Over the weekend, we had a chance to rip a few of our own SACD discs into DSF file.
We then compare the playback of SACD Disc vs the Ripped DSF File on the same audio system.
Player: Oppo 105 SACD player (has USB input to playback the DSF file from original SACD Disc) - using XLR output
Pre-Amp: Denafrips Athena
Amplifier: Two Mark Levinson 333 Bi-Amp
Speakers: A Pair of B&W N801
Room: Acoustically treated
Playback is level match with pink noise track so both SACD Disc and DSF file playback are the same volume SPL.
The ripped DSF file sounds good, but when compare to SACD Disc playback of the same album/song, the Disc playback has slightly better dynamic and transparency.
We could tell with our eyes closed when one of us switches between Disc Playback vs DSF file playback from the same Oppo 105.
Why is that?
Is it because the Disc playback are clocked signal inside the SACD player circuit so it has less digital jitter than the USB file interface playback?
In my experience with PST was exactly opposite - the dsf played thru USB thumdrive was a notch better than same SACD disc. However when the disc got treated with antistatic and something else, the sound was the same from disc/USB.
I’m not an Oppo owner , but i’m thinking it could be that data from USB storage are not undergoing same reclocking as from disc, or there is noisy USB chipset / not isolated well, or even you might want to try different USB thumb drive to see if it helps.
It’s all in the playback equipment and how the DSF is stored IMO. When I played SACD on my modified Oppo 203 I couldn’t tell a difference from the DSF playing thru my Auralic Aries G2.