Using the Grace 901 as a hi-fi preamp

[jpschust]

I'm sure it's nice but it's also $800 or so.  For a switch box???

make something with top quality components its going to be expensive.

[BobW]

you may want to seek an rf coax switchbox.
It won't be noisy and would be constant impedance.
likely not to be stereo, so you'd need one for each channel or you'd have to make your own.

The Decware probaly would be the way to go, most of their stuff is a solid value
http://www.decware.com/

BTW, what's with the chick on their website ?
Did Steve Deckert do a Wendy/Walter Carlos thing ?  Or is he just smitten ?


About $120:

[halteh]

All this talk of inputs got me thinking. I'm currently using my m902 as a headphone amp for my computer (via spdif) and my digital cable box on my tv (via optical toslink) -no speakers or amp yet means tv with headphones  . Anyways, I'm looking into getting an SACD/DVD player for my setup when i eventually do pickup some speakers and an amp; what would be my best bet for inputs in this situation? I think the spif and optical inputs on the m902 make up the only 2 digital inputs (unless the AES input is digital, i have no idea about that) and I'd really like to have the tv, computer, and dvd player going digial into the m902. Any ideas? Is the AES3 input digital? If so, how can i get from spdif or toslink to AES3? do I need a special converter box? Is this going to cost a small fortune? Or am I just better off using the unbalanced inputs for either the computer, dvd player or television?

Thanks
--Fares

[BC]

If so, how can i get from spdif or toslink to AES3? do I need a special converter box? Is this going to cost a small fortune? Or am I just better off using the unbalanced inputs for either the computer, dvd player or television?

Thanks
--Fares

Might work going spdif>AES using just an adaptor cable.

I am surprised your digital TV cable box spits out a digital signal that the 902 can see, I am just curious, what bit depth/sampling rate is it showing up as?

I would guess another option would be to use a digital switchbox of some kind, not sure about what is out there but I am sure there is something that will work.

However, if you plan on playing SACD's out of your future player you will need to run analog to the 902. Possibly the same for video DVD's as I would guess that the 902 will not recognize a digital video datastream. In this case seems analog out seems like your best bet.

[JasonSobel]

indeed, AES is another digital format.  while AES > S/PDIF will usually work without a special converter box, I doubt it'd work the other way around.  That's because the voltage for an AES signal is ~5V, while the voltage for an S/PDIF signal is 0.5V.  So if you send an S/PDIF signal into something that is expecting an AES signal, it won't be able to read it because the voltage is too low.

The Hosa CDL-313 will convert a coax S/PDIF stream to AES.
the Hosa ODL-312 will convert an optical S/PDIF to AES.

one of those boxes isn't too much and might be useful for you.

[halteh]

If so, how can i get from spdif or toslink to AES3? do I need a special converter box? Is this going to cost a small fortune? Or am I just better off using the unbalanced inputs for either the computer, dvd player or television?

Thanks
--Fares

Might work going spdif>AES using just an adaptor cable.

I am surprised your digital TV cable box spits out a digital signal that the 902 can see, I am just curious, what bit depth/sampling rate is it showing up as?

Yup, it shows up as a 48k stream. My PVR HD box has 3 options for digital audio out: Dolby, HDMI, or Other. When I put it on Dolby the m902 just spits out a digital clipping noise (ac3 processing?), HDMI obviously doesn't apply here, and the other spits out a 48k stereo stream. Seems to be working nicely.

I would guess another option would be to use a digital switchbox of some kind, not sure about what is out there but I am sure there is something that will work.

However, if you plan on playing SACD's out of your future player you will need to run analog to the 902. Possibly the same for video DVD's as I would guess that the 902 will not recognize a digital video datastream. In this case seems analog out seems like your best bet.

Well that makes everything a lot easier guess it will be toslink from the PVR, spdif from the computer and dual RCA from the dvd/sacd player

Thanks