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I am ready to make the jump back into multichannel audio with my collection of around 700 ripped SACDS and eClassical FLAC downloads (will have to go back and extract/claim them), 95% of them classical. Once upon a time I used an Oppo 103 and Denon 4310 AVR with a quintet of Klipsch Reference line speakers, but between the room setup and fiddling with Audyssey I was never really wowed by the results, and switched exclusively to stereo after acquiring a Teac DSD-capable dac and a pair of Epos Epic 2s. Now we have moved into a house with gameroom/loft area (14ft depth x 14.5ft width, 14dx11.5w usable space excluding walkway to bedroom) that should work for a surround setup and I am ready to select new speakers for it. I will be using stand-mounted bookshelfs for the rear channels and need to select an ideal solution for the main and center channels. Option 1: Three < 40in Towers: My first inclination was to go with something like Kal Rubinson's Monitor Audio Silver 8 setup (IMG_0033a.jpg (960×720) (stereophile.com)) with a trio of tower speakers (likely will add subs eventually), as many seem to assert that traditional center channel speakers are inferior for music purposes. However I am afraid this will make setting up a mounted TV or projector less practical (we'd like the space to double for home theater) - I care less about aesthetics and more about the screen being too high on the wall for a 14ft-deep room, though shorter towers (Monitor Audio 200s) could help with TV height situation (also see option 3). Option 2: Three Stand-Mounted Bookshelf Speakers (one on lower stand?) I suspect KEF LS50 Metas would work well for this, though adding sub(s) may be more imperative. Would using a lower stand (or cabinet) for the center bookshelf speaker be problematic for imaging? Option 3: Shorter Tower (or Bookshelf) from Same Family for Center Monitor Audio's Silver series offers this option (a 35in 200 could be paired with two 40in 300s), but finding this option with other speaker brands seems unlikely, and sonic signature of a shorter/bookshelf speaker might be too different to justify selecting it over a traditional center channel. Option 4: Traditional Center Channel Would room correction/DSP be able to overcome the sonic shortcomings of this option? This would be the easiest way to go for home theater and available variety. Other Considerations: _As a Roon user I will eventually want to integrate a multichannel Roon Ready endpoint like the exaSound S88. _Selecting speakers that could be driven by my Denon 4310, at least for the short term until I upgrade amplification, would be ideal. _I expect I will need to use room correction software like Dirac Live to achieve the best results. Thanks for you input! David W.

Hello, first of all, I'd like to say i'm not fluent with english so please, try be comprehensive with me ? I have 2 questions. Both of them are related to my configuration which is based on : A Raspberry PI 3 B+ (1 board) An Isolator v1.2 card (1 board) A KATANA V1.2 DAC (3 board) That makes a 5 boards stacked in the selled by Allo acrylic Case. This config is powered by 2 external power (both 5V 3A : coming from Allo's website and bought with the Katana) : 1st one directly on the Isolator card (USB-C connector) 2nd one using USB-C connector on the card on top of the set-up (SparkOS Micro Controller) There is a 8GB sd Card on which I've installed Volumio. Volumio is reading audio files from a NFS share located on a NAS. I don't have issues to read FLAC files but I can't read AAC, SACD tracks inside ISO file, DSD tracks inside ISO file, DFF files. 1- Can you explain me how can I do that please ? I also realised that when I don't play any track, it's like if there were some "wind" in the room. I mean I can hear a noise which I don't hear if I switch my amplifier on another source (like CD player, turntable or TV). 2- Do I have to check or change anything to make it work normally ? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks a lot.

I currently own a Pioneer PD-10 which handles SACDs as well as CDs. It also plays back DVD-Rs on which have been recorded hi-res audio files sourced from shop-bought SACDS (my backups). I have many other 96/24 recordings of my own tho' which I'd like to put onto disk but lack the knowledge of how to do this without downgrading them? Is a DVD-R the answer and how to burn the files so that they playback on my Pioneer with no downgrade in quality? Thanks, peeps.

Music Direct are taking orders for Heart like a Wheel in SACD or if you like Vinyl. This album has touched my heart many times. Given Linda's health at the moment, it's the least we can do is to place an order for this this fine work.

