Backing up SACDs now possible..

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by yamfox, Jun 23, 2011.

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  1. SamS

    SamS Forum Legend

    Location:
    Texas
    Interesting, but sounds waaaaaay complex. It would be more simple to find/buy a pre-3.55 via eBay, etc. They are still around in numbers.

    The mod requires extensive soldering skills, check out all the yellow wires!
     
  2. I didn't say I would ever attempt it myself, the process looks strictly for hardware superhackers.:D But it does increase the number of possible PS3s that can rip the SACDs. I'm sure an enterprising person can come up with a more elegant solution.
     
  3. Black Elk

    Black Elk Music Lover

    Location:
    Bay Area, U.S.A.
    Doesn't that automatically limit you to an HDMI-based solution if you stick with consumer gear?
     
  4. SamS

    SamS Forum Legend

    Location:
    Texas
    Yes, but why is that bad? My processor accepts/decodes HDMI for all formats, including DSD.

    I just need something that receivers multichannel PCM or DSD that accepts those 5.1 formats over TCP/IP transmission.
     
  5. stereoguy

    stereoguy Its Gotta Be True Stereo!

    Location:
    NYC
    Sound Loss

    With all this digital and file manipulation, conversion and what not, I have a feeling some of the sound quality is going out the window. People tell me they hear a difference in a simple DSD to PCM conversion in a player, I can just imagine whats going on with all this backup/copying manipulation. Is it really worth it?
     
  6. SamS

    SamS Forum Legend

    Location:
    Texas
    You don't have to convert, to make a backup of an SACD. In fact, the actual "ripping" options are similar to what you have when you rip a CD to a lossless PCM format. You can make an ISO image, which is the exact data and disc structure as the original recording. Or rip the actual DST stream that all SACDs use for the DSD material.

    Is it really worth it? If the other option is "no back up at all", then I think the only obvious answer is "yes".
     
  7. Black Elk

    Black Elk Music Lover

    Location:
    Bay Area, U.S.A.
    It's not! It's the only consumer interface that supports the data transfer. It does limit what you can interface to, as I don't recall seeing any HDMI-equipped DACs. More and more PCs are carrying HDMI, so I imagine streaming over that interface should not be the bottleneck. Networking of M-ch audio, yes, I don't think that there is a Squeezebox equivalent.

    As for stereoguy's question, while DSD<->PCM conversions can be audible, copying and file format changes (WAV<->AIFF) have no effect in a digital system, that's the beauty of digital. SamS could send his files into deep space and back, and provided he gets the same data back nothing has changed.
     
  8. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    For the same reason you would want to back anything up. If something happened to the original, you still have the copy, or vice versa.
     
  9. When discs start going for $200 and up, which is not uncommon now on some of the rarer SACDs I own, it is much more comforting to be using a DVD-R copy for playback instead of the original disc.
     
  10. SamS

    SamS Forum Legend

    Location:
    Texas
    To me, it's not even important to play the backup vs. the original. With backups, I can store an ISO on a hard drive off site with the rest of my redbook PCM backups, in case of fire/theft/whatever. Replacing 10 of my favorite SACDs could easily run $1000. I can now back up bit-perfect copies for offsite storage, free.
     
  11. EddieVanHalen

    EddieVanHalen Forum Resident

    Very convenient and cheap. I have three copies of the E.T. sountrack. One I use to play at home, second, I have at home also but sealed, the third is at a friend's at 1.300 Km from where I live.
     
  12. Tony Plachy

    Tony Plachy Senior Member

    Location:
    Pleasantville, NY
    Guys, I do not want to go off on a tangent here, but SACD's worth $200? :confused: Where are you guys getting this from?
     
  13. SamS

    SamS Forum Legend

    Location:
    Texas
  14. EddieVanHalen

    EddieVanHalen Forum Resident

  15. chriss71

    chriss71 Active Member

    Location:
    Austria
    The question is, with which converter. With saracon I don't believe. When you download from HDTracks what do you think which converter they use (I give you a hint, it begins with S and stops with N :winkgrin:).

    With my equipment I don't hear a difference between my SACD and my converted 24, 88.2 FLAC Files.

