Spdif out to beolab 5 with a bv 7 40, is it possible ?

Hi

I noticed a huge difference of sound quality when I use my bl5 with spdif.

I tried these setup :

- ps3 connected to a philips led tv and bl5 connected to the spdif out of the tv

- ps3 connected to a bv 7 40 mk6 and bl5 connected with powerlink

This is like day and night.

Is there a possibility to connect the bv and the bl5 with spdif. I don't see any spdif out.

Those are all digital-ins!

Doesn't make sense either, since you (that way) would bypass all pre-amp functions.

MM

Please MM, Try bl5 with spdif in and powerlink, you will understand what I mean.

The bl5 d/a converter is far superior despite its age.

For stereo listening, spdif is better.

You don't really need a tv/a BV for stereo listening with the BL5's, do you

MM

Millemissen:

You don't really need a tv/a BV for stereo listening with the BL5's, do you

MM

There is a tv - and there is a BV.

You need a bv when you want to listen to youtube's video in stereo mode.

I like to watch 24 bit audio video from youtube (thesoundsyouneed or kyama).

My bl5 will be plugged into my bv not into my bm5.

Most of the tv have a digital out, I thought that a bv has mandatory one.

Quite strange when you sell a speaker that has a digital input.

The reason why 'most of the tv' have a digital out (spdif or HDMI) is that they need a connection to an external pre-amp/receiver for sound, that is more than just the 'normal' flat sound.

A BV has a built-in pre-amp/sound decoder/sound processor - and has no need for these connections.

The reason that the BL5's (and the newer BV's) have the digital-in, is that they this way can be used with a non B&O source or with the dig-out of a B&O stereo source (such as the BC9000 or the BM5).

Connected to a BV they normally play with the other speakers (at least with a center speaker), and therefore need the pre-amp/the sound engine in the BV.

What are you missing, when you connect them via PowerLink - and listen to them in Speaker 2/stereo?

P.S. As for youtube and 24 bits - I am not aware of any youtube video with an uncompressed soundtrack. The 24 bits as audio source won't matter at all, if all sound is downgraded using AAC as the default encoding format.

MM

The quality of sound is absolutely not the same.

This has been already discussed in another old thread.

The d/a converter of the bl5 is of better quality by far.

It is not a problem because I will probably use a non b&o tv for this purpose only, but it is a pity even if I understand the reason you mentioned.

I will use the bv 7 40 mk6 from another room in order to drive my 5.1 setup only for watching movies, thanks to the listening preset function and the MLGW.

olvisab:

The quality of sound is absolutely not the same.

This has been already discussed in another old thread.

The d/a converter of the bl5 is of better quality by far.

It is not a problem because I will probably use a non b&o tv for this purpose only, but it is a pity even if I understand the reason you mentioned.

I will use the bv 7 40 mk6 from another room in order to drive my 5.1 setup only for watching movies, thanks to the listening preset function and the MLGW.

Good afternoon,

I own a BV7-40 Mk3 as well as a PS3 and I know their settings options practically by heart.

Could you do the following checks:

1- Use SPEAKER 2 setting for the tests. This will ensure that all audio signals will be directed to the Beolabs 5. Otherwise, the signal will be redirected to all speakers with an artificial surround sound.

2- In the sound setup menu, ensure that the Beolab 5 speaker type is selected. No filtering will then be applied.

3- Set the bass and treble settings to neutral.

4- On the customer service menu, in SOUND ADJUSTMENTS, ensure that the DYNAMIC COMPRESSION setting is set to OFF.

5- Disable all AST settings on the BV7 to ensure that the signal will have only minimal processing from the Beosystem 3 sound processor. My own TV doesn't have these settings, so you will have to find the proper setting menus.

6- On the PS3, ensure that the bitstream audio output option is enabled in HDMI settings.

7- On the PS3 again, for MP3 and CD playback, enable the oversampling option in the audio output setting menu. Otherwise, the audio signals are resampled to 48khz, giving a perceptible quality degradation. When the oversampling option is selected, a 44.1 kHz signal will get oversampled to 88.2 kHz which is less harmful than a conversion to 48khz which is not an integral multiple. There is a caveat for this, however. There is a bug in the PS3 firmware that Sony never addressed. If you are playing music from a NAS and the oversampling option is enabled, the sound will cut intermittently.

8- Do the sound comparison with the Philips TV at the same volume level. A louder sound will always subjectively sound better.

Since there is an additional D/A step involved in the TV as well as an extra A/D step in the Beolab 5 speakers when using Powerlink, a slight degradation is to be expected, but that should be not catastrophic in principle. Perhaps Geoff could enlighten us on that.

Good luck,

Jean

 

Hi Jean

Thank you for taking the time to answer me.

I checked everything and all is set as you advice.

I think that there is a real difference of quality between the two solution concerning the bl5.

As you say, Geoff could confirm this or not.

For surround sound it doesn't annoy me but for stereo listening, I want to use the bl5 at their best.

One other suggestion for you to try...

Turn off your surround speakers at the mains (or unplug them) but leave them configured as surround left and right on the BV7, then select SPEAKER 4 mode. Logically, this should result in the same sound as SPEAKER 2 mode, but for some reason the bass management of the front speakers by the BV7 seems to be completely different in SPEAKER 4 compared with SPEAKER 2 mode.

Martin.

I wouldn't be concerned about this when the audio source is YouTube. The huge degradation you get from listening to 160 kbps compressed audio is far greater than the relatively tiny change in sound the additional DA + AD process between the TV and speakers will be introducing...

Killyp:

I wouldn't be concerned about this when the audio source is YouTube. The huge degradation you get from listening to 160 kbps compressed audio is far greater than the relatively tiny change in sound the additional DA + AD process between the TV and speakers will be introducing...

You are right, but even with degradation at start, the difference can be heard with bl5.

Someone in a precious thread on beoworld about the dac into the bl5 has clearly describe this : the sound is far less detailled and clear.

H

I have never heard this difference with another pair of beolab.

The issue will be easily solved, I am just surprised that this output doesn't exist.