Oppo has announced a few more details on their upcoming UDP-205 disc player.... Lossless High-resolution Audio Audio format support has been expanded to multi-channel DSD64/128, as well as 192kHz/24-bit PCM used in high-resolution lossless formats such AIFF, ALAC, APE, FLAC and WAV. (DSD64 is played back in native mode or converted to PCM, DSD128 converted to PCM.) http://oppodigital.com/blu-ray-udp-205/

Are you still spinning discs too, whether vinyl itself or various 12cm varieties ? A Thread then to share discs—ɹǝʌǝʇɐɥʍ, whenever released, we'd like to Comment upon Well, I recently bought all 10 SACD Soundtracks of Wong Kar Wai's films : He's celebrating 25 years... Generally, the most accessible, English-wise, are tracks in My Strawberry Nights : Incidentally, Anniversary set also available individually in vinyl

When I buy SACDs, how can I be sure they aren't just Redbook CDs that have been upsampled?

Playback Designs has announced their new Dream Series products which include the MPD-8 DAC with Quad DSD playback ($22,000) and the MPT-8 Digital Music Transport ($14,000 - $22,000) which brings CD and SACD disc playback along with an optional music server to the Dream Series products. The new Dream Series products will be shown in prototype form at the upcoming AXPONA and High End Munich audio shows in April and May 2017. http://positive-feedback.com/industry-news/playback-designs-dream-series-quad-dsd-dac-transport/

What is a good approach to listening to DSD files (.dsf mainly) with a Chord DAVE? Edited: (my error in setting things up).

Hi everybody, Maybe I am not posting this into the correct forum... but here it is : Anyone who knows how to do this can copy / paste this text where it belongs so that everyone hears about this news. I can rip any SACD stereo or multichannel on my recent Primare BD32 MKII, (with the latest firmware) so this one can be listed with the Oppo's and Pioneers among others. It makes ISO files (bit to bit copy of my SACD, as well as DSF files (as tracks) It works fine with the USB stick with the AutoScript folder (with 3 files in it) and together with ISO2DSD and it rips a 1 hour SACD in less then 15 minutes (over cabled IP network) I am a lucky guy ! Thx all of you. Koen.

Hi everybody, Maybe I am not posting this into the correct forum... but here it is : Anyone who knows how to do this can copy / paste this text where it belongs so that everyone hears about this news. I can rip any SACD stereo or multichannel on my recent Primare BD32 MKII, (with the latest firmware) so this one can be listed with the Oppo's and Pioneers among others. It makes ISO files (bit to bit copy of my SACD, as well as DSF files (as tracks) It works fine with the USB stick with the AutoScript folder (with 3 files in it) and together with ISO2DSD and it rips a 1 hour SACD in less then 15 minutes (over cabled IP network) I am a lucky guy ! Thx all of you. Koen.

Hi everybody, I am completely new here (from Belgium, btw) and I have a question on how to rip SACD on an Oppo BDP-103EU. In picture attached you will find the numbers " 8550 " (which I suppose is the MediaTek MT8550 chipset) Although this is the setup (soft-and firmware version) of an Oppo BDP-103EU unit, I am not sure whether this unit indeed can rip SACD because 8550 is not 8580 (as is needed) nor 8560 chip. Can you eventually send me a picture of an Oppo 103 setup page with soft- and firmware details of which you are sure they will work for ripping SACD together with the ISO2DSD software ? Is there any limitation on the firmware upgrade ? Or how can one see that the Oppo actually has this MediaTek MT8580 chip (SOC) on board ? Thank you very much for your reply. You can do this here or preferably by PM to koen.michels(at)telenet.be Kindest regards. Koen. Note : I have not yet bought an Oppo 103 or 105 - Awaiting absolute certainty !

Hi everybody, I am completely new here (from Belgium, btw) and I have a question on how to rip SACD on an Oppo BDP-103EU. In picture attached you will find the numbers " 8550 " (which I suppose is the MediaTek MT8550 chipset) Although this is the setup (soft-and firmware version) of an Oppo BDP-103EU unit, I am not sure whether this unit indeed can rip SACD because 8550 is not 8580 (as is needed) nor 8560 chip. Can you eventually send me a picture of an Oppo 103 setup page with soft- and firmware details of which you are sure they will work for ripping SACD together with the ISO2DSD software ? Is there any limitation on the firmware upgrade ? Or how can one see that the Oppo actually has this MediaTek MT8580 chip (SOC) on board ? Thank you very much for your reply. You can do this here or preferably by PM to koen.michels(at)telenet.be Kindest regards. Koen. Note : I have not yet bought an Oppo 103 or 105 - Awaiting absolute certainty !

