2. digital
  3. 193965-199203

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.

mattsca

Showing 2 responses by rms456

rms456
53 posts
 

@richardbrand, totally agree with using I2S with HDMI. I2S is really LVDS with so many different pinouts, far better to use an RJ45 instead of the crappy and temperamental HDMI connector, let alone the cable properties with so many cores and cross talk. 

rms456
53 posts
 

Like DAT, CD/SACD player are mechanical devices, sooner or later they will fail requiring service. I refer to SACD and Cd equally here.

Whether broken or worn o-rings, belts, laser rot, or the usual caps drying out, they won't last. I have many SACD and CDs, all of them are ripped to hard drive and streamed as preference, far more convenient to search.

The SQ is pretty much up there compared with CD playback, however streaming from Qobuz, Tidal, Apple etc. meh, a bit of a way to go.

I do like to play CDs, however for the long term, like my remaining 20-30 years, I will outlive a SACD player which means one day it will fail and two I own are already 'jittery', one takes 3-5 shots to load and recognise a disc, the other just stops playing about 15minutes into a disc and won't play in the summer due to humidity. Such unreliability I can do without, the whole enjoyment tanks.

There's uncertainty with file playback, however with management and judicious backups, there's a plan to get around known shortcomings. Streamers are a plenty, even more DACs, CD players not so much. A CD Player will start rotting, even if kept as a spare. Of spares, ever tried to buy a Sony CD player spare part, unobtanium.

Going to have to come to terms that CD playback is for nostalgia.

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