Great tweak for HK owners

Ern Dog

I'm so stoked on this cheap tweak, I just have to share it for those who aren't doing this already....

I've always had my universal Onkie dvd/cd player hooked to my HK via toslink then played cd's using stereo mode. Today I hooked it up the Onkie via quality RCA cables (signal cables), in stereo mode, but switched the DSP mode off. WOW, what a huge difference turning the DSP off does. The HK won't allow you to turn DSP off using a digital input, only analog. It has totally opened up the whole system. I never realized how congested and muffled my system sounded until now! Try it.

Dennis Gardner

Nice find..........next step is a tube preamp. No contest for me between my HK and my tube preamps. I still use the HK for movies, but for 2 ch. SACD/CD/Phono sessions, no contest.

Lowell_M

I guess I'm not sure what you are saying here Dog. What DSP mode are you talking about?

I think what you are comparing is simply the difference between the H/K DAC and the DAC in your Onkyo.

tonyb

a_mattison wrote:

I guess I'm not sure what you are saying here Dog. What DSP mode are you talking about?

I think what you are comparing is simply the difference between the H/K DAC and the DAC in your Onkyo.

BINGO !!

Lowell_M

The DAC in my CDP sucks. I much prefer the h/k.

AndyGwis

Would the DACs in my Toshiba HD-XA1 be better? I've always used digital coax connection for music and movies because it had better bass management.

I guess I can go with the 5.1 analog outs and go with direct (6/8 channel analog in) on the HK.

Ron Temple

There's a huge difference between analog and digital connection for me as well. I listen to all 2 channel via the 6/8ch input rather than Stereo, which sounds like the soundstage is cut in half.

Ern Dog

a_mattison wrote:

I guess I'm not sure what you are saying here Dog. What DSP mode are you talking about?

I think what you are comparing is simply the difference between the H/K DAC and the DAC in your Onkyo.

No that's not it. Because what I'm experiencing is happening even when I'm just listening to the tuner w/no DACs involved.

Let me explain more. When listening to the tuner in stereo mode, keep pressing the "stereo" button on the remote and it gives you 3 options: 5 channel stereo, stereo+DSP or stereo (pure). I didn't know I had this last option until just recently. So then I tried to listen in pure mode to my CDP, but couldn't do it using an optical cable. With an optical input it only gave me 2 options: 5 ch stereo or stereo+DSP. I added RCA cables and changed the input to analog and problem solved. You'll know when the DSP is on because there is a "DSP" indicator lit up on the display. It is literally a night and day difference with it on and off.


I agree that the DACs are different between the cdp and HK, but this difference is barely noticeable in my system to my ears.

Ern Dog

Ron Temple wrote:

There's a huge difference between analog and digital connection for me as well. I listen to all 2 channel via the 6/8ch input rather than Stereo, which sounds like the soundstage is cut in half.

I tried the 6/8 input too and found I lost my sub. I'd need to add a splitter to add my sub into the 6/8 inputs.

Ron Temple

Ern Dog wrote:

I tried the 6/8 input too and found I lost my sub. I'd need to add a splitter to add my sub into the 6/8 inputs.

Yep...you lose the sub unless it's MCH. I don't mind with the SDAs as sometimes the sub's too much.

rt7s

works ok!