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Have A-20, worth hunting down an A-35?

post #1 of 16
6/24/08 at 9:21pm
Thread Starter 
Simple question. I own an A20, would it be worth it for me to track down and purchase an A35 instead and sell the A20?
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post #2 of 16
6/24/08 at 9:24pm
It depends on your other equipment. What kind of receiver do you have? I have an A2 and then bought an A35 from Amazon because it has 5.1 analog outputs for my non HDMI receiver. Works great. Kept the A2 as a backup.
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post #3 of 16
6/24/08 at 9:26pm
Thread Starter 
Just bought an Integra DTC 9.8. Interested in being able to bitstream TrueHD, but I understand the A20 also does it losslessly (if that's a word) via LPCM?
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post #4 of 16
6/25/08 at 2:41am
In my experience the bitstreamed audio sounds much better. Many will argue that it simply can't be true, but most of them will be without bitstream capable receivers.

For this reason, I prefer HD-DVD bitstreamed over BD on my PS3. THe PS3 just doesn't sound anywhere near as good.
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post #5 of 16
6/27/08 at 6:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Category 5 View Post

In my experience the bitstreamed audio sounds much better. Many will argue that it simply can't be true, but most of them will be without bitstream capable receivers.

For this reason, I prefer HD-DVD bitstreamed over BD on my PS3. THe PS3 just doesn't sound anywhere near as good.

I agree, but this will get the "old timers" with older AVRs in a rage. They will tell you that is not possible but I know what I hear. Bitstream to my Denon 5308 sounds incredible. LPCM does not cut it for me, at least with my setup.
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post #6 of 16
6/27/08 at 6:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rlarsen462 View Post

Simple question. I own an A20, would it be worth it for me to track down and purchase an A35 instead and sell the A20?

even if you do get the a35, hold on to the a20 as it may play scratched hd dvds better than the a35, and its better build quality (it may last longer).
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post #7 of 16
6/27/08 at 9:34pm
So in order, what exactly are the best players?

I have an A-30 for example, are the XA2 and the A35 better? (I am on the lookout for an A35 because I thought it did the best audio)
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post #8 of 16
6/28/08 at 9:47am
XA2 is supposed to be the top of the line because of the Reon processor and outstanding standard DVD upconversion. But they are very expensive if you find one. Passes bitstream TrueHD as has 5.1 analog outputs.

A35 is the next best. Not as good upconversion as the XA2 but does pass bitstream TrueHD and also has 5.1 analog outputs to directly connect to a non HDMI receiver. XA2 does that also.

After that maybe A30 then A20. A3 and A2 are only 1080i, not 1080p but still look very good. Don't know anything about the first generation players.

I also read the second generation units A2, A20, XA2 had best build quality overall.;

I've got the A35 and A2. Love them both!
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post #9 of 16
6/29/08 at 7:26am
I have an A2 and XA2,whenever I find a good deal on an A35 I want to get one as future backup unit.
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post #10 of 16
6/29/08 at 12:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by afrogt View Post

XA2 is supposed to be the top of the line because of the Reon processor and outstanding standard DVD upconversion. But they are very expensive if you find one. Passes bitstream TrueHD as has 5.1 analog outputs.

A35 is the next best. Not as good upconversion as the XA2 but does pass bitstream TrueHD and also has 5.1 analog outputs to directly connect to a non HDMI receiver. XA2 does that also.

After that maybe A30 then A20. A3 and A2 are only 1080i, not 1080p but still look very good. Don't know anything about the first generation players.

I also read the second generation units A2, A20, XA2 had best build quality overall.;

I've got the A35 and A2. Love them both!

Well I have an A30 (connected through HDMI), and didn't know if it was worth hunting down a A35 or XA2 to go with my Onkyo 606. My tv is only 720p (though I will upgrade later), and I don't really need the players for DVD up-conversion because I would just use my PS3. If I could get a A35 or XA2 for a reasonable price, would the sound quality increase be worth it?
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post #11 of 16
6/29/08 at 4:18pm
Some people say the sound quality is the same if you let the player send it out via HDMI multichannel PCM but others say the sound quality is better if you let the receiver do the decoding and send the signal out from the HD-DVD player as bitstream like the XA2 and A35 can.

Since I don't have a receiver than decodes bitstream audio via HDMI I couldn't honestly tell you.

Some people just want the "TrueHD" display to light up on their receiver so they buy the A35 for that.
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post #12 of 16
6/29/08 at 5:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by afrogt View Post

Some people say the sound quality is the same if you let the player send it out via HDMI multichannel PCM but others say the sound quality is better if you let the receiver do the decoding and send the signal out from the HD-DVD player as bitstream like the XA2 and A35 can.

Since I don't have a receiver than decodes bitstream audio via HDMI I couldn't honestly tell you.

Some people just want the "TrueHD" display to light up on their receiver so they buy the A35 for that.


See I thought the A35 could output 7.1 tracks over HDMI, but I can't find anywhere that says the XA2 can do that, everything I see it says core only.
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post #13 of 16
6/29/08 at 5:37pm
Only two reasons to get an A35 when you have an A20--you want to bitstream high res audio (specifically DTS-HD HR/MA as the A20 can handle Dolby TrueHD/DD+) or you want to internally decode and send the analog audio out to a receiver via RCA cables rather than HDMI.
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post #14 of 16
6/29/08 at 6:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by allargon View Post

Only two reasons to get an A35 when you have an A20--you want to bitstream high res audio (specifically DTS-HD HR/MA as the A20 can handle Dolby TrueHD/DD+) or you want to internally decode and send the analog audio out to a receiver via RCA cables rather than HDMI.

I don't think the A20 will bitstream TrueHD over HDMI, will it???

Also, upscaler in A35 (Anchor Bay chip) is generally regarded as better than what the A20 is using.

All in all, I'd keep an eye out for the HD-XA2 as well.
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post #15 of 16
6/30/08 at 9:47am
The A20 will not, that's why he said one of the reasons to get A35 over A20 is if you want to bitstream.

The A20, A30, and A35 all use the same ABT chip for upscaling AFAIK.

As allargon said, the only reason to get the A35 over the A20/A30 is if you want to bitstream HD audio, or need the multichannel analog outs.
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post #16 of 16
1/10/09 at 6:09pm
I have an A20 and only just got an AVR capable of handling the new audio formats. Disappointed to read here that the A20 can't bitstream Dolby TrueHD over HDMI
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