I, too, agree with what you say.!
My friend Bob wasn’t offended with what I did ( i.e. swapping fuses ) in his absence and we both laughed about it. Bob openly admits that he feels compelled to buy expensive fuses, etc. because he has read they make ‘big improvements’, so they must do…! It’s his money - to each their own!
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I can’t add anything…Rudolf stated it perfectly IMHO. Except I’ve been hooked on DSD (SACD’s) for twenty years now.
I envy you Joe. You started early and had the opportunity to buy many SACDs that are currently unavailable. I bought the first SACD two years ago, a little earlier I bought DMP, DSD, P5.
I currently have about 300 SACD. The difference in sound quality between CD and SACD is so large that I find expensive CD players absurd. Last weekend I listened to a lot of Bach and Szymanowski’s music. I switched to the CD layer several times for several seconds. The pleasure of listening to SACD music is enormous, after switching to the CD layer all the charm disappears.
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My SACD collection in the beginning was not large and I would choose between DVD-Audio discs and DVD-Audio depending on the release (Rock titles mostly). But now I have lots of SACD discs thanks to eBay and Amazon used markets. The Living Stereo & Living Presence blow my mind considering they were recordings made over 60 years ago !
I’ve also bought 2 channel DSD downloads form Acoustic Sounds, High Definition Tape Transfers, Blue Coast, but HD Tracks burned me on a couple of downloads that I suspect are upsampled CD’s and downsampled DSD to PCM. Unless they state it’s a true DSD file download, either I won’t buy it there or I’ll check Acoustic Sounds for the same files. Also Blue Coast & HDTT will let you re-download tracks in the event of a hard rive crash/lost files. I have to check with Acoustic Sounds if they will do the same but HD Tracks WILL NOT allow this citing some loss of revenue nonsense.
I bought quite a few SACDs when they first came out because I had a player. The player turned out to be junk though (Sony 333ES). I have a universal player now, but with all the copy protections and the fact that the DAC and speakers in my audio equipment is/are better than the built-in DAC in the player/speakers in my home theater/universal player, I never listen to the SACD layer anymore. Plus, once HT receivers got rid of the analog inputs for 5.1, playing multichannel SACD out of most of the older players that had 5.1 outputs isn’t viable.
Sony and Philips devised a format that is simply too much hassle for me to give a crap about. A real shame and a blown opportunity.
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Take a look at this if your Universal Player has DSD over HDMI Video/Audio outs. The second blue board is only for reversing the L & R channels.
And this is how I did it :
For Multichannel layer SACD’s though, I’m stuck with the Sony DSD DAC’s inside my AVR. For the 2 channel layer, it’s the I2S input #1 for pure DSD playback, and I2S Input # 2 for PCM to DSD playback through the DSD Sr.
Cost you $40 bucks for the green board :
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HDMI-MHL-to-IIS-I2S-HDMI-IIS-I2S-Separate-Extract-Audio-I2S-DSD-Optical-Coaxial/123962902103?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
For the optional Blue board to correct L & R :
https://www.ebay.com/itm/I2S-to-HDMI-module-IIS-I2S-HDMI/132686620012?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
Now the problem here is if you Uni Disc Player doesn’t have two HDMI outs (one for Audio/Video, the other “Audio” only - B.S. actually), you won’t be able to navigate your way though to the discs unless you just hit play, then it should work but you won’t “see” anything.
My HDMI Adapter Boards are connected to the “Audio” HDMI out while the Audio/Video HDMI out goes to my AVR which then goes to my TV. The Parlor trick here is that my Sony AVR will display “DSD 2.0” but actually, it’s the DSD over HDMI that it’s seeing on HDMI "A/V out. The DS Sr. will see a true DSD 1 Bit 64fs like what the PWT sends to the DSD Sr.
Sermon for Day over. If you’re interested (I know you didn’t ask) in trying it.
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Thanks for the info. I don’t have a DSD DAC, so I’ll probably pass for now.
I should probably sell my Genesis SACD box set to someone who’d appreciate it. Lol.
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DRM always makes things a drag, whatever the circumstances. I understand and commend the desire to protect artist income, and do not believe for a second Sony had the artists in mind when developing the copy protection on SACD, but their own profits (which is also not necessarily a bad thing), but DRM usage “drives unexpected behaviours” and always has.
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It is easy to rip SACDs these days…
If you have the right player.
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I found the right player for $50 on eBay. There were dozens of them at that price. The software is free. Do you consider $50 to be an obstacle to ripping SACDS?
Apparently it isn’t important enough, no.
My sole point was that a new format was basically rendered stillborn by onerous DRM. At least for my practical use.
The pluses do not outweigh the minuses for ME. For others? Sure.
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The PS3 a friend lent me for ripping had the firmware accidentally updated (not by me) so it’s a Boat Anchor. No big deal now that I can spin SACD’s via the Sony/PS Audio setup. It would have been nice though. 
At the moment, yes but my Wife’s gonna kill me if I spend another cent on “another” unfinished project. I’ve seen the list of SACD players. Maybe when I really need to, I will.
Thx
What is the player you use that can be used for SACD ripping at only 50$?
I you want to rip SACD’s, check this out.
https://www.psaudio.com/copper/article/down-the-rabbit-hole-of-sacd-ripping-and-dsd-extraction/
https://absolutelybaching.com/music-articles/how-to-rip-an-sacd/
Just get one of the compatible player from Ebay for about $50. My brother did and it works fine.
I have a Sony BDP-BX510…