I’ve been using the Oppo 205 as a transport and dac for years. I’ve. considered a separate dac but the Oppo sounds great to my ears. It has dual ESS ES9038PRO Sabre Pro DACs and if there’s a substantial improvement out there I’d love to hear it!
I just made the investment in a new Marantz SA-10 SADC player. Depending on the mastering/mixing the difference between redbook cd's that I had been previously playing though an Audiolab 6000CDT transport into my dac and the SACD version is quite amazing. SACD's, especially Jazz and Vocals sound much more analogue. Maybe????..... enough to give up my vinyl.
Thanks for the reply, Paul! I didn’t mention it in my letter, but I am running an Oppo BDP 83SE. When I run a digital feed, either coax or optical, from the player, it shuts off the analog output from which the SACD/DSD signal emanates. This may not be a problem on later models, I realize. I have to say, playing SACD through the analog output still sounds really good.
Use the Oppo as a transport to output over HDMI to a higher-end AV receiver with DSD decoding capability. Just make sure in the Oppo's settings that the DSD isn't being converted to PCM.
sure he could do that but there is no guarantee that doing that would result in an improvement in sound quality. As I mentioned in a separate comment I think he should just leave his system as it is
This is exactly what I'm doing as well. I have 3 SACD players that I can use as a transport. I have an OPPO BD105D and bought an inexpensive lil black box for $50 that I output from one of the HDMI outputs that goes into the box and can then go to an I2S Input. I also have a Pioneer DVD player that plays SACDs that will do the same thing. Then I bought an inexpensive used OPPO 103 and bought an HDMI to I2S card from OPPO Mod and installed the card into it. All three can output native DSD directly to a standalone DAC. I also bought a used PS Audio Directstream Perfectwave DAC (the first gen). Not as good as the current model PS Audio Directstream Perfectwave DAC which goes for $8K. But the used older version can be had for around $2K give or take a few. Be careful when you buy it that you are getting the correct model since PS has a lot of similar named DACs. The results are stunning. My SACD front end outputting the native DSD data to the DACs I2S renders beautiful sounding music. I'm on the prowl for a used current version of the PS Audio Directstream Perfectwave DAC. They discounted it by 20% a couple months ago during an audio show, but I didn't have $6,400 at the time to buy it. But ultimately that will be the one I get for my primary tube gear and electrostatic speaker system. There's a bit of a DIY to using the OPPO Mod card and/or the Black Box but you can find discussions about it online. You can put together a great sounding SACD front end for about $2K DAC and $240 - $400 player and Black box/Mod card.
@@charlesmullighan1254 I don't think UA-cam will allow me to post a link in the comments. Every time I've done this in the past it blocks my comment. Let me look back at the forum posts and UA-cam videos I found helpful and post some "breadcrumbs" that you can use to find them. There's also my own trial and error learning like what settings to use in your SACD player to have it output DSD. The OPPO 103 will only output DSD through one of the two HDMI ports when using the Black Box.
@@charlesmullighan1254I repeat a comment because just I am reading the yours. Just I have watched to a video where is explained how to get the DSD digital output via the HDMI to convert that signal to to I2S or SPDIF. ua-cam.com/video/KAqr8MP-in4/v-deo.htmlsi=019Bix4ylpw8-n7v I also think that perhaps I could try to get the HDMI output signal from the SACD player to my Arcam AVR600 and then use the Arcam digital output to connect the DAC input. But I didn’t try it yet.
@@charlesmullighan1254 Sorry to take so long to reply. I won't post the link since it would probably get blocked. But do a UA-cam search on this video and I think it will answer a lot of your questions and may help you find more videos and postings: "Play your SACDs through your outboard DAC!" He talks about the converter box which is one way to do this. They other way is to buy an old OPPO 103 and got to the OPPOmod website and buy their card. Let me know if you need more bread crumbs.
while 44 KHz 16 bit PCM benefits from sophisticated signal interpolation and filtering that makes advanced gear sound better, the main point of DSD was the straightforward digital to analog conversion means so even inexpensive DSD player should be capable to sound excellent what DSD demands a higher bandwidth control amplfier- power amplifiers
If you spend $800 (or less used) on the D.BOB by Geer Fab Audio, you can connect the Oppo's HDMI output to it and the D.BOB's COAX output to a DoP64 compatible DAC and you can listen to your DSD layer on your SACD's. This might be more expensive than buying a new SACD player, but you can use the DAC of your own choosing. Cheers!
