Is Blu-ray Pure Audio restricted to 16 bit 48KHz on digital output?

Posted by: Al Gonzo on 27 July 2014

Hi,

I have noticed in another post a comment to the effect that when using the digital output of a Blu-ray player, the output of 96KHz/24 bit discs is downsampled to 48KHz/16 bit.

 

Is this correct and if it is why is it not made clear in all the advertising?

 

I had wanted to run a 2 channel PCM 96Khz/24 bit signal to my ND5 XS network streaming player but it appears to be only getting a 48KHz signal of unknown bits.  If this is correct, it seems to defeat the whole purpose of buying these discs for high quality 2 channel audio.  Given the blu-ray player I have, a 2014 Samsung model BD-H6500, has no audio outputs and only an HDMI port that I cannot use, I seem to have no way of experiencing the supposed improved audio quality.  The Samsung User Manual that I downloaded before purchasing the player to check out the digital output spec implied it would deliver a 96KHz/24 bit signal (but there is no mention of Pure Audio anywhere).

Posted on: 27 July 2014 by Aleg

Digital output is always limited to 48/16 for any bluray player of any brand.

it is probably mentioned in the manual. These devices are usually meant for AV-setups

 

there are ways to circumvent this, but this used to be not so easy. Don't know how it is today.

requires an hdmi splitter which also splits of digital audio from the hdmi signal.

 

octavia was good at doing this but required an updated EDID chip.

 

Posted on: 27 July 2014 by Harry

You can rip the BD to obtain the 24/96 files, put them on a USB stick and insert into the front of your ND5. There is a large cohort who say this is the best playback method in any case, regardless of resolution.

Posted on: 27 July 2014 by sjbabbey

Just checked the manual for my CA azur 651BD which says that the bandwidth available over HDMI is proportional to the total bandwidth used by the video. So long as I choose 720p or higher HDMI  output resolution when playing HR content it will support 2 channels of audio up to 192kHz sample rate or up to 8 channels up to 48kHz.

Posted on: 27 July 2014 by DavidDever

There exist HDMI to Toslink or RCA coax audio extractors, discussed on this forum and elsewhere, that can extract a PCM digital audio stream from an HDMI connection.  I'm using one from Kanex Pro (HAECOAX).

Posted on: 27 July 2014 by Al Gonzo

Thank you for your responses confirming the restriction to 48KHz 16 bit.  This is not clear in the Samsung manual, in fact completely the opposite as the Samsung includes a setting option to down sample the digital output from 96KHz to 48Khz if your amplifier cannot handle 96KHz.

 

Iwill investigate some of the other ideas.

 

Cheers