Definitive Audiophile pressings

They tend to be too big for the room I find
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I’ve read “Little Lenny” has the same problem with leather pants…
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That depends I mean how "GOOD" of a couch are we talking here? Like are you in the market for a limited edition numbered couch? Or is this gunna be one of those AAA pressed at QCP (Quality Chesterfield Pressing) couches that are all the rage right now? You can probably save a few bucks and go with a COMFI couch, they've just been discovered to have a digital step so prices have dropped. Lots options to think about.

Oh and the lead time on all these couches is 17 months.
YOU’RE MURDER BASEMENT HAS A 17 MONTH WAITLIST?!!??!!??!!

That’s some Bret Easton Ellis shit there.
 
I have a bunch of old SACDs from when that era was going strong in the early 00s. I used to be really into 5.1 music. Not as practical in my office when I work so I took the Onkyo SACD player and moved it into my office and run it in stereo mode into my Adcom. I've never done an A/B of some of the duplicates I own like the MOFI Sea Change to the SACD version or the Bill Withers Greatest Hits MOFIs that I own on both platforms.

I also have a portable hard drive full of SACD rips that were done on old Playstation 3s that had the ability to copy the source files from SACDs. You can then unlock the DSD files. I used to put them on an old Pono device to listen to when I went on trips or in the car. Haven't really touched it since I got a new car last year with Carplay. It would be cool to have device that could stream those from my computer over to the Adcom. Anyone know of something that might do that? A wifi enabled DAC?
This may have some insight for you: https://www.psaudio.com/askpaulvideo/dsd-playback/
Same guy has other videos about DSD/SACD issues on YouTube, but I think this one is most relevant to your issue. I know of a couple devices w/ HDMI inputs that can decode SACD signals for the internal DAC (Bryston BDA 3.14 and at least one of the old OPPO DVD players), but I think you’re dealing w/ a different issue with native files.
 
This may have some insight for you: https://www.psaudio.com/askpaulvideo/dsd-playback/
Same guy has other videos about DSD/SACD issues on YouTube, but I think this one is most relevant to your issue. I know of a couple devices w/ HDMI inputs that can decode SACD signals for the internal DAC (Bryston BDA 3.14 and at least one of the old OPPO DVD players), but I think you’re dealing w/ a different issue with native files.

It’s actually easier once you have a DSD file and are just trying to play it that SACD is, SACD DRM is a nightmare and the only way to send it to an external DAC is those I2S via HDMI options that the like of PS Audio offer and that are pretty much entirely between their own line.

With the files, be they SACD rips or just DSD files, there isn’t the DRM issue so once you have a streamer/computer and/or DAC that can play and decode them natively your all good.
 
It’s actually easier once you have a DSD file and are just trying to play it that SACD is, SACD DRM is a nightmare and the only way to send it to an external DAC is those I2S via HDMI options that the like of PS Audio offer and that are pretty much entirely between their own line.

With the files, be they SACD rips or just DSD files, there isn’t the DRM issue so once you have a streamer/computer and/or DAC that can play and decode them natively your all good.
I was looking into this recently. The Denafrips Pontius also has an I2S input so you can pair it with a SACD player with an HDMI out. You may also need to buy some kind of HDMI converter box which seem to be around $50 or so via eBay. The whole thing seems like a bit of a headache though.
 
I opened my NIN - Pretty Hate Machine I got from Craft today....

And it is not theirs, so I wrote an email to them, too - (had to send 3rd Man an email for getting the wrong variant also)


It is a United pressing, it isn't an NRP cut - looks like Anne-Marie Suenram's ⋊ is on both side...so it may be good?

I haven't had any issues with her cuts at all, but being a United pressing, I'm sure it sounds like shit.


EDIT - looking at my other PHM copies - it looks like she cut the other 12"s in the box set - and they used a regular WG/NRP for the PHM in the box.

And then she also cut PHM, too? Seems a round about way of doing it.

