High Rez download then burn SACD

By the way to avoid confusion, the device the plays back high-resolution files is called Transporter. The Squeezebox only plays back redbook files. At one time this was the best, most cost effective way to set up a music server but asynchronous USB is better because of the way it slaves the PC to DAC's word clock.

There is no SACD hard drive based solution I am aware of. I think that is because the SACD format is proprietary and uses encryption that prevents the files from being created from the discs.

In my view there is not much indication that anything other than regular old redbook CD will be the standard anytime soon. At this point in time, if you want to be at the cutting edge, I think the key is asynchronous USB. You use the computer as a transport and feed a DAC via a specialized mode of USB.

Everything you need to know is here
http://www.ayre.com/pdf/Ayre_USB_DAC_White_Paper.pdf

Probably the cheapest DAC's that I've heard and will recommend are the Benchmark and the Lavry, both about $1200

We're taking the DSD data stream and capturing it to HDD. Most labels want it downsampled to 24/88.2

This is the future and people want convenience.

the whole idea of using a hard-drive based system is to avoid the errors which result from a laser having to simultaneously read a disc and play the music (so you might want to consider not burning at all or using a DVD player). from the little I've seen on this (a demo at a local dealer), if you want the best sound possible, you'll need (in addition to a killer system in general...) a high-quality DAC (although I'm not even sure they're all called DACs anymore...) that can read up to 192 and has USB. the hard drive(s) and software (to extract files without errors, to be able to use your phone to control the whole thing, etc.) are relatively cheap - especially for the 'high end' world - but the best USB DACs (see: Linn, Ayre) are hella expensive. presumably this stuff will come down in price over time... the good news, from what I heard, is that even regular old 'redbook' sounds way better too.

Thanks for the info.

For those who are burning the High-Rez into DVD, are they getting the 24 bit/192 khz output from the DVD player into the DAC? If yes, which players are recommended?

BTW, I found the information on this link that explains why burning SACD may not be feasible solution in the near future.

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t37514.html

if I were you, I'd not focus on SACD so much. you're probably right that the future of high-end audio will be computer (hard-drive) based systems, but you'll still need a good system to play it back (including a box that can play files that are higher-rez than CD/redbook). you might want to start by researching the 'squeezebox', which has a huge following.

as far as burning goes, those who choose to burn hi-rez files (as opposed to leaving it on hard drive) use DVDs.