Depending on your Oppo, you could just rip your SACDs and then stream them from a raspberry pi to a denafrips or some other budget dac that processes sacd DSF files.
Agree that this is by far the best option. Rip the files off the SACDs and CDs to a HDD. See the PS Audio Copper Magazine article "Down the Rabbit Hole of SACD Ripping and DSD Extraction". You can only do this with specific Oppo units (BDP-93 and 95, BDP-103 and 103D, BDP-105 and 105D). Hopefully, yours is on the list. If not, look for one of the Sony units. There is an in depth post in AudiophileStyle "SACD Ripping using an Oppo or Pioneer? Yes, it's true!". Once you have the files on a HDD, then you will have maximum flexibility.
FWIW, an audiophile buddy brought his highly modified OPPO player to my room. He had invested about $1k with well regarded upgrades. Sadly, it was no match for my DIY streamer/DAC. After a few tracks he asked me to return to listening to my source as we both enjoyed the low level information it played which was absent in his OPPO. Interesting since my DIY DAC actually uses an obsolete TDA1541a DAC chip. Some how that old Philips chip from 1990 was clearly superior in both our minds. Bit perfect transport, SOTA clocking, a triode output and massive power supplies support it well.
The Oppo Blu-Ray players (like current sony bluray players) will happily send the DSD layer over HDMI. It's been in the HDMI spec to transport the encrypted DSD layer since v 1.2? from memory. I currently use a Sony UBP-X700 in just this way. you just need signal processor (AVI / integrated / DAC) that has a HDMI input and who's dac supports SACD. I use an Onkyo RX-50, as surround SACD is the duck-guts + I use it for the TV and radio...
This is correct. And if you don't want to go the AV receiver route there is the D.BOB from GeerFab which has an HDMI in and outputs either DSD (over PCM) or hi-res PCM.
Great recommendation in utilizing the best of both worlds, thank you Paul! My question is, would the HDMI out on the BDP 105 link up audio signal to a I2S input of a DAC?
OPPO pivoted to Phones around 2018. They released their baddest ass model the 4k Bluray player w/full surround decoding & outputs. Topping it all off, is HDMI INPUTS! Sofa king awesome, and then months later they release a statement their out of the home AV biz and into the Phone biz.
A separate DAC isn't always better. Many years ago I has a Technics SL-P999 CD player and connected it's optical digital output to an external DAC and it sounded worse.
@@GregMoore-g2o Do we know if the output through HDMI is digital or analog? DSD encoded support decoded after internal DAC through HDMI ready to be "converted" by chinese little boxes? or HDMI-analog → alliexpress-box-coverterer [ADC] → digital output with no original DSD ?
@@Jorge-Fernandez-Lopez In the case of my OPPO 205 the DSD is output digitally through the hdmi output unaltered from an SACD disc. The trick is to find a dac or receiver that accepts it through hdmi such as the Bryston
Playing SACD's DSD Layer through a separate DAC is a bit messy due to copyright protection.. My understanding is the only way to do that is I2S and must with compatible I2S capable DACs....
With my McIntosh MCD600 player it's not just messy, it's impossible. As I understand things the audio disc signal from the MCD600, be it redbook CDs or SACDs, must be processed via the inferior DAC chip which is internal to the device. Paul's explanation suggests the Oppo device has both an an analog and digital output (I think that's what he said). The MCD600 does not have a digital out. I wish I had known this prior to buying this piece of crap.
I'm almost done restoring my grandfather's old corals, I've got the Carver amp / preamp from the holography days, lowercase h mind you... The 5 super audio CD capable player(s), but no way to get the DSD out onto my freaking dac. I do not like the idea of hacking my Blu-ray player to do something that sounds like copy protection aversion possibly getting on a Interpol watch list for converting my own dang collection to a different format... But with me being on Mil-Dis, My one good ear may have to wait for a while before I can get a PS audio CD player. Is there possibly in your future lineup a budget transport and spit out DSD audio nothing else model? You could call it the - broke Mike model...
