Are you saying that I am a ticking time bomb? No, wait… Wouldn’t that be tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick… 
56 and counting and not in any hurry.
J.P.
Normally these launch estimates are way too optimistic.
I may settle with the Aries in the mean time.
OPPO support has told me that my BDP-95 can output a proper I2S stream via HDMI. I assume that would be the case with other OPPO players as well.
Can or can’t? I don’t think that they can.
But the I2S input on the DS HDMI connector is not standard HDMI, so I don’t think this will work.
Dennis
If both things are true could an adapter be developed to connect the stream output to the psaudio stream input??
No, from what I understand it can’t be done, due to HDMI handshaking issues. The DS cannot respond to HDMI handshaking requests.
Dennis
Audio over HDMI (as part of the HDMI standard) and I2s over HDMI are two entirely different animals.
I think I2S is the clock and bitstream sent separately. This has been done using different interfaces. Two I recall we’re from Audio Alchemy ( 4 pin mini ) and Muse ( what looked like a parallel printer cable ). So now the interface of choice is the more common HDMI which can cause some confusion.
It would be nice if the oppo could (even though it probably doesn’t)…would be a nice transport for discs not transferred to hard drive yet…especially sacds.
Wouldn’t work with SACDs because of licensing issues. Sony requires SACD audio to be encrypted and the DS would have had to been built to handle that kind of data, which requires royalty payments among other things. The few separate DACs that can handle SACD are very expensive.
Not only do Oppos not support I2S, they do not send SACD in the clear nor even DVD-A PCM. Both are sent at lower resolution PCM.
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Or you could buy the Electrocompaniet EMP3 multiplayer (like I did): http://www.electrocompaniet.no/products/classic/digital/EMP_3 which actually is an Oppo 103 on the video part and proprietary EC on the audio part. For HDMI2 you may choose SACD playback as PCM or DSD. Too bad the DS does not contain HDMI audio in.
I checked with Oppo again. They say the BDP-95, if configured to bitstream, will output a proper I2S via HDMI. Are they mistaken or not understanding my question?
the real question is will that be able to interface with the PWT and play? this includes SACD license, and handshake issues?
Tamblers, two questions: (1) What do they mean by “proper I2S”? Do they follow the same protocols as PSA? A number of companies have adopted the same protocols as PSA but there is no official “standard”. (2) Assuming they are compatible with PSA’s implementation of I2S, what are they outputting? It is almost certainly not DSD even when playing an SACD and the DS would not be able to handle it because the signal would have to be encrypted per Sony’s requirements and PSA does not have a license from Sony (I believe there are a bunch of other technical issues that would need to be addressed as well, as dew1551 noted). If they are putting out PCM, they may well be downsampling it to CD (rebook) standards when playing high res files.
I assume they mean the data and clock signals are sent on separate streams which I thought was the point of I2S. The Oppo player must be configured in setup to output bitstream rather than PCM to do this. Of course it’s not SACD which must be encoded but then the PWT doesn’t do that either.
tamblers said I assume they mean the data and clock signals are sent on separate streams which I thought was the point of I2S.Yes but they have to use the same pins/lines for the same signals. I'm not sure they do but I really don't know. So I should probably shut up.
There’s no way they produce unencrypted digital audio out of their HDMI connector and, even if they did, which they don’t, it would not be compatible with our system. I am sure that whatever comes out is encrypted or Sony would not permit its use.
From Oppo:
'Native DSD files in DSF and DFF formats are supported by the BDP-10x series players (BDP-103, BDP-103D and BDP-105) with firmware version BDP10X-50-0422. Customers who purchased the players prior to the summer of 2013 may need to perform a free firmware update before the player can recognize DSF and DFF music files. For the latest firmware available, please visit the BDP-103 Support page.
DSD is not yet universally supported by all audio devices. Native DSD output can be obtained in two ways:
DSD Output via HDMI:
If your A/V receiver or audio processor supports native DSD, your OPPO player can send DSD signal over HDMI to the A/V receiver or audio processor. You should connect the HDMI 2 port of the BDP-103/105 player to your A/V receiver or audio processor since the HDMI 1 port does not transmit DSD signal. The following settings in the player’s setup menu should be used:
Playback Setup - SACD Priority: set to Multi-Channel or Stereo based on your preference
Audio Format Setup - SACD Output: set to DSD or Auto (Auto is available for firmware version BDP10X-67-1120 or above)
The OPPO player will automatically convert DSD into PCM if it determines that a connected device does not support DSD. Usually your A/V receiver or audio processor will have an indication on its front panel showing whether the device is getting DSD signal.
DSD to Analog Output:
The internal DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) inside the OPPO player supports native DSD. You can connect the analog audio output of the OPPO player to your A/V receiver, audio processor or amplifer to get native DSD audio.
Please note that in DSD mode, the BDP-103 and BDP-103D do not offer volume control or variable output level. In this case you must provide a preamp/processor or A/V receiver to control volume before sending the signal to an amplifier. Only the BDP-105 can adjust the volume of native DSD signal. The following settings in the player’s setup menu should be used:
Playback Setup - SACD Priority: set to Multi-Channel or Stereo based on your preference
Audio Format Setup - HDMI Audio: set to Off (This ensures that any connected HDMI device will not cause the player to convert DSD to PCM.)
Audio Format Setup - SACD Output: set to DSD’
As previously stated; Native DSD over HDMI is something else than what is disussed herein.