Blu-Ray as source
Apr 14, 2012 7:57:41 GMT
Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2012 7:57:41 GMT
I have read many articles over the past 3 or 4 years in 'Hi Fi World' about the purely sonic qualities of Bluray players. They noted during measurement and testing that most players had
quite low levels of jitter compared to CD players up to the £1000 mark, but that Samsung players in particular had jitter levels so low they challenged their test equipment's ability to resolve it.
They were especially impressed with a player from a couple of years ago, the Samsung BDP-1600. I picked one up very cheaply a few weeks ago.
Even from its analogue out using it's own 24/192 dac into my main system, the sound is good, but using it purely as a transport (as they suggested) via a decent quality optical cable into my modded X-24K, then into my V2, it's a noticeable upgrade from my admittedly budget Cambridge Audio 540C.
The almost complete lack of jitter means the 1600 is giving my X-24 a lovely clean digital stream to start with. Maybe a bit like starting off with plenty of good, clean power from a decent PSU to power an amp or dac etc.
Bass is slightly more tuneful, mids are much clearer all round and it seems as though a slight grain has been removed from the treble that I was getting from the Cambridge. This is very noticeable on loud crescendos; they are much clearer and sweeter.
For a 3-year-old Bluray player which cost me less than £40 (showing as £139 new on Amazon) to outperform a dedicated CD player which cost me £250 two years ago has really surprised me.
Downside is a slight loss of functionality. The display does not show track number and it won't let you access a track number directly, i.e. go straight to track 7. To do that you have to press play and then hit next till you get to track 7. I tend not to put on cd's and only listen to one or two tracks; I normally listen to whole albums so this doesn't bother me in the slightest.
On the plus side is the ability to play almost anything (except WMA's) either on disk or, a bit like a media player, via the two USB ports one at the front, one at the back. I'm thinking of ripping a lot of my favourite albums to a spare 110GB drive I have and leaving it permanently connected at the rear.
As the source for my headphone rig I'm very pleased with it. If you get the chance to listen to the digital out of a Samsung Blu-ray player, you may, like me, be quite surprised.
Jeff
quite low levels of jitter compared to CD players up to the £1000 mark, but that Samsung players in particular had jitter levels so low they challenged their test equipment's ability to resolve it.
They were especially impressed with a player from a couple of years ago, the Samsung BDP-1600. I picked one up very cheaply a few weeks ago.
Even from its analogue out using it's own 24/192 dac into my main system, the sound is good, but using it purely as a transport (as they suggested) via a decent quality optical cable into my modded X-24K, then into my V2, it's a noticeable upgrade from my admittedly budget Cambridge Audio 540C.
The almost complete lack of jitter means the 1600 is giving my X-24 a lovely clean digital stream to start with. Maybe a bit like starting off with plenty of good, clean power from a decent PSU to power an amp or dac etc.
Bass is slightly more tuneful, mids are much clearer all round and it seems as though a slight grain has been removed from the treble that I was getting from the Cambridge. This is very noticeable on loud crescendos; they are much clearer and sweeter.
For a 3-year-old Bluray player which cost me less than £40 (showing as £139 new on Amazon) to outperform a dedicated CD player which cost me £250 two years ago has really surprised me.
Downside is a slight loss of functionality. The display does not show track number and it won't let you access a track number directly, i.e. go straight to track 7. To do that you have to press play and then hit next till you get to track 7. I tend not to put on cd's and only listen to one or two tracks; I normally listen to whole albums so this doesn't bother me in the slightest.
On the plus side is the ability to play almost anything (except WMA's) either on disk or, a bit like a media player, via the two USB ports one at the front, one at the back. I'm thinking of ripping a lot of my favourite albums to a spare 110GB drive I have and leaving it permanently connected at the rear.
As the source for my headphone rig I'm very pleased with it. If you get the chance to listen to the digital out of a Samsung Blu-ray player, you may, like me, be quite surprised.
Jeff