Anyone Playing SACD/DVD-As on a PC ?

Nope, no digital output nor recording with DVD-Audio. There's a warning/notice as soon as you put a DVD-Audio disc in the drive.

Interesting questions - I'll investigate them over the weekend and will post back.

Very interesting Ghunter. The SBA 2ZS has digital outputs. The DVD-A players I have seen all have analoge out only. I wonder if this thing will play all DVD-A or just those recorded in the clear, without copy protection. Can you store them as files on a hard drive? Please keep us posted.

I just installed a Sound Blaster Audigy 2ZS Platinum, and it has DVD-Audio built in. I might buy a DVD-Audio disc to check it out, but the lack of ability to import songs into iTunes is still a huge barrier for me to view this format as anything but an experiment.

Ghunter I think you are exactly right on both counts.
The CD is as user friendly as it is only because at the time of its introduction the writeable CD was not foreseen and hard drives space cost much more than a CD. The record companies thought you would need a factory to press a CD and were willing to put up with copying to cassettes. This was the same situation they faced with LPs.
I have read that writable SACDs do not exist even for recording engineering purposes and that recordings are delivered for manufacturing on DAT. I saw another report that contemplated biometric (thumb print) controls on playback devices!
I agree that the copy protection has gone to far. The new formats deny us fair use; preventing loading your iPod or using them in PC based audio.

The reason we're not all doing this is the embedded copy protection the labels want in their high-bitrate releases. I think this is a large part of the reason these formats are headed for the graveyard.

I'm using WINDVD6 through an Audiofile 24/96 cdrs are recorded using discWelder Chrome on an NEC 3520A. Can only really check this is all working by ear and it sounds pretty good. Have been AB-ing the new Goldfrapp album the cd sounds like an mp3 but the DVDA is ok just about good cd-like. So that's a positive forward step - NOT. Just goes to show how dependent we are on software and how the quality of it varies.

I came across this over at ecoustics

http://www.highfidelityreview.com/news/news.asp?newsnumber=14550899

The ecoustics thread is also relevant

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/1/42560.html

Don't know if this is a clue, but Mark Levinson used to have a hard drive based Sony SACD machine in his ill fated Red Rose store.

But maybe that was all proprietary Sony stuff inside?

Why couldnt we get this on a PC - interesting question.

The Creative Audigy's sound pretty bad though...

I am meeting with someone who is doing CD's. He is feeding the computer signal through a modified Benchmark DAC. I will post more after I hear it.

SACD no. I believe there is no current way to do so. DVD-A is another story. Creative's Audigy series soundcards all generally support DVD-A.