC DLA-HD1 projector.

"Picture quality is very good outputting straight 480i into the internal scaler in my JVC DLA-HD1 projector. "

If you listen to 6 channel DVD-A be sure to change the video resolution to 720p/1080i for playback. With the video set to 480i/p the Oppo will downsample 96kHz material to 48kHz. This is due to a bandwidth limitation for audio when carried over HDMI which the Oppo also applies to its DACs.

For SACD I am pretty sure the Oppo will still spit out 88.2kHz when the video is set to 480i.

Shawn

According to the front panel display of my 861, this is correct - it still puts out 88.2k from SACD with 480i video res setting. I have almost no DVD-A, so thanks for the heads-up on that format.

Scott

According to Oppo, this is not so. Raising the digital levels by 10dB, they say, will have the potential of overloading the processor. I tried putting it up by 10dB and thought it was the same or worse than leaving it alone. In any case, it is an easy experiment which anyone can perform to his own satisfaction.

Kal

There are so few SACDs that lack a stereo track that the issue is moot. Also, I do not know if the Oppo will actually down-mix mch SACD to stereo since that is a really rare capability.

There is no problem downmixing DVD-As.

Kal

Kal,

"According to Oppo, this is not so. Raising the digital levels by 10dB, they say, will have the potential of overloading the processor. "

That goes along with what I saw when checking the input VU meters on my processor feeding it from the SPDIF outputs. It looked like it was hitting 0dBfs too often. As such I leave the speaker trims at 0 on the 980s.

Shawn