SACD playback with Sony UBP-X1100ES (1 Viewer)

[SilverShadow]

JohnRice you have a very nice collection there. Any recommendations on where to find SACDs on the used market?

 

[JohnRice]

The market is tough these days. Believe it or not, I paid an average of $3 for those discs. There was a store in Boston blowing out Telarc titles for that ten years ago, when I was getting them.

BTW, using the analog output on your player should just be directly converting the DSD, but there’s probably no way to definitively confirm that. DACs which play DSD through hdmi are rare and expensive.

 

[jcroy]

Just for grins, here's my SACD collection. Mostly Jazz and Classical and mostly Telarc. I started into SACD after it had pretty much died, and while a lot of places were blowing them out. I got most of these incredibly cheap.

Back in the day, I would have been willing to "re-buy" my entire music collection on sacd (or dvd-audio). Though unfortunately hardly anything was released on sacd/dvd-audio that would interest me at all. Not even really old catalog stuff.

 

[jcroy]

In a hypothetical bizarro-world where sacd/dvd-audio (or bluray-audio for that matter) became ubiquitous and entirely replaced the red book audio cd, most likely then-recent/current new albums would have still sounded like garbage with the "loudness wars" debauchery.

 

[jcroy]

DACs which play DSD through hdmi are rare and expensive.

Is there are reason for this, beside low market demand?

For example, are the patent holders of DSD suppressing it from many third party hardware companies?

 

[SilverShadow]

I am going to go out on a limb and say something hat streaming and download are another impact to the SACD. Now that file storage is relatively cheap for these formats it appears there are a few web sites where DSD files can be downloaded.

 

[jcroy]

For a software player which can play DSD files, do they just convert the DSD data into a PCM data stream ?

 

[JohnRice]

Yes, you can legitimately buy HD tracks at... wait for it... HDTracks.com. They used to be only regular PCM files, but they have a growing number of DSD files, often from stuff that was on SACD. Since those are NOT content managed, they are a lot easier to play back. SACD has to be an internal DAC or one with hdmi, which is basically the only connection that is content managed. But, audiophiles kind of turn their noses up at hdmi, these days preferring other options.

 

[JohnRice]

For a software player which can play DSD files, do they just convert the DSD data into a PCM data stream ?

Ideally, no. Your software player is compatible with DSD, then feeds it to a DAC that can directly convert DSD to analog. Actually, DACs that are compatible with DSD are getting more popular in the higher end. They just rarely have an hdmi connection, to be able to play back SACDs on players from Sony and Oppo.

 

[jcroy]

Ideally, no. Your software player is compatible with DSD, then feeds it to a DAC that can directly convert DSD to analog. Actually, DACs that are compatible with DSD are getting more popular in the higher end.

Would this dac be in the form of a computer soundcard, or a separate external independent dac device connected with a usb cable (or some other generic cable) ?

 

[jcroy]

I only ever seen external dac devices which take the digital data output from a cd player. Somebody I knew had one and brought it over to my home one time, and connected it to my cd player's digital output.

(I couldn't tell the difference compared to the analog line-out from the cd player, when it came to listening to music).

 

[jcroy]

Now that file storage is relatively cheap for these formats it appears there are a few web sites where DSD files can be downloaded.

I skimmed through several websites which offered DSD downloads. Unfortunately I didn't find anything that I would listen to more than once. I also didn't find anything in the primary musical genres I regularly listen to.

In spite of the much better technical specs of dsd than red book audio cd, I guess I'm not the target audience for music which has been recently produced with DSD in mind.

 

[Foxman]

If you had purchased the less expensive (but way too similar) UBP-X800M2, then yes, you would need the Insignia converter, as the X800M2 has no analog outs. If you are wanting pure DSD, you will need a high-end receiver, and with SACD more or less a dead format, that feature has been pushed back up to the very high-end models.

Now that piques my curiosity as I have the X800M2 and have noticed a significant difference playing surround SACD/DVD-A's through it compared to my Denon 2930 (when it decides to work). Would this insignia adapter compromise the video quality I get from movies? Would it improve surround playback? If I am not mistaken, the 800M2 has a digital audio out, which is how I am connecting the player to my pre-amp since my dinosaur pre-amp doesn't have HDMI.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Now that piques my curiosity as I have the X800M2 and have noticed a significant difference playing surround SACD/DVD-A's through it compared to my Denon 2930 (when it decides to work). Would this insignia adapter compromise the video quality I get from movies? Would it improve surround playback? If I am not mistaken, the 800M2 has a digital audio out, which is how I am connecting the player to my pre-amp since my dinosaur pre-amp doesn't have HDMI.

I wouldn't use it. It is a cheap DAC for one, and the purpose of this unit is for connecting an HDMI device (such as a Blu-ray player or gaming system) to an older standard definition TV that does not have HDMI inputs. Video would be reduced to 480i.

 

[jimmyjaxx]

One (stupid) question: I'm thinking of getting a X1100ES and connect the HDMI to my TV receiver (for bluray, multichannel etc) AND connect the analog outputs to my analog hi-fi amp (for SACDs).
Is this possible? As far as I can see there is no setting for choosing between analog and digital output. Does this setup even involve disconnecting of cables if one or the other should work?
I realize this might be a stupid question, but the fact is that the guy at my local shop wasn't 100% sure, so I'm consulting the experts now. Many thanks.

 

[JohnRice]

Todd Erwin I purchased the X1100ES specifically because it had the analog outputs. But then as I read more I got confused about what exactly is going with file conversion or whatever. Exactly what would an amp that supports DSD do or not do as the case may be? I am going to take a guess that my current configuration is pushing a PCM signal converted from the DSD by the player rather than the pure DSD signal. Close?

You are using the analog outputs?

 

[SilverShadow4]

Todd Erwin, I just saw your question to jimmyjax from March. As it turns out my old Pioneer A/V receiver has a lot of options! I am running the RCA outs to analog inputs on the receiver and just tonight I played some DSD files from a USB drive for the first time. Any time I am using that input on the receiver the Sony internal DAC is doing the work whether SACD, Redbook CD, DSD from USB or AIFF from USB. But, I have also connected the digital USB out from the Sony to a digital input on the receiver which then allows me to let the PIoneer DAC convert CDs or DVDs if I want to watch a movie which lets me take advantage of Dolby and/or other DSP built into the Pioneer. So, thank you for asking that question and thank you again for your feedback last year which really helped me understand what the different “parts” are doing.