2. digital
  3. 1285055559

Anyone tried ripping SACD as 24bit PCM?

I came across this device that extracts 24bit PCM from HDMI interface.

Atlona HD570

When used with SACD player capable of converting DSD to PCM through HDMI, this device can extract the PCM audio stream and redirect to S/PDIF. I'm currently converting my CD, DVD Audio and HDAD collection to FLAC to be used with computer transport and Ayre QB-9 DAC. I haven't found any solution for ripping my 100+ SACD besides extracting the redbook layer which is clearly inferior to the SACD layer. If this device really works, this could be the solution for extracting hires layer from SACD.

It looks like Oppo is a popular platform for this use. However there has been a report that Oppo converts DSD to PCM only in 24/88. Obviously this approach will depend highly on the SACD player, as DSD to PCM conversion will occur in the decoder chip used in the SACD player. I don't have Oppo, but I have the first gen PS3 capable of playing SACD, and also Sony XA5400ES SACD player. I think PS3 could work with this device, although I'm not sure about the quality of decoded PCM audio stream. Does anyone know of XA5400ES is capable of converting DSD to PCM through HDMI output?

My goal is to convert DSD to either 24/88 or 24/96 PCM without losing too much quality, then record the PCM as FLAC using my Macbook Pro. Then the archived files will be served by JRiver music server. Has anyone attempted anything like this?
jylee

Showing 3 responses by kijanki

kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,394 posts
 
Esmith3671 - I know you were only talking about playback but I wish I could load SACD to my hard disk and play them without loss of quality.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,394 posts
 
Jylee - DSD in SACD is PWM done at 2.8MHz. Quality wise it should be equal to 20/96 but as far as I remember resolution of the modulator is in order of 8 bits and higher resolution is achieved by dithering. Converting it to PCM on digital side would require to read asynchronous signal without any slightest timing errors possibly not getting better quality than redbook layer. It is possible to A/D analog signal to PCM but then you have extra conversion.

Esmith3671 - Hard drive is not operating in real time. I'm not sure if you can store DSD there the same way you can on SACD on tape. Getting SACD to hard drive is difficult since there is no SACD computer drives. In addition there is strong copy protection and pit-width modulation that drive has to be able to read.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,394 posts
 
"Will there be a concern for timing issue even when converting one digital format to another digital format?"

Yes, if analog level is encoded as time interval (Pulse Width Modulation). I guess it can be converted from 1-bit DSD stream if decoder can do digital dithering(filtering) at 2.8MHz

One advantage of SACD, other than equivalent 20/96 quality is the fact that DSD in SACD is recorded without antialias filters normally used before traditional A/D converters to prevent aliasing (signal frequencies larger than half of sampling frequency will fold starting at 0Hz). These filters screw-up transient response that plays big role in spacial clues (transients are used by brain for spacial localization). DSD uses no antialias filter preserving original transients. I'm not sure if this advantage is kept while converting to PCM.
More to discover