PSAudio have just announced a new SACD transport at AXPONA for I believe $8,500 and limited to 200 units. Personally I use a PSAudio PerfectWave for SACD playback via I2S into a Denafrips Venus 15th DAC for native DSD playback and that works superbly. Maybe a 2nd hand PSAudio is the way to go? The Music Room have 2 for sale right now Mark 1 $1,300 Mark 2 $3,500.
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.