Sorry to ask this SACD question, but

Reportedly the Sony UBP-x800 will output 176.4/24 thru the coaxial connection playing SACDs. This would be PCM, of course but it would play. I wonder if it would be an improvement on what you have already.

Just remember that SONY UBP-X800 does not have analog RCA outputs, if they are ever needed. However, it may be the cheapest and simplest solution for questions/intentions from the original post.

curiousjim

I have enjoyed reading this thread. There is sound advice as above. Looking forward in reading more about you and your system once completed.

Happy Listening!

     As I understand it, Oppos (and some other players) have two setting for SACD. One is to set it to bitstream, in which case, the SACD/DSD digital stream will travel over HDMI into whatever the next component is (typically a receiver). Most receivers will play SACD by converting it to PCM and playing it (at varying resolutions, depending on the receiver). Some receivers will convert the DSD directly to analog and play it. There's a great debate on various sites on which sounds "better."
     Alternatively, you can set the SACD player to PCM in your player. In this case, the player converts the SACD/DSD digital to PCM. If played through the analog outputs of the payer, it will then convert it to analog and play. Or, it can be transferred over coax, optical or HDMI to the receiver and decoded to analog there. Some players (the Oppos, I think) can convert the DSD digital directly to analog. This is useful because you can have the system set to bitstream (which will pass the DSD digitally to the receiver to decode), while if you switch to a different input that has the analog cables, the Oppo will convert and play over the analog outputs. My Cambridge 752bd converts DSD to PCM, but upscales it to 192/24, before converting it to analog, so I have to choose between bitstreaming (receiver decodes) or PCM (the player upscales and decodes).
     My understanding is that coax or optical cables don't have the bandwidth to transmit the DSD stream digitally - it can only go via HDMI. So I don't think that you can do want you want to (at least without a non-normal process like others here have suggested. 

"...converts DSD to PCM, but upscales it to 192/24..."

My understanding, and that one is very very very limited, is that DSD and PCM do things somehow differently. However, the numbers attached are typically in MHz for DSD and KHz for PCM. I remember seeing advertisements for SACD that were comparing CD resolution (44 KHz) and touting that SACD is 60+ (64) higher. That would imply that those numbers matter. In that case, 2.8 MHz would be way above 192 KHz. Why is conversion from DSD to 24/192 KHz called upscaling then? Is there something else at play?

In my experience, I tried SACDs converted to different file formats and different resolutions with the highest ones being 24/192 WAV and FLAC, I cannot tell the difference between DSD and 24/192 with any certainty. It may be my shortcoming or it may really be negligible.