Help with Blue Ray, regarding hook up to a stereo

[Citrus]

Was given a Blu-ray player for Christmas. the Sony BDP-s3100. It has outputs on the back for LAN, HDMI, and digital out ( looks like a single RCA)

I connected the HDMI to the back of the TV, but the only option I could come up with for getting the audio through the stereo (my integrated amp (Arcam Alpha) doesn't have a HDMI or a Digital out) is to take the audio from the TV and hook it up to the input of the amp via RCA connectors.

I was told I should (?) get a DAC to hook the audio from the Blu-ray directly to the amp.

Will the DAC (Arcam rlink - approx $250) direct to the amp make a significant improvement over the signal going from blu-ray to TV to amp ? Is it worth the $$??

Thanks folks

[cynic]

If you're not running dolby surround or looking for anything fancy, I'd go with a simple digital to analog converter that will take the digital coaxial and split it into left/right analog rca. You can find them for under $20.

Before I spent $250 to add a component, I'd consider replacing the older component that's requiring the workaround.

[hamerhead]

Before I spent $250 to add a component, I'd consider replacing the older component that's requiring the workaround.

Good idea. At $250 you're half way to a decent 7.2 AV receiver that will cover future needs as well. I'm in a bit of the same boat myself.

[Citrus]

Thats what I was afraid of

My current intergated amp (100wpc) + power amp(100wpc) aren't that old, and function and sound great. The Alpha 10 was designed so that if I ever wanted to I could upgrade it to 5.1 for surround. This was not cheap when I bought it.

Not looking to do the surround upgrade, just want to make sure I'm getting the best sound reproduction possible from the Blu-ray into the stereo

Using it mostly for Concert DVDs

[JohnnyB]

If your TV accepts HDMI input and offers analog stereo out, then it already has a built-in DAC to do the digital-to-analog conversion plus multi-channel downconversion to stereo. Try it first, and if you like the sound, stay with it.

Speaking of cheap DACs, however, we just got one from Amazon (this DAC) for $14.86.

We got our son a 32" flat panel TV for Christmas, but neither the XBox 360 nor the new TV offer analog outputs to plug into his stereo. So we just got this DAC that accepts both Toslink or RCA (coax) S/PDIF digital input and then outputs analog stereo. It just got delivered today and works fine. Make sure you order one with S/PDif input and that comes with an AC power supply. Some are for USB only or have Toslink but no S/PDIF input. And make sure that you configure the source component (e.g., your Blu-ray player) to output PCM digital and not something else like Dolby Digital. On my son's TV, if you configure output for Dolby Digital you just get a clicking noise. Configured for PCM it works great.

And later, if you want to upgrade the DAC for better sound quality, it's not like you wasted much money.

[JohnnyB]

Thats what I was afraid of

My current intergated amp (100wpc) + power amp(100wpc) aren't that old, and function and sound great. The Alpha 10 was designed so that if I ever wanted to I could upgrade it to 5.1 for surround. This was not cheap when I bought it.

Not looking to do the surround upgrade, just want to make sure I'm getting the best sound reproduction possible from the Blu-ray into the stereo

Using it mostly for Concert DVDs

Compared to your Arcam rig, a $500 AV receiver won't get within sniffing distance of the sound quality you're accustomed to. Try the free solution first (connect analog RCA interconnects from the TV to your Arcam integrated). If you don't like it, the $15 cheap DAC probably won't be much help either.

Compared to upgrading your current Arcam rig to a digital one of equivalent quality (>$1K), the $249 Arcam DAC is a cheap date as far as sound quality vs. price. I just did a quick check at audioadvisor.com, and most of the cheap DACs now are for computers via USB. The Arcam was about the least expensive one that accepts Toslink and S/PDIF. There used to be others from Musical Fidelity, NAD, and Cambridge but the cheaper ones have gone USB and the others have been kicked up to the $500 range. I did find this one, which is $60 cheaper than the Aracam DAC.