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Author Topic: Ripping hybrid SACD discs to DSD files  (Read 28417 times)

ferrarabrainpan

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Ripping hybrid SACD discs to DSD files
« on: December 29, 2018, 11:00:43 am »

I love MC for playback of all my audio files and video as well, but I haven't used this program for other things. For ripping CD discs I use dBpoweramp CD Ripper for secure and accurate ripping (although it has been said on this forum that JRiver CD ripping is second to none, I am sticking with what works well for me). I am going to have to get another program like DVD Audio Extractor to try and rip the two dozen DVD-audio discs that I own. But as for my three dozen hybrid SACD discs, it has been my understanding that these cannot be ripped on a PC with any program and that you need special hardware and know-how to rip the SACD layer of a disc to DSD files.

Someone on another user forum said that JRiver Media Center can "rip/encode to DSD" but does that mean it can rip the DSD audio layer from a hybrid SACD? Or did they mean that MC can rip the CD audio layer of a hybrid disc and encode that to a DSD file format?
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Awesome Donkey

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Re: Ripping hybrid SACD discs to DSD files
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2018, 11:29:16 am »

You have to use an old PS3 that's jailbroken running an old firmware or certain players (e.g. Oppo or Sony) with specific chipsets running special firmware to rip SACDs.

Yes, MC (along with every other PC CD ripping program) can only rip the redbook (normal CD/PCM layer) of a hybrid SACD. It's not possible for a PC to read much less rip the SACD layer of a SACD disc. I wouldn't recommend ripping the redbook/CD layer and converting that to DSD. That's just a waste of time and hard drive space, in my opinion. That, and PCM to DSD conversions are a lossy conversion.

If you actually want to convert PCM to DSD, just have JRiver Media Center do it on-the-fly via DSP Studio > Output Format > Output Encoding to a DSD format your DAC supports. That way you don't waste hard drive space converting PCM files to DSD. Do note that doing PCM to DSD conversions (especially multichannel) are very resource intensive tasks, so I'd only do that on a PC that's decently powerful.
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ferrarabrainpan

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Re: Ripping hybrid SACD discs to DSD files
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2018, 12:04:12 pm »

You have to use an old PS3 that's jailbroken running an old firmware or certain players (e.g. Oppo or Sony) running special firmware to rip SACDs...

Thank you for confirming what I thought was the case. I would like to have DSD files of my SACD audio discs on my hard drive so that I could listen to the DSD files on my Astell&Kern player and have a digital archive copy, but I see no reason to want to convert the PCM CD layer of a hybrid disc to DSD, whether I'm saving the files to my hard drive or only doing conversion on the fly for playback.
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dtc

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Re: Ripping hybrid SACD discs to DSD files
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2018, 03:04:39 pm »

Here is the thread on Computer Audiophile that describes the various options for ripping a SACD to DSD. It is a huge thread, but the first post has a summary of hardware options and links to descriptions for how to do it on the various hardware. Specific Oppo, Pioneer, Sony and Cambridge audio players are needed. They have to use the Mediatek  MT8580 or  MT8560 chips. Additions to the original list of players are at the end of the first post. The process is slightly different for each group of players and it may take a couple of tries to get it working, but overall it is a relative easy process.

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/28569-sacd-ripping-using-an-oppo-or-pioneer-yes-its-true/

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kr4

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Re: Ripping hybrid SACD discs to DSD files
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2018, 05:29:07 pm »

You have to use an old PS3 that's jailbroken running an old firmware or certain players (e.g. Oppo or Sony) with specific chipsets running special firmware to rip SACDs.
That is no longer true.  There are several devices that will allow ripping of SACDs.  I summarized some of the information in a recent column:  https://www.stereophile.com/content/music-round-93-minidsp-ripping-sacds-page-2
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TheShoe

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Re: Ripping hybrid SACD discs to DSD files
« Reply #5 on: December 31, 2018, 10:52:18 am »

That is no longer true.  There are several devices that will allow ripping of SACDs.  I summarized some of the information in a recent column:  https://www.stereophile.com/content/music-round-93-minidsp-ripping-sacds-page-2

certainly don’t need a special firmware.  really it comes down to if the mediatek chipset that allows this exploit is used.   i bought a second player, a Pioneer Elite, to back up my Oppo 105 in case one fails.  both do a fine job of ripping SACD.  the most challenging part was properly formatting and setting up the USB stick and software respectively.

this is not unlike the exploit used to rip UHDs.  comes down to the chipset used.

could JRiver implement a solution like iso2dsd where it does not itself bypass the DRM.  rather it just instructs the Oppo/other player to stream the raw content to file(s), where any bypassing of DRM is in the player itself, not Media Center.

