Digital output on SACD/DVD-A (stereo mode)

amitm · « **on:** 29 Aug 2005, 06:39 pm »

I am trying to justify going to a "digital only" processing path and wanted to know how one can get the bit stream from DVD-A or SACD players that can be fed directly into an external D/A converter. Of course, I mean the original data, not some downsampled/lower rez version of it. The idea is to do all processing in the digital domain if possible without going through the D/A converter in the source component. Or is it not possible to get this data due to encryption and watermarking in these formats?

Thanks.

--amit

PhilNYC · « **Reply #1 on:** 29 Aug 2005, 06:44 pm »

I don't believe this is possible for SACD, because there is no interface standard for SACD (ie. no equivalent of SPDIF)...and in fact, there is no SACD DAC on the market that doesn't require a proprietary transport (eg. dCS, EmmLabs).

Not sure about DVD-A, although I've not yet seen a commercially available DAC that will handle DVD-A anyways...

Feisal K · « **Reply #2 on:** 29 Aug 2005, 11:36 pm »

there are, as Phil says no outboard sacd/dvd-a DACs at the moment with nonproprietary transports.

however... if you are willing to use a receiver

widely available (relative to other options) - you'd need a player and receiver pair with iLink

stuck to Denon mode: Denon-link has recently (v3 or something) been certified for SACD but there are no certified products on the market yet AFAIK

HDMI (version 2?) has also recently been certified for SACD but all current products are v1.1

again, 'course all this means you are stuck to a receiver of some kind although you can use it as a preamp.

amitm · « **Reply #3 on:** 30 Aug 2005, 02:52 am »

Quote from: Feisal K

there are, as Phil says no outboard sacd/dvd-a DACs at the moment with nonproprietary transports.

however... if you are willing to use a receiver

widely available (relative to other options) - you'd need a player and receiver pair with iLink

stuck to Denon mode: Denon-link has recently (v3 or something) been certified for SACD but there are no certified products on the market yet AFAIK

HDMI (version 2?) has also recently been certified for SACD but all current products are v1.1

again, 'cour ...

Well, that still does not give me the option of changing the signal in the digital domain using my own means if I need to. Or does it -- maybe I did not read through the Denon specs completely.

I am a signal processing engineer, so I thought if I could somehow get the signals to, say, an evaluation board with a DSP, it would be fun to play around with processing the signal. Or at the very least, use something like Behringer DEQ2496 to do so. Going through a D/A and then a A/D somehow does not have the same appeal

. It also leaves me susceptible to the noise introduced by the D/A conversion process.

--amit

P.S. Thanks for taking the time to answer, both of you.

Feisal K · « **Reply #4 on:** 30 Aug 2005, 03:23 am »

I suppose the thing with the copy protection scheme is if you could do it, then some pirates armed with similar equipment could potentially set up shop making cheap copies.

CSMR · « **Reply #5 on:** 30 Aug 2005, 01:24 pm »

There is someone on headfi who has modded a player to produce digital output. (A universal player which converts SACD to PCM.) I don't remember his alias.

JoshK · « **Reply #6 on:** 30 Aug 2005, 01:28 pm »

Quote from: CSMR

There is someone on headfi who has modded a player to produce digital output. (A universal player which converts SACD to PCM.) I don't remember his alias.

His name (or moniker) is Oehlich. On diyaudio.com as well. I am currently doing the same to my Pioneer 578a.

rbrb · « **Reply #7 on:** 30 Aug 2005, 10:47 pm »

I'm not sure it would fit your needs but MSB Tech. can mod a universal player to output SA-CD and DVD-A digitally. Of course the intention is for the signal to be routed to one of their DAC's.

kck · « **Reply #8 on:** 31 Aug 2005, 12:13 pm »

JoshK, I too am interested in doing this (w/o MSB's help!) . Could not find the user you named... help please with any info?

kck · « **Reply #9 on:** 31 Aug 2005, 12:13 pm »

JoshK, I too am interested in doing this (w/o MSB's help!) . Could not find the user you named... help please with any info?

schalti · « **Reply #10 on:** 5 Sep 2005, 01:31 pm »

Quote from: amitm

I am trying to justify going to a "digital only" processing path and wanted to know how one can get the bit stream from DVD-A or SACD players that can be fed directly into an external D/A converter. Of course, I mean the original data, not some downsampled/lower rez version of it. The idea is to do all processing in the digital domain if possible without going through the D/A converter in the source component. Or is it not possible to get this data due to encryption and watermarking in these formats?

There is a solution from DVDupgrades (-> Digital Audio) which works fine for me. An addon board for Denon, Pioneer and Marantz players that:
- picks up the PCM signal just before the player's internal DAC
- takes the DSD signal from the Sony DSD Chip and converts it to 24 Bit 88.2 kHz/176.4 kHz (configurable) PCM
- outputs to 3 S/P-DIF Stereo connectors (L/R, Sub/Center, RL / RR)

Beautiful solution, works fine up to 24 Bit 192 kHz for DVD-Audio Stereo.

The solution was developed by a swiss company named Speak RS to make it possible to attach their digital active loudspeakers to SACD/DVD-Audio players.