HDMI to Coaxial converter?
HDMI to Coaxial converter?
Submitted by s2groove on Tue, 2009-10-06 01:50I have recently purchased a DAC1 HDR and love its versatility and performance. I was wondering if you guys were thinking of working with HDMI devices soon. I'd love to be able to get the 24-bit/192khz audio feeds from my blu-ray player/music server into the HDR, but unfortunately only the HDMI connection outputs that high a sampling frequency, where on its' digital coaxial output it is limited to 96khz (I know the difference is trivial, and there aren't that many recordings at that resolution, but we all seem to be reaching for state of the art performance). Correct me if I'm wrong, but to my understanding, Coaxial cables can handle 192khz sampling rates, and the DAC1 can handle an input signal that high? And it seems most commercially viable "transports" only offer 192khz output from HDMI like my own equipment. Have you all ever thought about, or are planning on making a HDMI to coaxial converter, or a HDMI DAC for the audio signal? I'd really like to know your opinions on the HDMI format as well.
Regards,
Andy
HDMI to Coaxial converter?
Hi Andy,
I'm glad to hear how much you like the new HDR. You are correct in that coax cable and Benchmark DACs can handle up to 24/192 signals. The limitation has been that many players would not output anything higher than 16/48 on their coax out. So much of the recorded material is copy protected and would signal the player to "dumb down" the output for fear that the users would be pirating hi-rez files. I know this was the case with DVD-A. I'm not exactly sure how blu-ray players are handling this on the coax output. HDMI is a viable format for the future. The cost of entry, however, is pretty steep for small companies. We'll continue to watch its developement and the availability of hi-rez music media. As concerns a HDMI to coax converter, we have no plans to make one.