 
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It’s actually easier once you have a DSD file and are just trying to play it that SACD is, SACD DRM is a nightmare and the only way to send it to an external DAC is those I2S via HDMI options that the like of PS Audio offer and that are pretty much entirely between their own line.

With the files, be they SACD rips or just DSD files, there isn’t the DRM issue so once you have a streamer/computer and/or DAC that can play and decode them natively your all good.
The Oppo’s can send out native DSD from an SACD via one of their regular HDMI ports (no I2S involved), and that signal can be processed (w/out HDMI/I2S converter) to a very small number of devices, including the Bryston BDA 3.14 DAC I mentioned.

I made a mistake above by suggesting the Oppo’s can receive native DSD via HDMI, and I understand that the broader situation is different for native DSD stored on a drive (not from an SACD).
 
I was looking into this recently. The Denafrips Pontius also has an I2S input so you can pair it with a SACD player with an HDMI out. You may also need to buy some kind of HDMI converter box which seem to be around $50 or so via eBay. The whole thing seems like a bit of a headache though.

The problem is that I2S over HDMI isn’t HDMI. It’s using the HDMI cable but not the HDMI protocol so they aren’t compatible. You either need a converter box, hassle and something else in the signal path, or something like the oppo which can be modified to send I2S over HDMI with the addition of a board, or the PS Audio SACD player, because denafrips use the PS Audio standard for sending I2S over HDMI, but it costs $6500 for you and €7,500 for me…
 
The Oppo’s can send out native DSD from an SACD via one of their regular HDMI ports (no I2S involved), and that signal can be processed (w/out HDMI/I2S converter) to a very small number of devices, including the Bryston BDA 3.14 DAC I mentioned.

I made a mistake above by suggesting the Oppo’s can receive native DSD via HDMI, and I understand that the broader situation is different for native DSD stored on a drive (not from an SACD).

True. There are actually a number of Sony blu ray players that will do it too. But the vast majority of DACs don’t accept that, I think it might actually even be a Bryson Quirk. Otherwise SACD DSD layer access over standard HDMI protocol is pretty much solely a feature native to home cinema multichannel AVRs from certain brands and I don’t think that many of us are integrating those into our music specific systems lol.
 
I have an Oppo Blu Ray that send DSD out to my Onkyo receiver. So far I've only done multichannel and stereo DSD. I'm sure I don't have the receiver to take full advantage but I get the little DSD logo on it when I play it. Sounds great. But like Joe said, not a part of my music specific system since it's in the room we watch TV in.

Based on the video posted last page, I may look at a cheap Topping DAC and run a USB cable from my Mac to the back for DSD. I wonder if there's a streaming option to the files from the Mac to the Topping with no quality loss. Or I can just run the long USB cable. It's my office. It's fine if it's ugly. I have a Topping headphones amp that I was using when I was working late into the evening and needed to be quiet when others were home. Haven't used it in a long time.
 
I have an Oppo Blu Ray that send DSD out to my Onkyo receiver. So far I've only done multichannel and stereo DSD. I'm sure I don't have the receiver to take full advantage but I get the little DSD logo on it when I play it. Sounds great. But like Joe said, not a part of my music specific system since it's in the room we watch TV in.

Based on the video posted last page, I may look at a cheap Topping DAC and run a USB cable from my Mac to the back for DSD. I wonder if there's a streaming option to the files from the Mac to the Topping with no quality loss. Or I can just run the long USB cable. It's my office. It's fine if it's ugly. I have a Topping headphones amp that I was using when I was working late into the evening and needed to be quiet when others were home. Haven't used it in a long time.

You could add a DSD capable streamer to the DAC that would output to it via USB. Might be out of budget though because the cheapest I’ve seen is the allo usbridge signature which requires you to flash your own choice of software to it, a bit like a pi as a streamer. It’s about $300. Ifi, project and musical fidelity do similar things with propriety software on them for increasing amounts of money. If you’re only spending the cost of a topping DAC though I think they are probably too steep to add onto that price and a USB cable might be the way.
 
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