Converting SACD ISO to FLAC files

Nobody will take my money, but that is because the taxman a taken all my dow

 

I see, I wasn't meaning to sound objectional. I think it ended up being about extracting rather than converting because he wants to use VLC to play the files after so he would need to extract the files rather than convert anything.

OP, with your setup I don't really have anything valuable to add as I have never used your setup and use original DVD-A or SACD so the only time I axtract anything is when I want to have a listen on my Pono. Maybe a better thing to do would be figure out how to use the ISO as is and find a way to play the ISO without extracting files.

I did have an SACD ISO passed to me from a friend a while back and I ended up burning it to a DVD and played it on my Blu-Ray through the home system.

 

Why don't you use Google to find your answer? There is a free program called SACD extract for Windows that will generate DSD files from the .iso, then a variety of programs to convert the DSD files to FLAC

 

I'm not sure about the "least expensive" part, but your favorite method is legal and trouble-free

 

This worked perfectly, thanks

 

Can someone tell me how to split one big dsf file, into several dsd track?

Thanks

 

Bumping this back up because I have a question about converting DSF to Flac. It seems like there isn't much savings. In one case, the Flac was bigger than the original DSF.

What benefit is there to compressing the DSF to Flacs?

Last night I ripped the 30th Anniv DSOTM to ISO. Then used ISO2DSD to break the ISO into individual tracks of DSF. From there I tried converting the DSFs to Flac. The Flac output was usually about 10%-20% smaller than the DSF except for one file, Money was about 15% bigger as a Flac than the original DSF. The Flac converter was set to level 8 and took a while to run. At a 10% savings I'm not sure that I feel the need to convert to Flac.
What are others doing? Was this an anomoly? Is there something better than Flac? Just leave it as an ISO?

 

It has been a while since your post went unanswered. I am not sure what you are asking. My understanding is the ISO is a single large file with tracks stored inside. The ISO is split into individual tracks of DSF. Although, I'm new to this and could be completely wrong.

 

foobbar2000+foo_input_sacd then use the convert function with flac.exe. All are free, Windows only.

 

The only benefit is compatibility. FLAC files (=PCM, usually 24/88 or 24/176 when converted from DSD) can be played on many more devices than DSD files.

If you rip SACDs to ISO, and you play them on your computer, there is little point in converting the ISO to individual files (DSD or PCM), since there are software players that can play the ISO directly.

If you convert your SACD rips to FLAC, don't delete the ISO, since that is the original data from the SACD, while the FLAC files are lossy DSD-PCM conversions. If you have a DAC which allows for DSD input (this is a standard feature now with new models), you can play the DSD data (ISO or DSF files) without PCM conversion.

Concerning the question in the opening post, I use Foobar2000 with the SACD plugin to convert individual tracks of the SACD ISO to 24/88 FLAC files. The output settings in the SACD plugin apply to the Foobar2000 format conversion function too. Mark the tracks, then right click, choose "convert to". You need to select the settings the first time.

I convert ISO files only to be able to check individual tracks in a spectrum analyzer program (which does PCM only), to detect 44Khz recordings/masterings in my SACD collection.

 

@Claude Thanks that helps.

My DAC is PCM only and I use JRiver to feed it via USB from files stored on a NAS. I haven't actually tried playing anything through the DAC yet but it sounds like DSFs converted to Flacs will be the way for me to go, while keeping the ISOs for possible future use.

That also explains the extra time to convert to Flac, that the conversion is really two parts, convert to PCM then compress to Flac. Which then brings the question, what level of PCM is it using? I'll have to dig into that.

That still leaves a third option, leave it as ISO and have JRiver convert it to PCM on the fly, or is that too much work for my lowly I3 laptop to do on the fly?

 

ISO2DSD is the easy way, as you point out.

 

In stereo and with no other operations, it work fine. Easy to try.

 

Update, I think I found my problem. I needed to set the DSP in JRiver to cap the files at 24/176 when converted to PCM. My guess is that they were 24/352, or 32/352. Converted PF WYWH and the Flac compression is a better savings over the DSF.
I'm re-converting DSOTM to 24/176 to see how that turns out.

Edit, yes, that was the problem. The Flac of Money is now 1/3 smaller than the DSF. I think we are in business finally.

 

This works and is super easy

 

OK. You seemed like you knew what you were talking about, so I downloaded both those software you mentioned. ISO2DVD worked perfect to extract DSF from the ISO. However, DBPoweramp did NOT convert the DSF to FLAC. That software didn't even recognize DSF as an audio file in its drop-down menu of 'files of type'. They had everything BUT DSF. I even used ISO2DVD to convert the ISO to DFF. dbPoweramp didn't recognize DFF files either. What gives? I trusted you. I did download the Trial Version of dbPoweramp, so maybe that's why, but it doesn't seem like it has any limitations.
Thanks.

 

It sounds like you are missing a codec. dBpoweramp Codec Central Direct Stream Digital: DSD .dff .dsf sacd and install the DSD, you will need dbPoweramp release 12 or later for that codec.

 

Yes. There's no need for dbPoweramp to rip/convert SACDs; ISO2DSD (not ISO2DVD) is all you need.

 

ISO2DSD converts to FLAC from SACD? I cn't for the life f me find a

 

What do you use to play your music files?
JRiver will convert from DSD to Flac.

 

Assuming I understand what you meant to say despite the truncation: I was not talking about converting to FLAC but from SACD to ISO to DSF/DFF is all handled efficiently with the ISO2DSD GUI. If one cannot play the DSF/DFF directly or chooses not to, one can convert it via JRiver which will (1) play ISOs, (2) play DSF/DFF, (3) convert ISO/DSF/DFF on the fly to PCM, (4) convert ISO/DSF/DFF files to PCM/FLAC files. Yes, dbPowerAmp can convert DSF/DFF files to FLAC files but, if one uses RJiver, it is not needed.

 

Good info, not sure what happened there with my keyboard. Think I will take a look at JRiver myself.

 

I see. I ended up using JRiver to convert DSF to FLAC. JRiver actually even PLAYS the DSF files, and they sound remarkable without converting to FLAC. More pristine audio. I typically use RealPlayer to play audio because it has an equalizer and sounds pretty good, but JRiver not only has an equalizer also, and plays DSF files, but it just sounds better. Only drawback is that it's a 30-day trial. Costs $50. Might well be worth it. Thanks for your help and thanks for the tip on ISO2DVD. That was the missing link.

 

Thanks. ISO2DVD worked well to extract DSF from ISO. I used JRiver to convert DSF to FLAC. Free 30-day trial, plus it will also play the DSF files, as is, and they sound remarkable.

 

I have no experience of converting SACD ISO to FLAC, but i have used one program - WonderFox DVD Ripper before to converted my DVD ISO to FLAC. I am not sure whether it is workable for converting SACD ISO.