Beware of SACD Transports -- they probably will not work with your favorite DAC


Hello, I just learned a painful lesson. I'm guessing that not many people will know this so I'm going to put it in here.

The audio on a SACD is encrypted.
If I were to purchase a SACD / CD player I have nothing to worry about. The Audio is un-encrypted inside the player.
However if I were to purchase a SACD / CD Transport made my brand Z, I would have to purchase a brand Z DAC???
Apparently Sony who owns the SACD format mandated that the audio on the SACD itself is encrypted and
the digital output from a SACD transport is ALSO encrypted. It looks like the actual un-encryption is done in the DAC.
There is no standard for doing the un-encryption so every manufacturer has their own proprietary way of doing this.
So I cant use a Esoteric SACD transport and an Auralic DAC which is what I tried to do?
londontk

Showing 1 response by jazzman7

GeerFab Audio offers a $1000 solution that allow you to play SACD's with it's D.BOB (Digital breakout Box) sitting between your SACD player and your DSD capable DAC of choice.

HDMI out from SACD player to D.BOB and then Coax or Toslink into the DAC.

See here:   https://geerfab.com/geerfab-audio