HD Audio through 2 channel stereo amp
Posted by: Bob59 on 27 November 2008
Hi
I have a NAC72/NAP180 and have just bought a Sony blue ray player BDP-S550 it puts out HD sound from the HDMI output. I did not want surround sound with the 5 or 7 speakers dotted around the room, I just want normal 2 channel stereo. Is there any way I can use the HDMI output to connect to my NAC72 in some way, to avail myself of the benifits of the HD sound. The 2 RCA stereo outputs will I understand put out stereo sound but not the HD.
Regards Bob
I have a NAC72/NAP180 and have just bought a Sony blue ray player BDP-S550 it puts out HD sound from the HDMI output. I did not want surround sound with the 5 or 7 speakers dotted around the room, I just want normal 2 channel stereo. Is there any way I can use the HDMI output to connect to my NAC72 in some way, to avail myself of the benifits of the HD sound. The 2 RCA stereo outputs will I understand put out stereo sound but not the HD.
Regards Bob
Posted on: 27 November 2008 by Frank Abela
No Bob, you can't. The bluray player must downmix the multichannel stream and produce an analogue stereo output. The HDMI channels may be high resolution, but even they would have to be downmixed to analogue stereo to do what you want. The question now becomes whether the blu-ray player can downmix the high res audio stream. For that you need the manual.
Posted on: 27 November 2008 by Bob59
Hi Frank
Thanks for the reply. I have the manual but what do I need to look for in the manual to know wether or not it will downmix the high res audio?
I am a complete novice at this and know very little about home cinema equipment.
Hope you can advise, regards Bob
Thanks for the reply. I have the manual but what do I need to look for in the manual to know wether or not it will downmix the high res audio?
I am a complete novice at this and know very little about home cinema equipment.
Hope you can advise, regards Bob
Posted on: 27 November 2008 by Frank Abela
Hmmm, it's possible there may be a setting in the machine so that it will do this, but I must admit to not being sure that I've ever seen one. I guess if you select the high res audio soundtrack and you get sound from the stereo outputs then the downmix is from the high res soundtrack. Of course, it could simply be the downmix from the reduced audio soundtrack, but there's no way of really knowing. On the other hand, if you select the high res soundtrack and no sound comes out, and you cannot find an appropriate setting in the menu system, then that's the end of it.
On some discs, there is also a 2-channel stereo track. You should select this whenever possible in your application.
On some discs, there is also a 2-channel stereo track. You should select this whenever possible in your application.
Posted on: 27 November 2008 by winkyincanada
Posted on: 28 November 2008 by Bob59
Thanks all for replies. I have been through the manual and in the audio section under Dolby Digital and DTS there are selections for Downmix PCM, and under HDMI there is a selection to Downmix to 2 channel Linear PCM signals before outputting from HDMI out jack. So it looks like it can downmix the signal.
Still find all this a bit confussing but will no doubt start to uderstand it a bit better once I have tried a few things. I HOPE!
For the time being I will use the analogue L/R outputs as it sounds OK and one day when I have a little more experience of HD will try to see if the equipment I have is capable of more.
Winkyincanada thanks for the link to High Def Digest which proved to me that there is to much going on for me to understand with my limited experience of Audio technology. I will just have to live with what I have so far and enjoy the sound and vision.
Regards Bob
Still find all this a bit confussing but will no doubt start to uderstand it a bit better once I have tried a few things. I HOPE!
For the time being I will use the analogue L/R outputs as it sounds OK and one day when I have a little more experience of HD will try to see if the equipment I have is capable of more.
Winkyincanada thanks for the link to High Def Digest which proved to me that there is to much going on for me to understand with my limited experience of Audio technology. I will just have to live with what I have so far and enjoy the sound and vision.
Regards Bob
Posted on: 29 November 2008 by winkyincanada
I have recently hooked up my (new) Blu-ray to my Supernait. The sound goes via HDMI from the Blu-ray to the TV and then via Toslink (SPDIF) out to the digital input of the SN. I had to change some settings from 5.1 to stereo (I think I did this in the TV audio options, but can't quite recall) to get it to work properly, but now it works for both the BR and my Xbox360 audio into the SN. There seldom (never?) seems to be a stereo audio option in the disc audio track menus but it doesn't seem to matter. There is either a hidden stereo track that the TV picks up, or the TV successfully down-mixes 5.1 to stereo. Either way....
The outcome is pretty good. There is no sense that I am missing either the ".1" (subwoofer feed) or the centre channel audio. The sound is well balanced and dialogue is the right volume.
(I had problems with DVD years ago where the stereo feed seemed to be only the right and left of the 5.1 - dialogue was often virtually inaudible.)
The outcome is pretty good. There is no sense that I am missing either the ".1" (subwoofer feed) or the centre channel audio. The sound is well balanced and dialogue is the right volume.
(I had problems with DVD years ago where the stereo feed seemed to be only the right and left of the 5.1 - dialogue was often virtually inaudible.)