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Author Topic: Converting SACD .iso to FLAC - what bitrate?  (Read 26419 times)

psam

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Converting SACD .iso to FLAC - what bitrate?
« on: November 09, 2012, 04:13:14 pm »

I have some SACD rips in .iso format.

The question is, for a two channel system is it worth to keep the 1.7 to 3.5 Gbytes on my hard disk, or can I convert them to FLAC without losing any information? And which settings are enough?

In some cases the SACD contains information for 5.1 which does not interest me at all.

Does converting to 2 channel , 24 bits/96 kHz mean that 2 channel data is lost compared to a 24/192 or 24/384 conversion? Is there a way to identify the threshold in each SACD?


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bulldogger

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Re: Converting SACD .iso to FLAC - what bitrate?
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2012, 05:17:16 pm »

Most use either 24/88 or 24/176 because as HD tracks says,"they have an integer relationship to 44khz which leads to a more straight forward sample rate conversion." The "math" works easier because of the sampling rate of DSD, you get the most "even" conversion with 24/88 or 24/176.
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Ancient_Audiophile

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Re: Converting SACD .iso to FLAC - what bitrate?
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2012, 07:25:39 pm »

I have some SACD rips in .iso format.

The question is, for a two channel system is it worth to keep the 1.7 to 3.5 Gbytes on my hard disk, or can I convert them to FLAC without losing any information? And which settings are enough?
You cannot convert them to FLAC without losing some information.

Some people consider SACD to sound better than any other format.

How much resolution is "enough" ?   That depends on your ears and your equipment.   Many people say that one should keep SACD rips because in the future, you may hear the difference even if you do not now.   The more hours that you spend listening, the more acute your hearing becomes - because it is a skill that is acquired by practice.

JRiver Media Center will play your SACD .iso files and so there is no good reason to convert them - unless you are desperate for disc space.
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psam

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Re: Converting SACD .iso to FLAC - what bitrate?
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2012, 12:20:10 am »

You cannot convert them to FLAC without losing some information.

Some people consider SACD to sound better than any other format.

How much resolution is "enough" ?   That depends on your ears and your equipment.   Many people say that one should keep SACD rips because in the future, you may hear the difference even if you do not now.   The more hours that you spend listening, the more acute your hearing becomes - because it is a skill that is acquired by practice.

JRiver Media Center will play your SACD .iso files and so there is no good reason to convert them - unless you are desperate for disc space.

Thank you, this is my line of thought as well.

I 'm just wondering...

Do all bit streams on the 3.5 GB .iso file end up to my DAC when I play an album?

Or say one third of the data content is for stereo audio, and this stream produces what I'm hearing eventually, while the remaining two/thirds carry 5.1 audio data?

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eddyshere

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Re: Converting SACD .iso to FLAC - what bitrate?
« Reply #4 on: November 10, 2012, 04:54:28 am »

Another approach could be to extract only the stereo files out of the iso (sacd_extract.exe -2 ....)
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StuckMojo

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Re: Converting SACD .iso to FLAC - what bitrate?
« Reply #5 on: November 10, 2012, 05:35:26 am »

How did you convert them to flac?

Converting SACD to flac ends up in an error message (Or nothing happens).
I can only convert them to WAV,AIFF & DSD.
DSD produces clicks in the song.

And it would be nice if we could edit bitdeth & samplerate when converting to flac.(Or keep Source Bitdeth & samplerate)

And...

@Ancient_Audiophile
There is a GOOD reason to convert SACD's.
I'm using a lot Smartlists & Playlists to listen to my music and I'm using them to sync my music with my Portable Device & USB Stick for the Car.
So the SACD Songs wouldn't be there if we cannot convert them to flac/MP3 etc....Whatever format the player supports!
Many of us are listening to music not only at home!
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bulldogger

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Re: Converting SACD .iso to FLAC - what bitrate?
« Reply #6 on: November 10, 2012, 07:51:42 am »

You cannot convert them to FLAC without losing some information.

Some people consider SACD to sound better than any other format.

How much resolution is "enough" ?   That depends on your ears and your equipment.   Many people say that one should keep SACD rips because in the future, you may hear the difference even if you do not now.   The more hours that you spend listening, the more acute your hearing becomes - because it is a skill that is acquired by practice.

JRiver Media Center will play your SACD .iso files and so there is no good reason to convert them - unless you are desperate for disc space.

That's my approach. I see that Best Buy is having a "Black Friday," deal on Seagate 3tb external drives, $99. I believe you can store about 800 SACD isos on that. Some of my buddies are using the Bryston BDP-1 as a file server. For cases like that,you have no choice but to convert the files to 24/88 or 24/176. One would assume that most on this forum are using JRiver and don't need to do a conversion just for playback. With storage being so cheap, it's not worth it for me to convert the files. From what I read, much much larger drives are coming in the future with new technology. http://9to5mac.com/2012/03/20/60tb-drives-made-possible-by-seagates-new-1tbinch-platter-tech/
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psam

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Re: Converting SACD .iso to FLAC - what bitrate?
« Reply #7 on: November 10, 2012, 04:49:03 pm »

Another approach could be to extract only the stereo files out of the iso (sacd_extract.exe -2 ....)
Tried that already. I ended up with the individual tracks , but their total size was double the size of the .iso!!!
I have no idea how this works......
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MM3

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Re: Converting SACD .iso to FLAC - what bitrate?
« Reply #8 on: May 23, 2014, 08:43:02 am »

how do you keep the bit rate when you rip a CD 24/196
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