Is the audio decoding performed in the player?
Whether using the two-channel Analog Audio Outputs or the multi-channel HDMI Audio Output, the Ayre DX-5 decodes all Dolby and DTS compressed formats to standard PCM. This ensures compatibility with the widest variety of surround-sound processors. The only exception are SACDs, which play back DSD, but even that can be converted to PCM by the player if need be. The new “lossless” audio packing formats for Blu-ray (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA) are “lossless” in the sense that what comes out of the decoder is bit-for-bit identical to what went into the encoder in the first place when the studio created that track. The result of decoding is high-bandwidth, multi-channel LPCM — the simplest form of digital audio. The LPCM the Ayre sends out over the HDMI Audio Output after decoding is the same LPCM as the SSP would get internally if it were asked to do the decoding. Letting the Ayre do the decoding also makes it easier to take advantage of “secondary audio mixing” on Blu-ray discs.
