Harman Kardon DVD31 vs. Marantz DV4500

[N. Abstentia]

Have you ever heard the saying "he knows just enough to be dangerous"?

It applies here.

[cjtalbot]

First off I'm just going to state that it is MY belief that all digital transports are NOT created equal, and hence you will get significant variences from digital output to digital output (be that Optical or Coaxial) and from device to device.

To state otherwise assumes that all manufactures use the same components for:

digital output circuitry
laser output strength and integrity (for Toslink)
Phase lock circuitry
digital signal conditioning
digital jitter reduction (BIG ONE)
digitial signal boosting
AC filter applications
Laser read mechs (this being the element most at parity with others)
Signal isolation circuitry

ALL of these aspects must be addressed well before the digital path signal is converted to analog (be that at the device or receiver side). Hence you have a TON of items that can vary from device to device that all effect how a digital path is both read and output..again...well before it hits any kind of DAC.

Yes, digital is always going to be "O"s and "1"s with any device, but how those data streams are first read, processed, conditioned and than output can be night and day.

Thoughts?

[negrobello]

HK over Marantz?

[hershon]

HK over Marantz?

Yeah if HK Sounds better Also depends on your budget You can get HK new for $250 What can you get Marantz for? I bought and returned a Marantz 5400 CD player because it sucked. I can't talk about other Marantz models which i haven't heard.

[paul_pci]

HK over Marantz?

The gist of the ongoing debate for your concern is this: if you plan to hook up your DVD player solely through a digital connection and you are not anal about video quality and you are budget conscious, then go with the cheaper (probably HK) player. If, on the other hand, you are anal about video quality and have a flexible budget, then you want to get an idea of which player will deliver the best PQ and go with that.

[shokhead]

The gist of the ongoing debate for your concern is this: if you plan to hook up your DVD player solely through a digital connection and you are not anal about video quality and you are budget conscious, then go with the cheaper (probably HK) player. If, on the other hand, you are anal about video quality and have a flexible budget, then you want to get an idea of which player will deliver the best PQ and go with that.

I love it when you talk like that.

[jimmyb]

I use my system mostly for watching movies and whenever possible buy dvd's that are DTS. Which would give higher quality, analog or digital for DTS dvd's? I normally run digital and feel it gives excellant sound but this thread has raised some questions on a subject that I was not even aware of. Also, does anyone have an opinion on dvd formats, DTS, THX, etc..

[anamorphic96]

I use my system mostly for watching movies and whenever possible buy dvd's that are DTS. Which would give higher quality, analog or digital for DTS dvd's? I normally run digital and feel it gives excellant sound but this thread has raised some questions on a subject that I was not even aware of. Also, does anyone have an opinion on dvd formats, DTS, THX, etc..

Well to keep it simple you have to use a digital connection for Dolby Digital or DTS. There is no way around this.

The 6ch analog outputs are for SACD or DVD-A.

The other basic left and right analog outputs are for stereo use or hooking the unit up to a basic TV.

If you use the digital out connection all processing happens in the receiver. You have bypassed everything in the DVD player.