Ted Smith said
As a slight extension of what Elk said: if you can hear the sound and it's not distorted, and you can see the display changing or you can interact with the touchscreen or use the remote then you can believe the sample rate displayed.
We’ve had a few other people believing that their Oppo was set up correctly but not getting music or getting 44.1. I’m not an Oppo user, but I know that setting up DVD-A (or at times, even DVD video) players and knowing what you get out of the digital interfaces is a big pain in the neck.
Ted Smith said
As a slight extension of what Elk said: if you can hear the sound and it's not distorted, and you can see the display changing or you can interact with the touchscreen or use the remote then you can believe the sample rate displayed.
We’ve had a few other people believing that their Oppo was set up correctly but not getting music or getting 44.1. I’m not an Oppo user, but I know that setting up DVD-A (or at times, even DVD video) players and knowing what you get out of the digital interfaces is a big pain in the neck.
I tried all four iterations outputting to the DS DAC and the resolution is still 16/48. When I changed the coax output to Bitstream the 24/96 BDA still read 16/48 playing through the DS DAC; the other two (DTS and Dolby) did not play.
The Oppo has four options for coax/optical digital output: 48k LPCM, 96k LPCM, 192k LPCM, and Bitstream. Any one I select gives me 16/48 on the DS DAC.
Weird. Just weird. Could it be my less than stellar coax cable?
I almost guarantee the Oppo is sending the output from Blu-Ray at reduced resolution over S/PDIF as a result of copyright issues and bandwidth limitations. High resolution from SACD and Blu-Ray discs is often restricted to HDMI.
Elk said
I almost guarantee the Oppo is sending the output from Blu-Ray at reduced resolution over S/PDIF as a result of copyright issues and bandwidth limitations. High resolution from SACD and Blu-Ray discs is often restricted to HDMI.
I suggest a careful reading of the Oppo manual.
Hmmm. That may explain why the Blu-ray Audio disc doesn’t sound quite right through the DS DAC. I know that record very well. Okay, I’ll try the CD equivalent of that disc tomorrow to see if there’s a difference in SQ.
I also have my favorite ‘New World’ Symphony (Fricsay: the slowest, most beautiful Largo ever put on record) on both Blu-ray Audio and CD. I know that record inside out as well.
I bet the Oppo is downsampling the Blu-Ray to 48/16.
The CD will likely sound better played through the Oppo as its 44.1/16 data will not be manipulated prior to being passed on to the DS.
You can also try putting together a DVD or CD which the Oppo will play containing tracks of varying resolution. I bet these files will play fine and the Oppo will pass on the data at the appropriate resolution. You will need to look up in the Oppo manual what format the disc needs to be in for this to work.
I also have my favorite ‘New World’ Symphony (Fricsay: the slowest, most beautiful Largo ever put on record) on both Blu-ray Audio and CD. I know that record inside out as well.
Hmm, I don't have this one. I have many of them, but I always preferred the CSO version led by Solti.