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NEW Discovery: Getting the Oppo DSD Output to a Dac.

Getting the Oppo DSD Output to a Dac.

I’m no longer using a Preamp. So it’s been a long time since I have been able to play my SACD’s.  I really didn’t want to pay for new digital downloads after paying so much for the many SACD’s that I currently own.

I saw an adapter listed on EBay from China that caught my attention. It costs $18 bucks including shipping! It looks to be well made and fairly small. It comes with a wall wart AC adapter. But, I found that it is not needed. It seems the little adapter gets its power from the HDMI via the Oppo. At one end of the adapter is the HDMI input. The other end outputs Optical or Coaxial and both are assessable at the same time.

Now with this little adapter I have been able to take the extra HDMI output from my Oppo 95 and convert that output digitally to my PS Audio Direct Stream Dac.  And, it is outputting the DSD stream! The PS Direct Stream Dac shows 24/88.2 Hz as the input. Now, I can now play my SACD’s again and they sound fantastic!

So, I have been copying my SACD’s into my hardrive. To do this, I first copy the 24/88.2Hz signal using my Tascam DA 3000 onto a SD card. Just for the heck I’m also recording that Oppo output at 24/192 HZ. Then I simply transfer that recording to my Hardrive.

Here is the link.


128x128ozzy
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 
Ozzy, the Oppo 105D outputs true native DSD via its USB (the one on the back, not the spare USB inputs on the front). Regular 105 and other models don't do this (unless I missed a recent change within last 6 months). 
Your comments tell us that you prefer the sound of the Direct Stream DAC to the sound of the DAC built in to the 95, which makes sense. 
Too bad the 95 doesn't have a headphone amp/jack because then you could compare PCM converted vs DSD files of same tracks by headphone to decide what differences are important enough to drive your direction. Cheers,
Spencer
dbtom2
382 posts
 
Ozzy,
Seems like you're getting PCM digital hi-res out of that Oppo when -as I understand it- that isn't supposed to be possible on SACD. It may not be the DSD but the assumption I make is that it could still sound better than the 16/24 rate an SACD plays at on a non-SACD capable plays. 

if your ears like it, that's what matters.  I have recorded 16/44.1 streams at 24/96 (by mistake - I had some recorder settings wrong) and my old ears preferred the higher resolution version over the streamed version. 

Love that Tascam unit and here's hoping you get those SACDs listened to.

ozzy's avatar
ozzy OP
7,466 posts
 
sbank, dbtom2, Thank you for your comments. I will try the usb out on the back to see if that does indeed work with my Dac. I also always thought recoding the HiRez signal from SACD was not possible. I guess that is why I was so amazed and why I wanted to post this.
waipuna's avatar
waipuna
7 posts
 
Sony( from what the man who designs and makes the exosound dacs, some of the best dsd capable dacs on the market, told me,) does not allow sacd signals to altered by another outboard dac by copyright.
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 
Ozzy, 
Sorry, I mistyped in my last post. What I meant was that the newer Oppo 105D will accept native DSD (.dsf & .dff) files from a computer or streamer via the USB INPUT on the back. 
If you are playing SACD discs on your Oppo 95, I believe all the digital outputs will output native DSD, so the rest is on your dac and its inputs. Cheers,
Spencer
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