There are few in-between options for Surround decoders. There are the $50 "commodity" ones, like this:
Amazon.com: Vktech 5.1 Channel Ac3 DTS Audio Gear Digital Surround Sound Rush Decoder Theater: Car Electronics
and there are the ones built-in to Home Theatre preamps ($2000-$4000)...and then there are the "audiophile" ones. ($5000+)
What I'd like to do is make the best of a $50 one by adding a better power supply than the wall-wart, and adding balanced outputs. And here's my question:
Would there be any problems with obtaining balanced output by powering one of these $50 S/PDIF surround decoders with +/- 2.5 volt instead of 5 volts?
I dialed this into a bench power supply I have, the device seems to be happy. I wired an XLR connector so ground was the power supply neutral, - was the original RCA connector "ring" and the + was the original RCA connector tip, and the monitor seemed happy.
I 'm making sure that nothing tries to ground the S/PDIF processor (i.e., no USB connections into it, etc). The neutral on the XLR cable is the power supply's neutral.
Am I actually producing balanced output this way, or am I just deceiving myself and do I need to go the traditional route of transformer or chain-of-opamps?
There doesn't seem to be any power-conversion chips on the board, so the +5v is used directly by the existing amplifier.
Amazon.com: Vktech 5.1 Channel Ac3 DTS Audio Gear Digital Surround Sound Rush Decoder Theater: Car Electronics
and there are the ones built-in to Home Theatre preamps ($2000-$4000)...and then there are the "audiophile" ones. ($5000+)
What I'd like to do is make the best of a $50 one by adding a better power supply than the wall-wart, and adding balanced outputs. And here's my question:
Would there be any problems with obtaining balanced output by powering one of these $50 S/PDIF surround decoders with +/- 2.5 volt instead of 5 volts?
I dialed this into a bench power supply I have, the device seems to be happy. I wired an XLR connector so ground was the power supply neutral, - was the original RCA connector "ring" and the + was the original RCA connector tip, and the monitor seemed happy.
I 'm making sure that nothing tries to ground the S/PDIF processor (i.e., no USB connections into it, etc). The neutral on the XLR cable is the power supply's neutral.
Am I actually producing balanced output this way, or am I just deceiving myself and do I need to go the traditional route of transformer or chain-of-opamps?
There doesn't seem to be any power-conversion chips on the board, so the +5v is used directly by the existing amplifier.
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