SACD Player/Transport Choices
I am planning to acquire a McIntosh MCT500 to go with my C53 (proprietary MCT connection). But I am wondering if there are other good SACD transport choices that will send a true DSD stream to an external DAC on a non-proprietary basis, either through USB or I2S. I’m trying to research this, but it’s difficult to find definitive answers regarding the actual digital stream from SACD - often I discover that the stream is converted to PCM. I do know PSAudio has a scheme similar to McIntosh.
I realize simply purchasing DSD and streaming from an SSD is probably more practical these days. But I am sort of fixated on a physical disc player. Budget-wise, most interested in transports around or below that of the MCT500 (~$5K). Thanks for your thoughts and advice.
I ordered the Onix that @milpai referenced earlier this week primarily due to the I2S output and the fact that it is a top loader. I have a large SACD collection and liked the idea of being able to use an external DAC rather than whatever chipset is included in a player.
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Since you are preferring the sound of your SACD's over I2S I am assuming that is through the Denafrips Terminator and which version do you have? I picked up my Onix from Shenzhen and got it last week. I can confirm the build is nice but I have not used it yet. I was going to get a separate DAC and the Terminator is top of the list, followed by the Holo May.
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