I've collected a number of SACD ISOs I've been converting them using the sacd_extract.exe in Windows to DSF. I'm wondering if this is the best way to convert since some of the SACD ISOs may be in DSD128 or higher? Is there a conversion tool that supports outputting the higher resolutions, or will they all be converted to plain DSD? I'm not trying to upsample DSD, just preserve the original resolution. I've heard a couple of DSD512s that have sounded better than any recordings I have heard so far, except for the few times I've been able to hear master tape or copies of master tapes.

I hope this isn't the wrong place to ask. I've got a Marantz SR7007. I use it's built in DAC for now which isn't DSD capable as far as i can tell. I downloaded the SACD Plugin and am curious if i have to change settings to convert to PCM and sample rate of 176.4khz due to my Marantz only having a 24/192 DAC. I currently have all the settings on to where it would play DSD, with DSD processor option ticked: Output Mode: DSD+PCM PCM Volume: +0db LFE as is PCM Sample rate: 352.8khz DSD2PCM Mode: I have no idea what to select here(Options are Multistage 32fp or 64fp/ Direct 32fp or 64fp/ Installable 32 or 64fp) DSD Processor: Ticked on. All my dsd files show they are playing at their resolution in Foobar status bar, but my Marantz is converting it to 24/192 on it's own correct? Should i ideally turn off dsd processor options and choose the 176.4khz sample rate or does it not matter? Thank you

I was wondering about DACs that are especially good with DSD. Does anyone happen to use a separate DAC just for DSD files for performance reasons? Thanks.

This was my post in the SACD Ripping thread (via Oppo/Pioneer). I didn't want to derail that thread so I created this one about the value of SACD. Thanks Do you love SACD / DSD sound? I do and always have. Why is there so much negativity about it on the other sites? Whenever it is mentioned, people say it's just remastering, or DSD is fundamentally flawed, or it's a placebo affect. To me it's night and day with transparency, bass clarity, speed, far better defined images, lack-of-fatigue in the highs, no digital shrillness, analog-like-advantages, and on and on. But there is real, almost hostile pushback, and I just don't understand it. Yep, PCM processing has come a long way, and I love what my Chord DAVE does with PCM (and it also does a fine job with native DSD, thankfully), but there is nothing like DSD to these ears. I sure hope the format stays alive in some capacity. This new method of turning SACDs into files is a Godsend, and I would hope it revives DSD to some degree. Hope springs eternal you know. But it won't happen if there is all this criticism of it. I just don't get how the audiophile community could be so critical of something that just sounds so great. I guess there is no accounting for taste, but do others in this thread hear what I have always heard from DSD? Thanks for any comments. Here is the other thread about SACD ripping with Oppo/Pioneer.

If you're a fan of Steely Dan and surround sound listener at all, you probably have one or more of Elliot Scheiner's fantastic 5.1 remixes of either Gaucho, Two Against Nature or Everything Must Go, or Donald Fagen's first three solo albums, and know how mind-blowingly good they are. In 2004, Universal listed Steely Dan's first six albums (Can't Buy A Thrill through Aja) as multichannel SACDs "coming soon" on their website, but they ended their support for surround sound music in early 2005 and the whole project was scrapped. Recently a small group of us from the QuadraphonicQuad.com forums have had some contact with someone close to the band who wants to see this project re-started, and can put the case forward on our behalf to someone at UMG who's in a position to investigate making it happen. Obviously with any kind of endeavour like this there are a million hurdles to overcome but it's our understanding via our contact that a show of support from potential purchasers might help get the ball rolling. The petition is here if you'd like to show your interest. Scheiner said in interviews circa 2006 that the 5.1 mix for Pretzel Logic at the very least was completed, so if we can help get that released at the very least, I'd consider it a major win simply based on how good his 5.1 remix of Gaucho is. Anything beyond that would be a bonus - I know we've all heard the "missing multi-tracks" stories about Black Cowand Aja, but who knows what's transpired in that regard in the last 10 years.

