LYR PC Soundcard connection SACD DVD-A source help.

1. RCA.

 

2. Ideally digital volume should be 100% and then you match the analog volume on the amp to that.

 

3. Question is will you find your music on SACD? I barely found anything save for some Jazz, most of the SACDs are Classical and I listen to only a few of them (Mahler, Grieg, Mozart, Wagner.)

 

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Does the Lyr have two sets of RCA inputs so the SACD source will have its own alongside the soundcard? And given #3 above, why not just get the DAC, then you use that to feed the Lyr? In any case most DACs might not decode the SACD anyway. IMO, if you're thinking of using the soundcard as a source when you don't need high quality decoding, like games, it's still a waste overall: tubes wear out faster than chips. Might as well get a solidstate DAC with a headphone output.

Edited by ProtegeManiac - 3/24/11 at 8:10pm

Oh, I thought you meant you'd get an SACD or universal player. DVD-A might play on Windows, but I don't think SACD will unless you have that software that comes with some Korg and Sony recorders since they encode in DSD. Might as well just enjoy only DVD concerts since they'll work just fine, but I think they also use 24/48. I liked the SACD improvements, but the lack of support is frustrating.

 

Personally, skip the SACD. A good DAC isn't always expensive. The NFB-12 I think has SPDIF and USB, so you can use it with PC's and if you upgrade your soundcard or get a CD transport/Media Server later on you can use the SPDIF inputs. Plus it has enough power to drive most cans, and analog output to feed the Lyr, in case you have one rig that might need the Lyr but a solid state DAC-Amp for that or another can for when you might want to put less hours on the tube when not listening critically (gaming, YouTube and listening while browsing/working, etc.)

I'm not sure, but I think the Benchmark DAC-1 can decode all of those save for SACD.

You might want to start with the entry-level Sony SACD first, it's only $150 I think. Or get a good universal disc player. I caution against the latter with SACDs, though. Some entry-level Universals, like the slimline Pioneer and Philips players (other brands do not read the DSD layer on SACDs), DO NOT play SACDs natively. Instead of a true DSD DAC, they convert/downscale the stream to regular - ie, CD - resolution and sampling rate, which gets converted by the 24/48 or 24/96 DAC designed primarily for DVD-A. So in effect, cheap "universals" won't really give you the real deal with SACDs. Although honestly at the time I had a Pioneer DV696 and Sony SCD595, the difference in sound could be attributable to the analog output more than the digital decoding, since I had only Wharfedale Diamononds then. 

An alternative will be to buy the Korg MR-1, rip the DSD-format tracks from SACDs, save them in the MR-1, and use them like a portable CDP - ie, desktop while plugged into a wall socket (batt life sucks.) This way it's transportable and less bulky than a regular player designed primarily for speaker-based systems. Otherwise, I think ES-series Sony players and Oppos have true DSD playback.

You do realize that SACD is encyrpted, right? I have seen a way to get around that, but we don't discuss that kind of thing here. It is against the TOS. For the record, I only play SACDs I've bought on a SACD player, I have never ripped a SACD and do not intend to.

Second, is there music on SACD that you want? About 90% of music available is classical. Then about 9% jazz and 1% other. Further, quite a few of the rock SACDs are out of print and appreciating fast. You might pay $100 or more for a particular SACD. I was lucky to buy quite a few at retail. I could not afford to replace my collection at today's prices, though.

If you're a hardcore classical and jazz listener, your best bet is to buy a dedicated SACD player and forget about using it with a computer. That's what i do.

As for DVD-A, it lost the hi-rez format war. The catalog is extremely limited. I run DVD-A because I found a terrific player for $100 and occasionally stumble across DVD-A discs. I have about 20 of them. It's a very, very small niche. But because I have a player, I pick them up now and then.

If I were you, I'd think more about getting a good DAC and setting up a computer-as-source rig. Don't bother with SACD or DVD-A unless you're seriously into classical and jazz and running a setup with dedicated components.

AFAIK, you can't just rip them. SACD is DSD, not simply PCM on higher sampling rate. The MR1 encodes into DSD, and if I remember right, it has software to transfer DSD files into it, so I assume it has a way of ripping discs.

 

Personally, just rip your PCM music collection to FLAC and call it a day, then buy more CDs or try other gear. Unless you listen to a lot of Classical don't bother with SACD. Although I am sorely tempted to encourage people to buy into that format just to encourage studios to make more and from other atists, but that's a long shot anyway and I decided to just save people money.
 

 

I use MediaMonkey. Research on that DVD player you have, even some Sonys have that PCM conversion trick. Best bet is the SCD-595 on the cheaper side, and then there are the ES universal players.

 

I had the 595 before but after a few months it stopped reading CD-Rs; then it stopped reading the SACDs, but read regular, commercially-printed CDs just fine. Sold it out of frustration. But when it worked, I loved the sound for the price. Although since I was on speakers at the time and my room wasn't deadened, the difference over a more reliable NAD (post-C520 with busted transports) worth 3x the price wasn't appreciable until about 11PM since my old "dorm" was near a main road.