I still use a very old (first edition) Schiit Modi 3 dac. Due to a perpetual low budget I'll probably get the $109 Topping D10s to replace the Modi 3. I like how the D10s has the DSD logo on the front panel. Probably will get another ancient (but awesome) Adcom 2 channel power amp to drive a couple of super tweeters. Maybe I can learn how to dial-in crossover networks. Must create that SENSE OF AIR.
I have an oppo 83se, I can get the sacd (dsd with out red book layer) to my onkio pre/pro via the hdmi connection, i don’t know if it would work an any other other processor. I don’t know witch of the he Onkio or the oppo converts the dsd to pcm then outputs it on ether stereo or multi track depending on my previous options setup on the oppo.
Dependent on the Oppo model, they typically decode DSD to analogue directly. However, they can also be set to decode DSD to PCM first before a final conversion to analogue.
SACD is still humming along after 25 years. Over 17,000 SACD releases worlwide and about 300 just in the first 6 months of this year. PS Audio's music company, Octave Music, has dozens of direct-to-DSD SACD titles that can be purchased.
In 2024: modern streamer allowing lossless streaming to 192kHz 24 bits or higher. Besides dedicated streamers, you can also use a computer. For that my favorite is a Mac Mini running in exclusive mode.
Yes the sound quality of many streaming services is as good as physical media such as CDs and SACDs. The problem is that streaming brings with it a lot of technical issues that many of us are unable to resolve. For a start you need a decent network and internet connection for streaming to work. Also, if you do not have a dedicated network streaming device then you need to introduce some sort of computer into your hifi setup and computers can be noisy and unreliable. They were not really designed to play music and they are always doing other things such as installing updates and performing virus scans. I do not have this problem with my CD player. Then there is the question of ownership. I own all my CDs and I can play them whenever I want. If you rely totally on streaming then, if you decide you can no longer afford the subscription or the streaming service decides to remove some of your favourite music you have nothing. There is also the question of having something physical rather than some nebulous offering drifting around in the cloud somewhere. I can give a CD as a birthday present and it is enjoyable reading the booklet when the music is playing. Overall, although I have a network streaming device I only really use it to listen to something before deciding whether to buy it. It
@@ian_of_glos No, streaming services today are BETTER than CD quality as they provide both ERROR FREE, LOSSLESS and BETTER RESOLUTION audio. Through FLAC streaming up to 192kHz 24 bits, these services easily beat CD quality. Obviously you need a reasonable internet connection. Personally I run a Frontier 1Gbps optical connection to my house and music streaming is the least of my concern. 192kHz 24 bits can take about 10Mbps of my 1Gbps bandwidth. This means I could theoretically stream 100 ultra high definition stereo streams at the same time. Never have I experienced any dropout or other issue with streaming since I got optical connection to my house. I have a huge CD and vinyl collection but I must admit I feel no desire to spend my time on it anymore. On occasion I've found that a track streamed sounds inferior but it's not due to the technology, but rather due the actual file being with some issue (added compression, transcoding etc.).
I also have a streaming subscription, which I use in the sane way. If I like an album, I purchase the download version from the same streaming company, which automatically downloads to my server. Despite a number of purges, I ran out of storage space for my CD"s, which I imported to my server. I use a dedicated streamer for streaming via Qobuz and playback of the albums stored on my server.
@@ThinkingBetterwell, the question of ownership still applies, and always will. I used Amazon streaming for a while and during that time several Bruce Springsteen albums disappeared for about a month, and Daniel Lanois' Acadie disappeared for even longer. The whole idea of streaming is that you can call up whatever you have a mind to listen to. When certain albums you really enjoy come and go, the concept of streaming as if it were your personal library falls apart. I typically use UA-cam as a way to discover new music, but I still buy CDs and SACDs. I don't want my ability to listen to particular music to depend upon the business decisions of streaming companies.
