I use a cheapo £120 richer sounds pioneer DVD player which also offers dvd audio (although it certainly wasn't purchased for music duties). It is connected to a yamaha dsp800 processor which powers my rears and feeds a signal to my 2 channel system. I set the processor on ghost for the centre channel so this signal is divided into my left and right nbl's.

If I want to listen to dvd-A I will need 5 sepatate phonos to the processor. For normal DVD-video duties I have two options for connection between the player and the processor, which one offers the best performance.Optical or Phono?

Generally speaking coax is the better option. However, when I consider that the cable I suggest is Chord Co Prodac Silver Plus and that it costs £60, I have difficulty in justifying it simply because it's half the cost of your player!! That said, the cable is the best cable below silly money for the job. Otherwise get a reasonable optical cable (£15 will buy you one with decent connectors, which is important) and be happy.

Also, if your surround sound kit (dsp800 and DVD player) are not on the same mains rail as the main Naim kit, you could suffer hum due to an earth loop. In this situation, the optical is an easy solution since it breaks the loop.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

For me coax every time. Digital link from DVD to surround or from satellite to surround, optical always misses the mark.