have a Kenwood 6.1 HTIB connected to a Panasonic DVD Player/recorder using a optical (toslink) cable, When watching dvd movies, the sound is awesome. However i have a question about dvd-audio.(my dvd player supports it) Somewhere i read that DVD-Audio cannot be played through optical cable. The player must be connected to the reciever via composite cables or something like that. Is this true. Can I have it connected both ways. If i have it connected via composite audio cables, will it still produce 5.1 sound in movies like it does through optical? Also I have bought this HTIB to enjoy my old audio cd's and mp3 cd's. However the sound isnt good at all, they sounded much better on my 5.1 computer speakers and my old hifi stereo system. The sound is flat. I think maybe its because i have it connected through optical cable. Do audio cds sound better when connected with composite cables or some other way. Thanks
I have a similar setup and have my Panasonic DVD player connected twice to my Kenwood receiver. You will need to use the 6 channel output for DVD Audio, but will want to use optical when you play anything encoded 6.1 as the 7th channel will only go through the optical connection. For 5.1 encoded movies, you can use which ever connection sounds best. I have been surprised at how different the connections can sound. As for your old audio CDs and mp3s, I use standard RCA cables and have had no problems. Not sure of you setup, but it is strange that your sound quality diminishes so drastically over your computer. I don't think the optical connection is the source of this problem. Keep experimenting with your settings and perhaps you will find one that rocks the house. Good luck.
From what I understand, the optical connection is only fast enough to handle uncompressed 44.1kHz audio. DVD-Audio is 96kHz I believe. Dolby Digital uses compression to squeeze all that audio data into the same bit rate as uncompressed (or PCM) 44.1kHz audio. So you will need to use the good old analog outs on your DVD-audio player.
Dolby Digital has a bit rate of 448 Kb/sec, uncompressed LPCM has a bit rate of (16/48) 1480 Kb/sec I have James' last ever concert on DVD and the 2 channel LPCM track is 3 times the size of the Dolby Digital track! Dolby Digital is VERY compressed which is why with most DTS discs you'll find they have anywhere from 1.5 to 2 times the size of the average DD track.
You don't need component cables, you need RCA cables for DVD-Audio (you know, the old red and white ones) If you go to your local hi-fi dealer you shoudl be able to find decent cables for around the US$25 a pair mark. You may still want to use your optical for your DTS and Dolby tracks, but use your analogue cables for your DVD-Audio and SACD discs.
Optical and Digital Coaxial both support DTS 96/24 so they can support a 24-bit rate signal, but DVD-Audio and SACD are only supported by the analogue cables.