Just I have watched to a video where is explained how to get the DSD digital output via the HDMI to convert that signal to to I2S or SPDIF. ua-cam.com/video/KAqr8MP-in4/v-deo.htmlsi=019Bix4ylpw8-n7v I also think that perhaps I could try to get the HDMI output signal from the SACD player (Yamaha BD-A1040) to my Arcam AVR600 and then use the Arcam digital output to connect the DAC input. But I didn’t try it yet. In any case, I confess that in 2 channels I am not able to appreciate a huge quality advantage between the SACD and the CD layer. But what is a clearly an noticiable difference is between 2 channel or multichannel, and this is only possible using the Arcam AVR600 internal DAC nor the dedicated stereo one
Finally I didnt check tha last option using the Arcam AVR600 digital outputs because in the manual is clearlly explained that there isn't output signal when teh HFD audio comes from HDMI "...These outputs are muted if a source is selected where the HDMI connection is used and is transmitting HD audio. The digital audio from the HDMI link will not be routed to these outputs."
Honestly, keep your Oppo transport . Excellent answer from Paul.
I guess I am just fortunate to own a Halcro Logic EC800 SACD player.
Even by todays standards it has one of the finest DACs ever put into a CD player.
I’ve been using the Oppo 205 as a transport and dac for years. I’ve. considered a separate dac but the Oppo sounds great to my ears. It has dual ESS ES9038PRO Sabre Pro DACs and if there’s a substantial improvement out there I’d love to hear it!
And the UDP205 is still selling used for more than MSRP.
I just made the investment in a new Marantz SA-10 SADC player. Depending on the mastering/mixing the difference between redbook cd's that I had been previously playing though an Audiolab 6000CDT transport into my dac and the SACD version is quite amazing. SACD's, especially Jazz and Vocals sound much more analogue. Maybe????..... enough to give up my vinyl.
Yes, it's enough to forgo vinyl. Help keep SACDs alive.
That analogue sound quality was audible even through my old, inexpensive Sony SCD-CE595 CD/SACD changer.
Thanks for the reply, Paul! I didn’t mention it in my letter, but I am running an Oppo BDP 83SE. When I run a digital feed, either coax or optical, from the player, it shuts off the analog output from which the SACD/DSD signal emanates. This may not be a problem on later models, I realize. I have to say, playing SACD through the analog output still sounds really good.
If I were you I wouldn’t change a thing
Use the Oppo as a transport to output over HDMI to a higher-end AV receiver with DSD decoding capability. Just make sure in the Oppo's settings that the DSD isn't being converted to PCM.
sure he could do that but there is no guarantee that doing that would result in an improvement in sound quality. As I mentioned in a separate comment I think he should just leave his system as it is
Keep the OPPO and upgrade it with an I2S output, Google it, then you can play the DSD layer through a used PS Audio dac. It works for me.
This is exactly what I'm doing as well. I have 3 SACD players that I can use as a transport. I have an OPPO BD105D and bought an inexpensive lil black box for $50 that I output from one of the HDMI outputs that goes into the box and can then go to an I2S Input. I also have a Pioneer DVD player that plays SACDs that will do the same thing. Then I bought an inexpensive used OPPO 103 and bought an HDMI to I2S card from OPPO Mod and installed the card into it. All three can output native DSD directly to a standalone DAC. I also bought a used PS Audio Directstream Perfectwave DAC (the first gen). Not as good as the current model PS Audio Directstream Perfectwave DAC which goes for $8K. But the used older version can be had for around $2K give or take a few. Be careful when you buy it that you are getting the correct model since PS has a lot of similar named DACs.
The results are stunning. My SACD front end outputting the native DSD data to the DACs I2S renders beautiful sounding music. I'm on the prowl for a used current version of the PS Audio Directstream Perfectwave DAC. They discounted it by 20% a couple months ago during an audio show, but I didn't have $6,400 at the time to buy it. But ultimately that will be the one I get for my primary tube gear and electrostatic speaker system.
There's a bit of a DIY to using the OPPO Mod card and/or the Black Box but you can find discussions about it online. You can put together a great sounding SACD front end for about $2K DAC and $240 - $400 player and Black box/Mod card.
Can you send a good link?
@@charlesmullighan1254 I don't think UA-cam will allow me to post a link in the comments. Every time I've done this in the past it blocks my comment. Let me look back at the forum posts and UA-cam videos I found helpful and post some "breadcrumbs" that you can use to find them.