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ferrarabrainpan

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Re: Ripping hybrid SACD discs to DSD files
« Reply #6 on: December 31, 2018, 12:16:46 pm »

This is all useful information and I have bookmarked the links. Although it all sounds technically challenging, I believe I could do it... if I had the hardware. Given that I only have a handful of SACD discs and don't plan on amassing a large collection of them, I can't justify purchasing another disc player, having spent a couple grand this past year on my OPPO UDP-205 (a fine player but unfortunately it cannot serve for this purpose like the earlier OPPO models). Depends on how much I'd have to pay for a used player, versus how much it would cost to pay Golden Ear Digital to professionally rip all my SACDs at $5 a disc.
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TheShoe

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Re: Ripping hybrid SACD discs to DSD files
« Reply #7 on: December 31, 2018, 01:22:42 pm »

I have so many SACDs and continue to buy them

In any case, the Pioneer Elite I purchased is not only a fine BD player, but it costs me ~$140 off of Amazon new.  I was shocked at the price quite frankly.  It's the BDP-80FD.

I didn't know there were professional services for backing up SACDs.  interesting and good to know!

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ferrarabrainpan

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Re: Ripping hybrid SACD discs to DSD files
« Reply #8 on: December 31, 2018, 04:08:11 pm »

I could not find a new or used Pioneer BDP-80FD player on Amazon or eBay so maybe they have become scarce. There's a used OPPO 103 listed for $100 though. That's cheaper than it would cost me to pay to have my SACDs ripped by that service I named.
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dtc

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Re: Ripping hybrid SACD discs to DSD files
« Reply #9 on: December 31, 2018, 04:43:19 pm »

A used 103 for $100 is a steal, assuming it works. You could probably rip you SACDs and then sell it for more than you paid.
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ferrarabrainpan

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Re: Ripping hybrid SACD discs to DSD files
« Reply #10 on: December 31, 2018, 04:51:15 pm »

Yeah too good to be true... seller has shipping price set at $275. So $400 is more in the ballpark for what other sellers are asking for the same used model... I would rent one if I had the opportunity to do that.
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dtc

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Re: Ripping hybrid SACD discs to DSD files
« Reply #11 on: December 31, 2018, 05:10:14 pm »

And, it is an auction, not a set price.

They originally sold for $500 and are selling at close to that now. Oppo is no longer making players plus the SACD ripping capability keeps the price up.

The Sony's may be more available at a better price.
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ferrarabrainpan

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Re: Ripping hybrid SACD discs to DSD files
« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2018, 05:14:34 pm »

I paid 2K for a new sealed in the box UDP-205 six months ago after they stopped production. I don't regret it, it's a fantastic unit... but it's a bummer that the older, cheaper player by the same maker outperforms the top of the line model in this one respect.
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MikeyFresh

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Re: Ripping hybrid SACD discs to DSD files
« Reply #13 on: May 17, 2019, 11:31:32 pm »

SACD can be ripped using a variety of different Blu-ray player models, including various very inexpensive Sonys, as well as Pioneer, Oppo, Cambridge, Arcam, Electrocompaniet, Primare, and possibly others too.

For full details please visit: https://hifihaven.org/index.php?threads/rip-sacd-with-a-blu-ray-player.3652/
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ferrarabrainpan

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Re: Ripping hybrid SACD discs to DSD files
« Reply #14 on: May 18, 2019, 01:01:36 am »

SACD can be ripped using a variety of different Blu-ray player models, including various very inexpensive Sonys, as well as Pioneer, Oppo, Cambridge, Arcam, Electrocompaniet and possibly others too.

For full details please visit https://hifihaven.org/index.php?threads/rip-sacd-with-a-blu-ray-player.3652/.

Thanks for that link, I am going to look into it!
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