I am very interested in getting the DS dac. I would however want to pair it with a suitable transport as I mostly play CD:s and also some SACD:s. As PS audio dont make a transport atm, what other manufacturers transport would you recomend for pairing with the dac? I ofcourse want to be able to utilize all features and soundquality from the dac. Or should I try to find a used PS audio transport? If so can I trust it to be future proof should it need service?
PS Audio does make a ‘DirectStream Memory Player’ that plays CDs and SACDs which can be purchased here:
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I believe PSaudio have stopped making these. However, some units may be available on the used market.
They are coming out with a new transport but won’t have the capability of playing SACD.
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You can look at Arcam CDS50. It plays SACD and isn’t too expensive.
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Wrong.
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Hold fire until new PS products launch. Or buy an Esoteric SACD player.
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The new optical drive will play SACDs. PS Audio has sourced a drive manufactured in Japan manufactured for D and M holdings who owns Marantz and Denon.
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Very nice to know this. Thank. 
If PSA uses same drive from Marantz SA-10, I will definitely get the PSA’s new transport to pair my DSDAC. (Hope the price will be “ affordable “ vs Marantz SA-10. Sorry, I cannot afford the Esoteric Grandioso P1X 
)
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I stand corrected. I was looking a initial pronouncements from psaudio (early 2019). Good to hear that the new transport will play SACD’s.
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It can be a challenge to keep up as Paul shares all of the stops, starts, changes in plans, etc. I enjoy this, but it frustrates others.
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Pioneer UDP-LX500 Ultra HD Blu-ray Player: $1,099
This product is not currently available (CD Transport source was OPPO), New transport coming. Think it will play SACD’s but not positive.
Once again, PS Audio’s new optical drive will play SACDs.
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Does that have an I2S port?
No. Not many do (if any).
Jim Milton
In any event only PS Audio transports have the secret handshake that lets the transport send unencrypted DSD to the DAC over HDMI. Blame Sony for that.
All,
Personally, I think people would be better served by waiting and buying the new PS Audio Octave server(which should be out shortly) instead of buying the new PS Audio transport.
I believe they will both cost around the same amount of money.
With the Octave server you can simply rip all your old CDs using FLAC format THEN you can also rip all your old SACDs using any old OPPO SACD player to DSF format(same as DSD), here is a youtube video that shows you how to do it:
Save your money, wait for the PS Audio Octave server - get that. Then you can rip everything to that. Also, you will be able to enjoy all of PS Audio’s new DSD ‘Octave Records’ music that will work with the Octave server natively.
Who wants to get out of their chair and switch discs around anyways when all your media can be on a server? Tangible media is on it’s way out - in my opinion.
Ryan
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Oh, it’s available…
Somewhere in the forum, I read about the Bridge III for DS Dac will run octave software. I have less interest on the actual server hardware, since I am running Synology DS718+ in my home network. However, since I need a transport not bridge III yet, last year I started to look for a 3rd party transport for DS dac, I found this https://www.musicdirect.com/disc-player/Pro-Ject-CD-Box-RS2-T-CD-Transport. It has hdmi I2S. I asked the manufacturer, they said the hdmi is standard I2S, so should work with DSDAC on SACD ( It will be nice if someone has tested it to confirm.) However, I decide to wait to see PSA’s new transport.
I would call PS Audio and make sure that would work. I2S and HDMI are both standards - yes, that is correct. But, PS Audio memory player to DSD Sr HDMI(I2S) connection may use a proprietary pin-out making the I2S connection with a third party product not work. Again, I’m not saying this is for sure the case…I would just contact PS Audio before making a purchase.
Someone please correct me if I’m wrong…but, it was my understanding that data sent from the transport to a DAC(digital to digital transmission) was through I2S. Then the DAC would make the D to A(digital to analog) conversion. With SACD, this would mean that when the DSD Sr receives the DSD stream it’s still in the I2S digital format and ALSO still encrypted. It was also my understanding then that the DSD Sr would do the decryption.
If we could use any I2S output into the DSD Sr then that would be awesome. Does anyone know if this would work?