There's also my own trial and error learning like what settings to use in your SACD player to have it output DSD. The OPPO 103 will only output DSD through one of the two HDMI ports when using the Black Box.
@@charlesmullighan1254I repeat a comment because just I am reading the yours.
Just I have watched to a video where is explained how to get the DSD digital output via the HDMI to convert that signal to to I2S or SPDIF.
ua-cam.com/video/KAqr8MP-in4/v-deo.htmlsi=019Bix4ylpw8-n7v
I also think that perhaps I could try to get the HDMI output signal from the SACD player to my Arcam AVR600 and then use the Arcam digital output to connect the DAC input. But I didn’t try it yet.
@@charlesmullighan1254 Sorry to take so long to reply. I won't post the link since it would probably get blocked. But do a UA-cam search on this video and I think it will answer a lot of your questions and may help you find more videos and postings:
"Play your SACDs through your outboard DAC!"
He talks about the converter box which is one way to do this. They other way is to buy an old OPPO 103 and got to the OPPOmod website and buy their card. Let me know if you need more bread crumbs.
The best option is to upgrade the SACD player to Esoteric or Luxman hi end models.
while 44 KHz 16 bit PCM benefits from sophisticated signal interpolation and filtering that makes advanced gear sound better, the main point of DSD was the straightforward digital to analog conversion means so even inexpensive DSD player should be capable to sound excellent
what DSD demands a higher bandwidth control amplfier- power amplifiers
If you spend $800 (or less used) on the D.BOB by Geer Fab Audio, you can connect the Oppo's HDMI output to it and the D.BOB's COAX output to a DoP64 compatible DAC and you can listen to your DSD layer on your SACD's. This might be more expensive than buying a new SACD player, but you can use the DAC of your own choosing. Cheers!
Depending on your Oppo, you could just rip your SACDs and then stream them from a raspberry pi to a denafrips or some other budget dac that processes sacd DSF files.
Agree that this is by far the best option. Rip the files off the SACDs and CDs to a HDD. See the PS Audio Copper Magazine article "Down the Rabbit Hole of SACD Ripping and DSD Extraction". You can only do this with specific Oppo units (BDP-93 and 95, BDP-103 and 103D, BDP-105 and 105D). Hopefully, yours is on the list. If not, look for one of the Sony units. There is an in depth post in AudiophileStyle "SACD Ripping using an Oppo or Pioneer? Yes, it's true!". Once you have the files on a HDD, then you will have maximum flexibility.
Good one sir Paul 👍
🍻 thanks Paul
FWIW, an audiophile buddy brought his highly modified OPPO player to my room. He had invested about $1k with well regarded upgrades. Sadly, it was no match for my DIY streamer/DAC. After a few tracks he asked me to return to listening to my source as we both enjoyed the low level information it played which was absent in his OPPO. Interesting since my DIY DAC actually uses an obsolete TDA1541a DAC chip. Some how that old Philips chip from 1990 was clearly superior in both our minds. Bit perfect transport, SOTA clocking, a triode output and massive power supplies support it well.
The Oppo Blu-Ray players (like current sony bluray players) will happily send the DSD layer over HDMI. It's been in the HDMI spec to transport the encrypted DSD layer since v 1.2? from memory.
I currently use a Sony UBP-X700 in just this way. you just need signal processor (AVI / integrated / DAC) that has a HDMI input and who's dac supports SACD. I use an Onkyo RX-50, as surround SACD is the duck-guts + I use it for the TV and radio...
This is correct. And if you don't want to go the AV receiver route there is the D.BOB from GeerFab which has an HDMI in and outputs either DSD (over PCM) or hi-res PCM.
Great recommendation in utilizing the best of both worlds, thank you Paul! My question is, would the HDMI out on the BDP 105 link up audio signal to a I2S input of a DAC?
Beer???
I'm an Irish Canadian and I haven't been able to afford beer in over 2 years!
OPPO pivoted to Phones around 2018. They released their baddest ass model the 4k Bluray player w/full surround decoding & outputs. Topping it all off, is HDMI INPUTS! Sofa king awesome, and then months later they release a statement their out of the home AV biz and into the Phone biz.
