Downconvert SACD to CD

Is it doable ? A friend of mine wants to copy his rare sacd for me but my vintage gear can't read it. 'd like to make a cd of it. Is there a program that will do this in a relative simple way ? (windows 7). The ISO file is already in my HD.

 

I am not sure how to get the .iso to dsf files, but this may help. http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=129913.0

Once you get them to dsf, you can use Foobar2000 and the SACD plugin to play and then convert to flac, mp3, etc. I have taken dsf and made flacs and it sounds very nice.

 

You should be able to just load the .ISO and (with the SACD plugin) convert to FLAC right from Foobar2000 (I've done it many times). You have to set the output to 16 bit, 44.1 KHz so the FLACs will be CD compliant. I then use Nero to burn as it converts FLAC on the fly during the burning process.

 

Thanks. I needed that information to.

 

Could you simply down mix the audio to 2 channels @ 44.1khz/16 bit and use the optical digital output of the SACD player and connect it to a CD recorder deck? That should work I think.

 

I use CDBurnerXP and have never had to downsample the flacs I burn to cd. Just FYI in case you wanted to leave them at a higher sample rate for pc listening, etc.

 

Pardon my ignorance, but how do you rip a SACD in the first place?

 

My understanding is that you need a PS3 that is modified. Other than that, i do not know.

 

Oh sure. Sorry, I was just commenting on the OP's fact that he wanted a CD. You can leave them as higher resolution FLACs with Nero as well but you have to burn it as a data CD/DVD instead of an audio disc. Thanks though !

 

I actually burn audio cd's with the high res flac with no problem with CDBurner XP. It seems to convert pretty well as it burns.

I have not tried Nero, but CDBurnerXP is free, just fyi.

 

In case it helps, here's where you go to change the output settings of the SACD .iso in Foobar2000



Under preferences and tools, you highlight SACD (remember SACD playback is a free plugin that you have to add first if you haven't done so already). The ASIO driver mode should be PCM and you should change the sample rate to match what you'd like. If you want this for CD burning, 44100 is an output option. If you want it for playback on a device that can handle high resolution audio, you can set it for a higher sampling rate.

Once you've loaded the .ISO file into Foobar2000 for playback, it should recognize all the tracks on the disc. Make sure you highlight all the tracks, then right click and choose "Convert" then "Quick Convert"

The next popup is where you choose the bit rate of the output and the file type:



In this example you can either keep it as WAV for CD burning, or you could choose something else such as FLAC. Under "output bit depth" you can choose 16, 24 or 32 bit.

For a free tool, it's very, very handy ! I use it primarily to create high resolution FLACs of my SACDs to play back on my Fiio X5 portable player.

 

That's certainly the easiest way of doing it, but Foobar's DSD to PCM conversion isn't the best. For one thing it doesn't filter out the ultra-sonic noise.

 

Yes, it does. Use Direct (IIR30) or Installable FIR (FIR30/40/50/60) DSD2PCM conversion modes. These filters, however, are not really needed for 44.1 kHz sampling rate PCM (CDDA)...

 

I'd just record the analog out to the computer and capture it with Audacity as a 16/44.1 WAV and then make a CD of that. Ripping SACD's is a pain in the ass and I've ripped hundreds from my collection for personal use.

 

This is where one of the Tascam DR series SDHC recorders )DR-40, 22 or 44, comes in handy and make a analog to digital copy of any thing to MP3 to redbook, or up to 2496 resolution. Also the Sony PCM-M10 will also do this. You can then easily upload them USB to your computer and play them or burn them with the right software. Check Sweetwater.com if you are interested.