Processors


The processor is the brains of your home theater system. Processing involves decoding surround formats and digital to analogue conversion and is performed by your receiver, preamp/processor or separate surround processor.

One type of processing is performed by DACs or digital-to-analogue converters. These are chips in your receiver that can take a digital audio signal from toslink (optical) or digital coax inputs and convert it into analogue sound we can hear. Although DACs vary in quality and resolution of sound, the best DACs are found in the most expensive equipment; after that the quality is very similar.
Playback devices that have analogue outputs have their own DACs but it's almost always best to use the digital outputs on playback devices to be sure you're using the DACs on your receiver. To decode surround processes you must use the digital outputs on your DVD player. For multi-channel audio formats such as DVD-Audio and SACD you must use six analogue outputs on your DVD player equipped for multi-channel audio formats.

Burr-Brown DACs are renowned for being the best DACs made but they're only found in the most expensive gear.