A separate DAC isn't always better. Many years ago I has a Technics SL-P999 CD player and connected it's optical digital output to an external DAC and it sounded worse.
What dac did you try it on?
Wrong ,the Oppo outputs pure DSD through the hdmi output
Yes, it does get a dac that has an hdmi input such as the T + A DAC 200 and away you go.
@@GregMoore-g2o Do we know if the output through HDMI is digital or analog? DSD encoded support decoded after internal DAC through HDMI ready to be "converted" by chinese little boxes? or HDMI-analog → alliexpress-box-coverterer [ADC] → digital output with no original DSD ?
Is is I2S ? Ot is it more Audio/Video true HDMI ?
@@ptg01 The T + A DAC 200 is HDMI audio only and has a separate DAC for DSD.
@@Jorge-Fernandez-Lopez In the case of my OPPO 205 the DSD is output digitally through the hdmi output unaltered from an SACD disc. The trick is to find a dac or receiver that accepts it through hdmi such as the Bryston
The only thing I have digital is my Sony SACD player so a DAC would just be something else in the pathway. 😁😁
I was dumb enough to put a cambridge audio dac magic between my sony sacd player and pre, never going back...
Playing SACD's DSD Layer through a separate DAC is a bit messy due to copyright protection.. My understanding is the only way to do that is I2S and must with compatible I2S capable DACs....
With my McIntosh MCD600 player it's not just messy, it's impossible. As I understand things the audio disc signal from the MCD600, be it redbook CDs or SACDs, must be processed via the inferior DAC chip which is internal to the device. Paul's explanation suggests the Oppo device has both an an analog and digital output (I think that's what he said). The MCD600 does not have a digital out. I wish I had known this prior to buying this piece of crap.
I'm almost done restoring my grandfather's old corals, I've got the Carver amp / preamp from the holography days, lowercase h mind you... The 5 super audio CD capable player(s), but no way to get the DSD out onto my freaking dac. I do not like the idea of hacking my Blu-ray player to do something that sounds like copy protection aversion possibly getting on a Interpol watch list for converting my own dang collection to a different format... But with me being on Mil-Dis, My one good ear may have to wait for a while before I can get a PS audio CD player. Is there possibly in your future lineup a budget transport and spit out DSD audio nothing else model?
You could call it the - broke Mike model...
What about ripping the DSD layer using a Sony Blu-ray (method on this site) and feeding the DSD file through a good DAC?
I have a Pioneer Elite DV-47ai I bought at a neighborhood yard sale last year for $10. It sounds marvelous. I sold my OPPO.
Oppo engineers went on to start a new company: Magnetar
Hey Paul are genesis 2 speakers good?
They were one of my favorites. Yes, they are great!
Thanks!! i going to get them!!😁
I still use a very old (first edition) Schiit Modi 3 dac. Due to a perpetual low budget I'll probably get the $109 Topping D10s to replace the Modi 3. I like how the D10s has the DSD logo on the front panel. Probably will get another ancient (but awesome) Adcom 2 channel power amp to drive a couple of super tweeters. Maybe I can learn how to dial-in crossover networks. Must create that SENSE OF AIR.
Stop wasting your time and money
I have an oppo 83se, I can get the sacd (dsd with out red book layer) to my onkio pre/pro via the hdmi connection, i don’t know if it would work an any other other processor. I don’t know witch of the he Onkio or the oppo converts the dsd to pcm then outputs it on ether stereo or multi track depending on my previous options setup on the oppo.
Dependent on the Oppo model, they typically decode DSD to analogue directly. However, they can also be set to decode DSD to PCM first before a final conversion to analogue.
Rutro…. Oppo is a Chinese company…based in California? My 105 might be spying on me ?
It used to be located across the street from Google too. Tha.t's where I picked up my two Oppo 205s
I wonder why it doesnt ouput DSD on the digital ouputs...
Copyright protection and bandwidth. Don't forget one of SACD's creators was Sony and it owns one of the biggest music companies in the world.
I'm confused. I thought that SACD was pretty much gone.
