DACs for SACDs ?

Does anyone know any good DACs (preferrably tubes) for SACD and standard CDs specs?

I have been searching on the net but no lucks so far.

 

this is going to be tough as the music companies have stopped manufacturers outputting an unencrypted sacd signal. this means that there are very few dacs which can accept raw sacd and decrypt it correctly and most of those are horribly expensive and tied into a particular transport. dcs, audio synthesis and teac i believe do such things but all cost 5k+ just for the dac with the transports (not mix and matchable i believe) in a similar price range.
to be honest if sacd is your bag, get a monster sony or marantz integrated cd/sacd player, some have digital inpouts so you can use their internal dac with other pcm sources such as a squeezebox or dab radio. sorry but that's about the only option there is.
cheers

julian

 

how important is the SACD side of things?

I can think of some SACD equiped tube-cdps, but no valve sacd dacs.

 

Julian2002 is right about that. You won't find a drive with a digital output for sacd/dsd. Actually I don't know if it is true but I have heard that some Sony pro-gear drives output (or used to output) a digital format on three channel (left, right, clock) for dsd. Anyway take that for what it is: a very hazy unconfirmed rumour…
I ran into a similar problem. My dac can convert both cd and sacd but there is no way to find a digital drive with proper digital sacd output to feed the dac.
What you do get on the market is fire wire encrypted digital outputs for sacd, but because they are encrypted these only work with corresponding decoders of the same brand, which means a pioneer drive won't produce a suitable signal for a sony reveiver.
There are chips to make a digital conversion form sacd/dsd to pcm/cd. More rumours: there are sacd players working that way, first converting to pcm and then to analogue. But as all this is kept internal to the sacd player, that won't give you the digital signal you're after for an external dac.
If you need both sacd and cd you probably will have to go one box or fairly expensive…

 

If cost is no object how about the TEAC Esoteric mono DAC? Six required for multi-channel.

 

Hi guys/gals,

Thanks for the prompt response. What a nice forum it is for a new member.

The reason that I asked for a SACD DAC is because I am upgrading my source but not sure which way to go. I have already done some mods to my Philips 963sa but still not happy with its output amp. My options are
1) spend £400 to upgrade the master clock and the output amp (not really my 1st choice) OR
2) Get a better SACD player (preferrably with tube output) - Musical Fidelity Trisvista SACD springs to my mind OR
3) Get a standalone DAC

My current gears are:
Decware Zen SE84CS, Decware Zen SE84CSP (mk I), Phillips 963SA, Graves Koronglay Lowther EX2 horns, Decware Silver Reference interconnects, silver spk cables.

 

Hi, I longer have mine, but I seem to remember that manual for the Musical Fidelity Tri Vista A 21 DAC, said it would accept SACD. There other MF A21 users on here maybe they could check it out for you.

I don't know where you would get a transport from.

Ken

 

The Meitner mods Philips 1000 CDP and the EMM Labs DAC6 I was told is the best combo to best reproduce SACD and std CDs. I saw an ad in Audiogon yesterday for the CDP but was sold the next minute.

 

I can confirm that the Trivista 21 manual does say it wil handle data input from an SACD player, but only in 24 bit / 96kHz "DVD-A" format, not DSD.

 

There are some nice chinese tube SACD player. Check out cattylink

 

Some guy says he is developing a PCB that converts straight from the DSD layer - but it's in prototype stage.
________
HENRY FORD CENTENNIAL LIBRARY SPECIFICATIONS

 

I am thinking of accquiring the Opera Consonance Reference SACD 2.0 player which has a valve output using the high performance Russian Sovtek 6H30 valve.

I wonder if anyone has experienced this SACD player apart from the review reports?

Regards
Charles

 

Just wondering - why is a valve output stage so important for you?

There are good and bad implementations of valve and solid state outputs.... for example I know from direct experience that the valve output stage on the Shanling SCD-T200 SACD player is not as good as the solid state one that is fortunately also provided.

 

I just love valve gears for their mid-range, dynamic and warmth. I am not here to A/B ss vs valves and I am its all down to personal perference. My current setup is a class-A SET valve amp (2 watt max output) and a valve pre-amp together with the Lowther driver horns which I like very much. Some of the best DACs (inc Audio Notes) also use valves for the analog output so they can't be bad.