    :cheers:
     
  16. Tony Plachy

    Tony Plachy Senior Member

    Location:
    Pleasantville, NY
    Wow, I had no idea this was going on with OOP SACD's. I did a little research and I am in shock as to what some of the SACD's that I bought for $15 or less back in the 2002 - 2003 time frame are now worth. I need to back these things up one way or the other.
     
  17. SamS

    SamS Forum Legend

    Location:
    Texas
    It's almost ridiculous that I used to go into Tower Records and see 24 feet of Sony SACDs for ~$17 each. I could make a small fortune if I knew then what we know now.
     
  18. hardy

    hardy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southeast Asia
    Anyone want to try my home-brewed ISO created in superauthor using freely distributed DSD files from Nordic audio (2L) and Bluecoast Music?

    8 stereo tracks of orchestral and unplugged flamenco guitars. The iso file loads in foobar with sacd plugin and plays OK. I burned a disc with ultraISO and it plays flawlessly in my denon and oppo br players. Hope any adventurous folk out here can burn it to dvdrw to give it a spin on their player (on the approved list) or via their foobar player.

    If you're interested in printing out a cover for a successfully playable SACD-R, here it is:
    http://i1103.photobucket.com/albums/g464/hardlok/SacdrtestCDcover.png
     
  19. hardy

    hardy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southeast Asia
    For those of you who have ever dabbled in DVD-Audio ripping, and then had your efforts thwarted by the stubborn embedded watermark data which stops backed-up DVD-As from playing in universal players that honour the watermark, I think SACD-R is now the light at the end of the tunnel. How so? Here's the new workaround:

    1) Rip watermarked audio in WAV/FLAC format from DVD-A.
    2) Convert to DSD to completely annihilate the watermark! (without major compromise in resolution)
    3) Back up to SACD-R for playback on compatible non-psp transports/players/DACs.

    The watermark can withstand obliteration within the pcm data domain, but there's no way it will survive conversion to DSD, and the point is even moot when we've transcoded to migrate from a DVD-A hardware platform to a SACD platform.

    Long live SACD-R!
     
  20. Claude

    Claude Senior Member

    Location:
    Luxembourg
    I think we're in a transitional period now, where SACDs go OOP and other hi-rez formats are not yet available. Once hi-rez downloads become available, I'm sure prices of OOP SACDs of the same titles will drop significantly, at least for the stereo-only ones. A large part of the demand for rare SACDs comes from audiophiles who are not disc collectors, and who will adopt other formats if they have to pay a $100 price premium for an OOP SACD.
     
  21. Peacekeepr73

    Peacekeepr73 Digitally Remastered Member

    Location:
    Wyoming, Michigan
    I think I will just stick with exploiting the Analog hole and recording my SACDs at 24/96 then creating a DVD-A, much simpler.
     
  22. Claude

    Claude Senior Member

    Location:
    Luxembourg
    As far as I can see from the documentation, doing SACD rips with a modded PS3 is now the simplest and best solution, because it allows to copy the SACD layer (stereo and multichannel) and burning it to a DVD-R, which will play like a SACD on some SACD players. No need to edit tracks, no conversion to analogue or PCM. The same file can also be played on the PC (foobar2000 with SACD plugin), though in stereo only and with PCM conversion.
     
  23. coffeecupman

    coffeecupman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Caterham, UK
    Haha,

    I once tried to mod a PS2 to be region free. Similar soldering challenge. I thought I had nailed it. It looked beautiful.

    ...but I must have put too much heat on the chip. Never worked again :D

    I have to admit, I'd be tempted to get back on that horse, just to see how my skills have improved in the last four years.

    ccm
     
  24. coffeecupman

    coffeecupman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Caterham, UK
    You could probably use a Metric Halo LIO-8 with a Mac via firewire. Resident guru Barry Diament loves 'em.

    Ok, at 4 grand they're more expensive than a Squeezebox, but they're well in reach for many an audiophile on this forum.

    You could also use a Meridian HD621 HDMI audio processing unit to break up the multichannel from HDMI into individual channels for another type of multichannel dac.

    Just two ideas.

    ccm
     
  25. stenway

    stenway Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    anybody knows how play a .iso sacdrip on mac?
     
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