HDMI and SACD

Hi-Rez Highway

New high resolution SACD releases, players and technology.

This topic has been discussed before on this forum, or at least mentioned. The topic of DVD players converting DSD to PCM has also been discussed. I found the following discussion at the provided link. Thought some might be interested in this, assuming it is "spot on."
"All new versions of HDMI are backwards compatible with all previous versions of HDMI; we have no plans to add any new functions that will break this backwards compatibility. This is very important for us. Each new version of the specification describes one or more new optional features, but all of the functions of the previous version are still supported in the new versions of the HDMI specification.
The only reason a user may wish to upgrade HDMI is if they wish to use one of the new optional features that the new specs provide. In this case, the user should not be looking for "HDMI 1.2" or "HDMI 1.1" labels, but for descriptions of the exact features that they want. This is because, while HDMI enables functionality, manufacturers are the ones that choose which functionality to implement.
For instance, from HDMI 1.1 to HDMI 1.2, One Bit Audio support was added - the type of audio used for SuperAudio CD. Prior to HDMI 1.2, some SACD players could play a disk in SACD format, and send the audio to an audio amplifier over HDMI, but it could only send the data in the more common PCM format, after having converted from the native SACD format. With HDMI 1.2s new One Bit Audio option, the SACD player can now send the native SACD data to the audio amplifier over HDMI, as long as that amplifier supports One Bit Audio as well. If the amplifier is not capable of handling One Bit Audio then the player can still send PCM.
This example points out a couple of things: even though the player has been designed to take advantage of the new optional feature in HDMI 1.2, it is still backwards compatible with PCM-only amplifiers. In addition, because this new feature is optional for all devices, a particular device could implement HDMI 1.2 without implementing all of the new optional features. If you want to have the audio transmitted in One Bit Audio format then you need to verify that the player and receiver are "HDMI One Bit Audio" capable."
Further discussion is welcome.

http://www.algolith.com/index.php?id=faq&L=0 (Open in New Window)

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The Cable Cooker

Topic - HDMI and SACD - townsend 20:24:15 01/13/06 (0)

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