Luxman D-08u SACD Player and DAC "The D-08u looks so good and sounds so good playing discs or files via its USB input that at its price I can’t think of a better or more versatile way to crunch bits into music." "Where the Luxman player succeeds (and where so many other one-box players fall short) is in making the SACD layer sound like a better, fuller, more realistic version of the music captured on the CD layer." -Dennis Davis (The Audio Beat, October 2015) If you're looking for a player that is capable of getting the most out of your SACD collection, as well as, your hi-res downloads, then look no further than Luxman's flagship D-08u SACD/DAC player. The D-08u produces an expression and detail unimaginable for CD players using any less than Luxman's high quality components, attention to detail and of course passion for high-fidelity audio. Equipped with both USB and CD and ready for multiple file formats and platforms the D-08u is a CD player in a league of its own. With the D-08u you no longer have to agonize over choosing an SACD player or a stand-alone DAC. For more information or to purchase, please visit us here. This product qualifies for Free Shipping and 5% back in points when you register for Club Ciamara Membership Rewards Program 1.844.CIAMARA (1.844.242.6272) High End Audio Store NYC - Experience Ciamara

Silver APL Denon 3910. Upgraded with 32bit AKM DACs, 211/32 up-sampler, H-Attenuator and ECC99 tube output stage with APL's upgraded output transformers. Has RCA and XLR outputs, as well as S/PDIF digital input accepting up to 24/192 (internally up-sampled to 211/32). I've been using it primarily as a DAC, it plays CD/DVD-A and SACD as well. You will not find a better digital player for anywhere near this price. Includes remote control, paperwork and heavy duty foam-filled SBK shipping case ($240 value) $1,900 + shipping. Paypal adds 3% 32bit/ECC99 upgrade 32-bit AKM DACs Digital Input board Volume control 24/192 DAC input Plays CD/DVD-A and SACD

I search for advice in order to choose between those two ESS9018 based DACs (or indeed smth in same price range). Issue is that the final choice has to feed ML electrostatic speakers (via Primaluna Prologue One) and I like large sound-stage with good transparency (vocal + classical). Source will be mostly High resolution files (LINN etc) and later DSD/DSF files, currently system is mainly fed by Marantz KI SACD. Planning to use JRiver MC on Passive Ivy Minis SSD and link it to DAC via Belknin Gold Series Hi-Speed USB, and maybe add even iPurifier between (not sure if it is needed)....any weak points here? Thank you in advance

Somewhat of a noob issue as I am simply trying to playback SACD's on my bluray player. I was surprised that I could only get digital audio out from a new SACD purchase via HDMI. On further research discovered this has something to do with DRM which is only supported with HDMI. But, my DAC does not have any HDMI inputs! So what do people do? I did notice I have a toslink (optical digital) out on the back of my plasma. So would one possible solution be to go HDMI out to plasma> toslink out to DAC ?? Would my DAC still be getting the full SACD signal?

Hi there Just trying to do some ISO-DSF conversion. I've used ISO2DSD a little and have not heard clicks, but now I'm neurotic about it and trying to find the most perfect solution so I don't have to do it twice. I've got as far as the new non-clicking version of sacd_extract. It runs, and looks like it's working, but then Windows (8.1) immediately says "sacd_extract has stopped working". The programme in command line doesn't get further than trying to do the first track, and Windows offers to close it down. Any idea what could be causing this? (It's a classical album probably with long metadata fields.)

Now I finally found a solution to extract SACD ISO files on the fly. No need for Terminal, or the SACD-Xtract software... I just use AudirvanaPlus … This cool software has ALL I NEED!!!!!! There is an option: "Add Files To iTunes" in AudirvanaPlus. Be sure first to uncheck the two boxes in the iTunes Prefs->Advanced: "Keep iTunes Media folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library". I then drag my ISO file to the new opened window, set the "Quality of the proxy files to "Uncompressed" and whushhhh…. AudirvanaPlus extracts, and converts all the files I need. And adds them to iTunes too When finished, remember to tick the two boxes in iTunes again. Hours, or even weeks of conversion are just done within minutes now. Best Regards KK

Hi all, I own some DSD files encapsulated into FLAC container. I do not know who is the author of those files but they play well on my previous Lumin Music player. Today I've tested those files in Jriver 18 but It don't play them. Jriver perfectly read tags of those flacs but if I listen to the sound I can hear only noise. I've some other .dff files that jriver play well. So my questions are: 1) there is some way to play those flacs in Jriver? 2) there is some tool to extract .dff files from those flacs ? thank you all.