Do you mean you’re able to get the FLAC files to play gaplessly on the DMP or is this through your Bridge? If it’s on the DMP, I’d love to know how you do it as I’ve been unable to accomplish this.
From my NAS through the Bridge. (As I said, I’ve never put them on an optical disc.) If I have time this weekend I will experiment. The DMP in general is not a speed demon about things like track transitions, though.
Almost 4 months since I started this thread, and finally my DMP is set-up in my system.
My 1st download I tried, “Signature, solo piano” [Fiona Joy]. It is DSD, and the files were DSF. The DMP reported that the data was “PCM” (?) but also 176.4 / DSF.
This is beautiful music! Upon closer investigation I noted that it is from Blue Coast [It is not where I’ve downloaded it from; plse refer to the opening post for the reason …]. From what I’ve read from Blue Coast this is a company well worth supporting! But (currently) I still prefer the shiny disk, so now I’ll investigate if they sell it in this format too. Ideally, I’d like to buy in SACD format; as well as hi-res FLAC and/or DSF.
The only problem I’ve encountered so far, was that when I skipped a track with the remote, the next track was breaking up / skipping / stuttering. I stopped the disk, and re-started from that same track and all was fine.
Next I’ll report on my results with an SACD-R ISO.
O.K. just tried, and a ripped SACD-R ISO burnt to -R DVD does not work. If you unzip the ISO, you get .TOC files.
Haven’t checked this thread in a while - what is the question at this point, if you can get a DVD-R of .dsf files to play gaplessly?
See first 8 posts in this thread. I think that still covers my understanding of it.
Hello BB. I did not refer to gapless; just wanted a method to evaluate dowloaded rips in highest quality possible, in order to decide if I’m buying the disk or trashing the download. Yes, some kind of illegal “try before you buy” but here in my neck of the woods I don’t seem to have another option.
BTW I have a 44.4K Flac downloaded version of Steve Strauss’s “Powderhouse Road”, liked it very much and finally managed to obtain the original disk [It’s a Stockfisch disk]. No doubt in my mind that the original sounds better than the download!
And you are correct as per your post # 2; ISO’s don’t work - and I’ve subsequently managed to rip downloaded ISO’s using ISO2DSD. Have only done one, and wasn’t able to compare (as yet) differences in sound.
There are some disks, like for example Carol Kidd, of which I have the originals; as well as the Hi-Res Flac versions. [Just to show you that yes, I do buy :)]. So now I want to check if I can download a few SACD rips of same, then I can compare the original redbook with the downloaded (ripped) hi-res flacs and ISO2DSD’d DSF’s.
At the end of the day, my mission is simply to end up with the best (original) version possible of my best liked music.
I must add; I’ve had some problems so far.
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One of my 44.4 flac-converted-to-wav disks would not play (it played flawlessly on my PWT).
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The DMP wasn’t too happy with skipping tracks using the remote on DSF’s.
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I tried a downloaded rip “Jazz at the Pawnshop 2015” [256-files, so they’re huge]. The DMP wouldn’t play them at all. Just seemed to start; then stopped.
Plcomp - only does regular DSD, no higher-x versions. DMP is the best-sounding, worst-navigating device I’ve ever had. Though we are talking about throwing random stuff at it, to be fair. I pretend it’s a disc turntable. Press play (sometimes twice) and let it run.
The forthcoming firmware upgrade for the DMP is supposed to address the navigation issues.
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that…I’d have a lotta dollars.
I put in Chris Botti’s Bluray concert - and it appears that it is playing the Dolby Digital layer. Is there a way to get the Audio to switch to the DTS HD MA version and down mix it to 2 channel?
Doggie - no, as it’s not a Blu-ray player (despite being essentially a BD drive), doesn’t play DTS to my knowledge, and doesn’t have the visual navigation necessary to switch programs in any case. You can try extracting whatever audio files are on there and try burning them to DVD-ROM.
