Recently purchases a Marantz Model 30 integrated amp. Now I’m eyeing the matching SACD 30n streamer, DAC, and SACD player (all in one). Watched a YouTube video of the Marantz designers introducing the products. When discussing the SACD player the engineer noted that it’s designed to play DSD files have have been burned to DVD-ROM or CD. He specifically said it will play DVD-ROM up to DSD128.
I have around 370 DSD albums and thought it would be interesting to burn them to disc and play as SACD’s through the SACD 30n’s transport. I do not have the ISO’s, just the DSD files on a hard drive. How does one go about burning DSD to disc on a Mac?
Can this streamer play files. Wouldn’t it be easilier to just play the files instead?
I don’t know if Sony would allow someone to make a bunch of SACDs from a file
and distribute it to everyone. But that hasn’t stop anyone from doing it before.
I would guess any file can be burned to a DVD if it fits. The OP said the player is designed to read DSD files burned to DVDs. I was pointing out that on a Mac the burning functionality is built into the Finder.
The Marantz engineer specifically said that the SACD player is designed to play DSD files burned to either DVD-ROM or CD. The idea would be to bypass the computer entirely and be able to play SACD’s in the player. I wonder if a DSD file burned to disc yields the same audio quality as an actual factory made SACD? I realize with a CD it’s the same. Just wonder if with the more esoteric and defensive ways of SACD technology if there’s a difference?
I have a sophisticated server rig setup. But I’m sort of longing to listen to music the old fashioned, way. Get a disc and hit play… no screens!
The DSD data disc I got when I bought an earlier release from Octave Records sounds identical to the SACD. I heard no difference, so yes, the sound quality is exactly the same. So there you have it, there’s a way to record your DSD files on a disc and play it back with this Marantz.
They’ll be recognized and played as DSD files stored on optical media, i.e. DVD. No different from files stored on HDD, SSD, or memory stick inserted onto the USB port. Pretty much like you used to play MP3 & WMA burnt to a CD in your car stereo!
Please elaborate. Are you saying that DSD files burned to a DVD-R will not sound like SACD’s, but instead like MP3’s?
Back in the day of my CD burning, files burned to a CD sounded exactly the same as the original factory pressed CD. There was not degradation. Are you saying that with DSD/ SACD’s, that there’s a dramatic drop in SQ when burned to a DVD-R?
No not at all. I meant they’d still be seen by the player as files, but instead of reading them from a LAN cable or USB port, it will read them from the surface of your DVD. There is no sonic advantage to moving them from your current storage to optical media. You may as well buy a portable SSD and connect them to your player using the USB port.
SACD - Super Audio CD is a proprietary optical disc format jointly created by Philips and Sony. The disc is the same physical dimensions of a CD but contain a 4.7GB layer (HD). The focal length of the HD laser is narrower than the CD laser in a SACD player. This allows for the disc structure to hold both the HD layer as well as a standard Redbook CD layer. This makes the discs backwards compatible with all CD players (as long as the disc contains the CD layer). The HD layer contains DSD encoded audio.
DSD - Direct Stream Digital is a 1-bit encoding of audio
DVD-ROM - A disc same physical size as a CD and can hold 4.7GB of data per side. It is single layer but can be double sided.
DVD-R/RW/RAM etc. - These are DVD discs where the layer which holds the data can be written by consumers. Depending on the disc this can be done once or multiple times. They have same capacity as DVD-ROM at 4.7GB per side.
All Marantz is saying (from your description) is that the SACD player can read DVD-Rs. If you were to copy over a bunch of DSD files to a blank DVD-R (on a computer) and then insert it into the player the player would recognize the files on the DVD and you’d be able to play them. They are still full rate DSD and contain the same bitstream as what would be on a SACD but the disc itself is not a SACD.
Hope that helps.
Personally, this sounds like a ton of unnecessary work. Get a network transport and be done with it Just feed the files over the network.
Thanks for the clarification. I have a relatively sophisticated network setup. The idea is to cut the network out and just play SACD’s.
Back in the day, I had lots of experience burning CDs. Not as storage, but as actual audio CDs.
Is it possible and relatively easy to take a DSD album in file format and burn it to either a SACD format, or DVD audio format (with the ToC) and then play it as such on the transport? The equivalent of burning an audio CD back in the day.
Or is it only possible to transfer DSD files to a DVD-R as files and have that essentially a file storage disc that then plays in the transport?
I’m not sure there’s any sonic difference, just curious. Either route eliminates both the network and server, which is my interest. Thx
This is why I don’t like using term “burn a SACD” as a thing. It’s technically possible to burn a SACD but it’s not easy as that’s a proprietary disc format consumers were not intended to have authoring access to. You can burn redbook because the “groove” on the disc can be burned by any DVD-R/RW drive. Here’s a whole discussion around burning SACDs
Now… Just putting DSD or DSF files on a DVD-R, while easy for a consumer, the way you lay those files out is going to be dependent on the player. Since they are files, and the player supports it, there will be guidelines on how to drop the files, in what directories, and what metadata is going to be needed for the player to identify album title, track title, and which order to play things in. That should all be outlined in the manual of the player. This is the “file storage disc” method but with some steps to match the players way of identify what’s on the disc.
There really shouldn’t be a sonic difference as the DSD is what lands at the DAC. How the player reads the DSD should not impact sound quality. Now, I say “should not” because there are lots of debate over wav, flac, alac which all contain the same PCM but some people claim these files sound the same. There are different ways of storing DSD in a file. They should all sound the same.
This is good stuff to know. I have been wondering if it is possible to burn DSD files because if I should ever be able to download DSD files, I also want them on a disc (from what I read it must be a DVD-R). So glad this is possible and able to get the same quality.
The general public does not have access to the software needed to burn an SACD. The burning of an SACD involves more than putting DSD tracks on a disc. Additional information, including the Table of Contents needs to also be burned to the disc. I am sure that Sony has outlawed any consumer software that will do this.
Thanks for the insight. Below is a screenshot from the Marantz SACD 30n manual. It seems that the DVD-R/RW serves as just a storage medium. One has to navigate the folders using the player’s remote in order to select where playback begins. They don’t specify how the DVD-R needs to be set up, only that it be a DVD and have files on it. Certainly not as elegant as an actual SACD. Not sure why Sony/ Philips are making it so difficult to burn SACD’s given these days so few have interest in doing so. DSD files themselves can be, and are, freely moved about the internet so the copyright protection angle flew the coop long ago. What’s the harm in having easy to produce SACD-R’s?
I’m not clear if there would be any sonic advantage to having the files play off a DVD-R in the transport vs over the network via Roon.
I just copy my DSD files from DSD data disks or Ripped DSD files to my NAS and Roon Finds them flawlessly. You don’t need Roon just a Music Management Software Program.
Just feed the files over the network.