SACD is still humming along after 25 years. Over 17,000 SACD releases worlwide and about 300 just in the first 6 months of this year. PS Audio's music company, Octave Music, has dozens of direct-to-DSD SACD titles that can be purchased.
Hate the copyright nonsense. Pain in the ass.
How can I listen to those speakers?
Paying a lot of money lol
You are welcome to visit them
Green screen?
In 2024: modern streamer allowing lossless streaming to 192kHz 24 bits or higher. Besides dedicated streamers, you can also use a computer. For that my favorite is a Mac Mini running in exclusive mode.
Yes the sound quality of many streaming services is as good as physical media such as CDs and SACDs. The problem is that streaming brings with it a lot of technical issues that many of us are unable to resolve. For a start you need a decent network and internet connection for streaming to work. Also, if you do not have a dedicated network streaming device then you need to introduce some sort of computer into your hifi setup and computers can be noisy and unreliable. They were not really designed to play music and they are always doing other things such as installing updates and performing virus scans. I do not have this problem with my CD player.
Then there is the question of ownership. I own all my CDs and I can play them whenever I want. If you rely totally on streaming then, if you decide you can no longer afford the subscription or the streaming service decides to remove some of your favourite music you have nothing.
There is also the question of having something physical rather than some nebulous offering drifting around in the cloud somewhere. I can give a CD as a birthday present and it is enjoyable reading the booklet when the music is playing.
Overall, although I have a network streaming device I only really use it to listen to something before deciding whether to buy it. It
@@ian_of_glos No, streaming services today are BETTER than CD quality as they provide both ERROR FREE, LOSSLESS and BETTER RESOLUTION audio. Through FLAC streaming up to 192kHz 24 bits, these services easily beat CD quality. Obviously you need a reasonable internet connection. Personally I run a Frontier 1Gbps optical connection to my house and music streaming is the least of my concern. 192kHz 24 bits can take about 10Mbps of my 1Gbps bandwidth. This means I could theoretically stream 100 ultra high definition stereo streams at the same time. Never have I experienced any dropout or other issue with streaming since I got optical connection to my house. I have a huge CD and vinyl collection but I must admit I feel no desire to spend my time on it anymore. On occasion I've found that a track streamed sounds inferior but it's not due to the technology, but rather due the actual file being with some issue (added compression, transcoding etc.).
I also have a streaming subscription, which I use in the sane way. If I like an album, I purchase the download version from the same streaming company, which automatically downloads to my server. Despite a number of purges, I ran out of storage space for my CD"s, which I imported to my server. I use a dedicated streamer for streaming via Qobuz and playback of the albums stored on my server.
@@ian_of_glos None of those issues exist with modern lossless streaming and a modern connection.
@@ThinkingBetterwell, the question of ownership still applies, and always will. I used Amazon streaming for a while and during that time several Bruce Springsteen albums disappeared for about a month, and Daniel Lanois' Acadie disappeared for even longer. The whole idea of streaming is that you can call up whatever you have a mind to listen to. When certain albums you really enjoy come and go, the concept of streaming as if it were your personal library falls apart.
I typically use UA-cam as a way to discover new music, but I still buy CDs and SACDs. I don't want my ability to listen to particular music to depend upon the business decisions of streaming companies.
Just I have watched to a video where is explained how to get the DSD digital output via the HDMI to convert that signal to to I2S or SPDIF.
ua-cam.com/video/KAqr8MP-in4/v-deo.htmlsi=019Bix4ylpw8-n7v
I also think that perhaps I could try to get the HDMI output signal from the SACD player (Yamaha BD-A1040) to my Arcam AVR600 and then use the Arcam digital output to connect the DAC input. But I didn’t try it yet.
In any case, I confess that in 2 channels I am not able to appreciate a huge quality advantage between the SACD and the CD layer. But what is a clearly an noticiable difference is between 2 channel or multichannel, and this is only possible using the Arcam AVR600 internal DAC nor the dedicated stereo one
Finally I didnt check tha last option using the Arcam AVR600 digital outputs because in the manual is clearlly explained that there isn't output signal when teh HFD audio comes from HDMI
"...These outputs are muted if a source is selected where the
HDMI connection is used and is transmitting HD audio.
The digital audio from the HDMI link will not be routed
to these outputs."