All-In-One Options


Hi Friends:

I am interested in suggestions for a transport/streamer/network player. OK if it has an internal DAC but I would be happy to use my own. I would like the unit to spin physical media as I have a large collection of CD/SACDs. Price not important yet just getting a sense of what might be out there that I am missing.

dodgealum

@audphile1 

You said "Know that SACD cannot be output to external DAC unless you use something like D.BOB."

Don’t want to sound like a know-it-all, but I’ve been hearing this for years and, um, it’s not true.  Yes, there is a copy-protection requirement built into the SACD spec that blocks S/PDIF digital outputs from transmitting high-res signals. That’s where I believe the confusion comes from.

However, you CAN output 96 & 192K digital signals from an SACD player to an external DAC through HDMI, which includes its own content-protection protocol, thus satisfying the constraints of the SACD spec.

I know this for a fact because I’m doing it myself. Right now.

And before anybody throws up their hands and shouts "HDMI? On a DAC?", I need to mention that very good HDMI-equipped  DACs do exist. One of which is the one in the T+A R 2500 R receiver (and other T+A products I believe, all of which implement  DSD-optimized decoders) that I mentioned in my last posting.  There are also some good SACD transports that offer HDMI output, even the old $599/$1199 Oppo models.

So although D.BOB has a good reputation among users whose gear lacks HDMI connectivity, anyone purchasing new gear today is not locked by the SACD spec into buying one more box & cables.

@cundare2 96 and 192? That’s not DSD. What you’re seeing on that output as 96 and is most likely the redbook layer of the SACD album that is being upsampled by your transport. 
There are only few SACD transports that output DSD. PS Audio is one of them and needs to be connected via I2S cable (hdmi cable but not hdmi signal) to their PS Audio DAC. Because there’s no industry standard for I2S the pin layout varies and the transport is not always compatible with another brand DAC unless you can customize the pinout on the DAC or transport which some manufacturers provision for. 
Another transport That outputs DSD over PCM (DoP) is the shanling onyx zenith. Looks to be a really well made nice transport. And it’s not crazy expensive. 
I am curious about it as my Meitner DAC can accept DoP on its AES input. 

@audphile1 

I don’t want to turn this into a thing, especially since you seem to be uncharacteristically knowledgeable about the topic, but I beg to differ. I’ve written extensively on the topic in the 2000s mainstream press myself.

I don’t disagree with your basic statements. But I don’t think I claimed to be transferring native DSD to the R 2500 R through HDMI. Maybe my earlier posting was vague. I don’t think the T+A even reads DSD data over HDMI/DTCP.  It accepts DSD only via the network or through its USB inputs.

So to be clear, I’m  transferring 24-bit SACD data as stereo PCM, sampling rates up to 176.4KHz, over HDMI.  This is not upsampled 44.1/16 Red book content, but was converted by the transport from the Scarlet Book DSD.

As further confirmation of this, I’m able to play content, identified by the receiver itself as hirez, retrieved from non-hybrid SACDs -- that is, discs that have no Red Book layer.

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 I would like the unit to spin physical media as I have a large collection of CD/SACDs

I would advise against it. If limits your options down to very compromising choices.

Simaudio for the other functions.

 

@cundare2 

Got it. I guess the Oppo was built to interact with the receiver to pass DoP. But it won’t work with a typical DAC.