DDTS-100 for front end of GC-based HT system

[kneadle]

Is the Creative DDTS-100 still the standard price/performance solution for a DAC to get 5.1/7.1 in my DIY setup?

**edit** to be specific: a decoder out of my current DVD player, which has no onboard DAC, to DIY GC amps.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[Leolabs]

Cant comment much about it,but you should listen to it for yourself.

 

[kneadle]

um...ok...

How 'bout this? Is there an alternative to A/B within the same general price range?

I'm just wondering if this thing is just about to become obsolete and I'm missing its obvious successor.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[Nordic]

K, I have exactly the same plan as you to get that creative unit....
I don't see any other way of incorporating dolby, dts, coax, toslink and rca inputs and a remote, for 5.1+ output, at that cost.

Never heard one myself, but seen some nice reviews, and I think it will be perfect for DVD's etc...

 

[Sangram]

I never fail to look at Creative with some suspicion. The DDTS is a convenience product, not a quality one - maybe a cheap receiver will do? There are some nice surround processors from NAD and others which are more expensive, but at least in a whole other league and probably a better match for your GC.

http://www.nadelectronics.com/ht_amplifiers/T163_framset.htm

 

[Nordic]

yeah, like 3 or 5 times more expensive!

 

[Sangram]

Seriously though, the quality of the creative DACs isn't any good anyway - the Audigy2 ZS has the same DACs and is just passable for music, and is OK for movies. I would think even a cheap receiver may even be a better choice than the Creative, as long as it has a discrete output.

 

[Nordic]

Erm, so how about modding the creative... lots of functionality in there, not saying no room for improvement... at least it is a low cost starting point for a mulitchannel DAC.

 

[Sangram]

That's the spirit, so we get some mods for the DDTS? Any volunteers? I would think a change of DACs is a good place to start.

 

[kneadle]

I hereby volunteer.

Now, what are we doing?

heh heh heh...

Seriously, I'll buy the thing and start surgery if y'all will pay attention. I've been meaning to learn how and what to mod in a commercial unit. My eyes always glaze over when I open up something like this.

Dave

 

[Magsy]

I've been looking at this too.

Somebody needs to crack it open and see if it is possible to expose I2S for each pair of channels, then you could go external DACs - at least for the front channels.

 

[kneadle]

I'm not quite as familiar with the signal chain as I'd like to be, so let me run this by you:

Basically, I want to buy this thing, open it up, remove the DAC and replace it/them with my own.

Eh?

Dave

 

[DolbyR]

I already have this TD7700 kit which includes T7700 speakers and the DDTS-100. But im planning on making new speakers and few GC's to power them up. But the connections in the DDTD-100 are a bit suspicious as they are not separate for each channel. Theyre separated into three connection which i cant remember now. I'll check them out at home and post them when i get home.
The overall sound even with the creative speakers is ok...but not ok enough for music listening.
If anyone gets to the initiative of planning a DAC mod to it, im in, but maybe i wont do so for few months, until the warranty expires

Whats that I2S? Ill crack mine open if necessary

 

[Nordic]

Yeha, maybe a few pics will help to identify the current dac unit etc...

 

[DolbyR]

will do that as soon as i have some time

 

[sam9]

Assuming it uses much of the same (or similar) technology as their soundcards, you may well find that when tested at the 19kHz. sample/playbabck rate noise and distortion increase over when tested at 92kHz. This is form reviews using RMA loop back tests. I repeated the test on my own Audigy a year or so afgo and got a similar result. Iread that the reason is that 192KHz sampling/playback was achieved by software rather than hardware. I'm not sure what this means, but hopefully someone on the forum does.

Anyway, it suggests that when ou look into the DDTS-100, you may want to kleep your expectations realistic.

Anyway, the RMAA distortion results at 92kHz tended to around .003 .002 %, but the noise floor was pretty high for hardcore audiophiles -- neighboorhood of 80dB.

A further note from my experience with the soundcard which MAY apply to this device as well. It has a problem driving an input impredance below 20k-30k ohms. It works with 10K alright but the distortion shoots up. I found this out when trying to put a power amp into the RMAA loop back test. I thought I had done something terrible with the amp. It took me a couple of days to mfigure out the the high distortion was originating in the Audigy rather than the amp.

So one mod you might tink about right off the bat is some kind of output buffer.