Tapping the musical note icon on the right side of the screen allows you to move through the groups on the disc to some extent. It works with some discs and is totally useless on others. Comparing the DMP’s display with the DS’s display while referring to the program notes that accompany the disc may allow you tell what program you’re playing, though it is usually a bit of a mystery. This is exacerbated by the DMP’s inconsistent display of the nature of the disc group it’s playing (the same group may be shown as MC or stereo and sometimes is accompanied by bit depth and resolution, sometimes not depending on how many times you touch the note icon).
As BadBeef notes, the only way to really be sure is to rip the disc and create a new disc that contains only the specific files you wish to play. Good luck and don’t get too frustrated by it - there are lots and lots of discs the DMP plays well.
Plus the deal with many discs is that the audio files are not necessarily good. Yeah, in the context of watching a Blu-ray it may work - but for stand-alone audio, not so much.
Unfortunately, the use of the music icon and a few other important items have still not been included in the user manual.
I burned what I thought was SACD files (*.dff) to a DVD-R to play in the DMP. While they played fine 
they showed up as PCM 172.6/24 on the display rather than SACD or DSD. I know the DMP setup is correct (SACD Mode=Stereo SCAD). ANy ideas why they wouldn’t play as DSD?
Thanks much.
Ian
P.S. I own NO SACDs, never any reason to buy them until now. I think I will buy some tonight on eBay but I’d like to be able to play some I download as DSDs if I can.
After reading a little on the net, I’m thinking I need a software package to actually burn these as SACDs. Something that replicates the specific file structure. Simply copying the dff files to disk doesn’t cut it.
Does anyone have any easy-to-use software they can recommend for this task? Doesn’t necessarily have to be freeware. I downloaded Foobar2000 but can’t figure out how to install the SACD plug-in for it.
Thanks!
Ian
SACDs contain an ISO disc image file. Maybe it’s possible to create such a thing, but it won’t be easy and almost certainly would not replicate the original SACD image exactly.
I’m not sure why your dff files don’t play as DSD. If I have time tonight I’ll try burning one of the DSD albums I’ve purchased as downloads and see what happens.
BTW: DSD files can be purchased in DFF or DSF format. If you have a choice, get DSF when you buy downloads. The former can contain metadata that the latter cannot, a useful feature. DFF is the older format but most places now sell DSF files.
Foobar, with the appropriate plugins, can extract tracks from an ISO but as WAV (a PCM format), not as DSD (if I understand correctly).
Thanks very much. I had a thought, which is always dangerous.
If these files are already .dsf, files extracted from a SACD aren’t they already DSD quality? My understanding is that what makes an SACD an SACD is a unique file structure. If you’ve already got the raw streams (i.e. .dsf or .dff) files and can play that on the DMP (they play fine) why would you need to re-engineer them into an SACD?
I apologize in advance if this turns out to be blatantly incorrect. 
I take it back. The .dsf files do not seem to be reading 100% correctly on the DMP. Towards the end of and between cuts I can hear what I would describe as static, almost like a crackling sound as if the file isn’t being decoded exactly right. It might very well be there all of the time but I rarely hear it because it’s at a much lower level than the music itself. 
EDIT **. It also turns out a # of the ones I’ve burned have a pretty severe channel imbalance. Could be a source material issue but less likely given multiple disks. I’m thinking if there’s a way to do this it’s not just by copying .dsf and .dff files to a DVD and playing them through the DMP. If someone knows how to do it I’d much appreciate the help.
ihmeyers said If you’ve already got the raw streams (i.e. .dsf or .dff) files and can play that on the DMP (they play fine) why would you need to re-engineer them into an SACD?There is no need at all.
The .dsf files do not seem to be reading 100% correctly on the DMP. Towards the end of and between cuts I can hear what I would describe as static, almost like a crackling sound as if the file isn't being decoded exactly right.Or there is something wrong with the files. I wouldn't blame the DMP unless you are certain that the files are as they should be. If someone ripped them from an SACD, they might be OK or not, depending on the skill of the person who did it. Do you have any other way to play them, to confirm that they are OK? You could use Foobar via USB if you get the foo_input_sacd installed, which is normally very easy (open Preferences, click Components at the left, click Install at the bottom right, and point to where you downloaded the plugin).