audio quality of dvd-v vs. dvd-a players

is there a difference when it comes to 2-channel music or movies? for instance, the pioneer dv-275-s & dv-578a-s both list their audio dac's as 24-bit/192kHz, the latter having these for 6 channels to accomodate dvd-audio and sacd formats. however for non-dvd-audio or non-sacd material, will you notice any difference? thanks in advance.

Reb, modern DACs exceed the needs of human ears and the material which they decode. No compromise of performance is in any way involved when DVD-A compatibility is present.

generally, the quality of sound coming from your player will depend on how well it decodes the date from the CD. most decent CD players will probably sound almost the same, some may sound a little bit better than others, but I honestly have a hard time telling the difference. I just let my receiver (denon 1602) decode the sound.

192/24 dacs are way sufficient for SACD, DVDA or CD audio.

Thanks JohnK/Ravi, I suspected as much. But I reckon DVD-A compatible players aren't better that DVD-Video only players in playing 2-channel material, right? Or movies for that matter? In other words, there's no need to spend the extra bucks on DVD-A/SACD compatible players unless I intend to play such material regularly. Is this accurate? Thanks again.

Rebel, here's my suggestion:

1 - buy 1 player. don't spend too much on it unless you have a lot of disposable income. The Pioneer 578 s-a plays dvd video, dvd audio, sacd, and all the other fun stuff.

2 - get cables to plug the 6 channel out from the DVD player to the receiver.

3 - get a fiber optic to plug from the dvd player to the receiver.

4 - listen and see which sounds better to you. DVDA and SACD will only play through the 6 cables, not the fiber optic.

For DTS, DD5.1 and Stereo, so long as your receiver can decode them (if it's recent from a few years ago, it will decode them) you can try playing it through the fiber optic or through the 6 channel out.

a player that can play DVDA or SACD will not sound any better than one that can't, however, you can get one that does for the same price as one that doesn't, so might as well buy it. Many SACDs have SACD stereo mixes on them.