Well, whether it's inferior or superior, only your ears can answer. It's very subjective and if someone were to suggest it's better or worse you would naturally hear the difference due to the placebo effect.
The VSX-26TX is an Elite model I believe - it's safe to say its DAC is no slouch. Then again the SB3 has a good DAC as well...so again, experiment. jeffmeh;174064 Wrote: > P.S. I run the SB3 into the VSX-26TX through SPDIF, and do not enable > any DSP in the receiver. That was the most convenient way for me to > set it up, and I do like the sound. I do not feel compelled to try > running the SB3's DAC through analog, but if someone can tell me > definitively that the SB3's DAC is considered superior, I would be > willing to invest some time experimenting. Of course, even in that > case, it does not mean that I will like the sound better. See http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.cgi?AVReceivers. Going digitally into the receiver, you can take advantage of any DSP mode you like without an extra A-D conversion. However if you use an analog input, as soon as you use any mode other than direct/bypass, you'll get an extra A-D conversion so the sound can be passed through the DSP. So comparing analog and digital using direct/bypass mode with volumes matched is the closest you can come to a direct comparison. Fortunately this is pretty easy on most receivers since the SB outputs analog and digital simultaneously. Simply set the volume, put it in direct/bypass, play music and switch inputs. Some receivers will let you assign it to the same input that you can change with an analog/digital button. You'll only get a fraction of a second of interruption. You can do rudimentary ABX tests by listening to analog, then digital, then closing your eyes and toggling the input button very rapidly. See if you can then guess which input is active. -- Mark Lanctot "It's like, you know, a New Age religion, but with better treble response." - Jon Heal ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mark Lanctot's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2071 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=32077 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
