The Reavon universal players are very similar to the Oppo and use the same 'System on a Chip" for controlling the device, but have inferior DACs which cannot handle DSD natively - they down-sample to 16-bit PCM.
SACD Player/Transport Choices
I am planning to acquire a McIntosh MCT500 to go with my C53 (proprietary MCT connection). But I am wondering if there are other good SACD transport choices that will send a true DSD stream to an external DAC on a non-proprietary basis, either through USB or I2S. I’m trying to research this, but it’s difficult to find definitive answers regarding the actual digital stream from SACD - often I discover that the stream is converted to PCM. I do know PSAudio has a scheme similar to McIntosh.
I realize simply purchasing DSD and streaming from an SSD is probably more practical these days. But I am sort of fixated on a physical disc player. Budget-wise, most interested in transports around or below that of the MCT500 (~$5K). Thanks for your thoughts and advice.
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@mahler123 I'm sure it can decode DSD internally and output it through the analog outs but it can't output it natively. |
@richardbrand Yeah, it only took a couple minutes of checking to verify that like the Oppo previously mentioned they are players and all of the processing is done internally. The resulting output may be passed via HDMI but it is definitely analog. |
@faustuss Not sure if you are referring to the Reavon universal disk transport / players, but the UBR-X110 I mentioned is a pure transport and its outputs are digital only - 2 x HDMI, 1 x coax digital and 1 x optical digital. It transports SACD natively over HDMI. The UBR-X200 on the other hand does add two Burr-Brown DACs, one for two-channel analogue playback and one for multi-channel, including SACDs. These DACs are inferior to the ESS Sabre DACs in the Oppo, in particular because they cannot natively process DSD. They down-convert to CD quality! So in my book, the DACs in the 200 are a waste of money, especially when compared to the DAC-less 110. Both are excellent transports. HDMI is a digital standard, but that does not stop others from trying to push analogue down the cable. The Dometic analogue TV cameras in my motorhome connect to the display head using an HDMI cable and standard connections, which are particularly unsuitable for in-vehicle installations. There is a rugged HDMI connector made specifically for in-vehicle use, but Dometic don't use it. This is an unnatural act, in my opinion, like using HDMI cable for I2S |
- 75 posts total