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My TiVo cable box is currently connected to my DAC using an optical cable and my Sony Blu-ray player is connected to my DAC using a coaxial cable. The DAC is connected to my Ayre AX-7e integrated amplifier using balanced cables (XLR). The source button on the DAC controls the input selection.
My local retailer recommends I connect my TV "direct" to the DAC using an optical cable and eliminate the cable box and Sony player cable connections to the DAC. The cable box HDMI cable going to the TV and the Sony player HDMI cable will carry both video and audio signals. The optical cable from the TV to the DAC will carry the audio signal.
My current thinking is I prefer a DAC that includes both optical and coaxial inputs. The retailer wants me to replace my existing Musical Fidelity M1 DAC with the Ayre Codex DAC that only supports one optical input (it also has USB but it is not required). This change to use optical audio outputs from the TV to the DAC would make the Ayre Codex DAC a possible solution. My question is not if I should buy the Ayre Codex DAC but if I should take the audio signal from the TV to the DAC using the optical connections (in addition, the retailer highly recommends the Ayre Codex DAC and states "this is a remarkable DAC").
I am not convinced that routing the audio signal from the TV direct to the DAC would result in the best sound quality. What conversion is going on in the TV to convert the HDMI signal to an optical signal (if any)? Will the routing of the audio signal thru the TV impact the sound quality? I believe the audio signal coming direct from the cable box to the DAC will result in the best possible sound.
Your comments and suggestions are requested.
Follow Ups:
I assume you already have the cable box and Blu-Ray player configured to downmix surround sound to stereo PCM. Further, I assume they will also send downmixed stereo PCM audio via the HDMI connection.
Without knowing anything about the TV, it's impossible to say whether the TV will simply pass on the stereo PCM audio received from the cable box and Blu-Ray player without any additional processing or downsampling.
Another option might be to do the downmixing in the TV, but I couldn't say whether it would be better, worse, or equivalent to doing it in the cable box and Blu-Ray player.
So there's a lot of unknowns.
Assuming for a moment that the system can be configured such that the TV's digital output is bit-equivalent to what you have now, the decision should come down to whether you prefer the sound of the Ayre or MF DAC.
If the TV is not bit-transparent, you could always get an A/V pre-pro.
Regarding optical vs. coax, it's system dependent. In theory, a good coax implementation can provide better SPDIF signal integrity than optical, but an optical connection can isolate the audio signal grounds of the DAC and amp from the A/V side.
I agree that the audio signal coming direct from the cable box to the DAC is the best option to consider. There is no need to route the audio signal to the TV via HDMI, then convert the signal to a digital optical output. It's an unnecessary cable interface.
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