Denon-2200>?>headphones for SACD

[ComfyCan]

I got caught up in an e-bay bidding frenzy today and bought a Denon 2200, which has SACD capability (the reason I bought it).

I listen to music almost exclusively through headphones, and that's how I want to listen to SACD's using the Denon. I understand the digital out options (optical or coax) won't work for SACD, but the analog will.

Am I correct that I will be able to hear the elusive SACD layer through headphones if I connect an RCA-to-mini adapter between the Denon and a headphone amp (either my Xin Super Micro III, or Total Bithead), then plug my phones into the headphone amp?

I think this is correct, but this SACD thing is pretty confusing to me.

 

[Bones13]

I too am struggling to completely understand the SACD, and DVDa formats. As I understand it, they differ from standard CD (redbook) in that:

1) CD is only 2 channel, and both SACD and DVDa formats have more than 2 channels
2) CD is recorded at 44.1 mhz frequency, and SACD and DVDa formats use 48 mhz
3) Regular CD is recorded using 16 bits for the word size, and SACD and DVDa use 24 bit word sizes. ( I just got an "enhanced CD" with 20 bit recording)

I play SACD and DVDa on my Samsung DVD HD-950, using the Stereo out to my amp. I don't know what would happen if I put one of the digital outs to my Spitfire DAC. I don't happen to know what part of the recording is put out thru the stereo plugs that go to my headphones, but the sound level is higher than my DAC, and the sound is a bit "brighter" than my DAC.

Hope this helps you on some level, I am certain an expert will come make sense of this mess.

 

[ComfyCan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bones13 I too am struggling to completely understand the SACD, and DVDa formats. As I understand it, they differ from standard CD (redbook) in that: 1) CD is only 2 channel, and both SACD and DVDa formats have more than 2 channels 2) CD is recorded at 44.1 mhz frequency, and SACD and DVDa formats use 48 mhz 3) Regular CD is recorded using 16 bits for the word size, and SACD and DVDa use 24 bit word sizes. ( I just got an "enhanced CD" with 20 bit recording) I play SACD and DVDa on my Samsung DVD HD-950, using the Stereo out to my amp. I don't know what would happen if I put one of the digital outs to my Spitfire DAC. I don't happen to know what part of the recording is put out thru the stereo plugs that go to my headphones, but the sound level is higher than my DAC, and the sound is a bit "brighter" than my DAC. Hope this helps you on some level, I am certain an expert will come make sense of this mess.

Thanks for the comments; it is nice to know I'm not alone.

RANT:
It is just insane that Sony/Phillips developed this technology and has marketed it so poorly. I understand that they fear piracy, but in their efforts to defeat piracy they have also completley undermined the utility of the format for most people. You shouldn't have to spend 18 hours surfing the internet just to figure out how to play a cd.
:END RANT

I'm pretty sure that if you ran digital out to your external DAC it would not work--it would presumably play the redbook layer or nothing at all.

 

[zeropoint]

CD is 2ch encoded at 16bit/44.1kHz, although the source may recorded at higher sample rate/bit depth, or an enhanced encoding such as HDCD may be used to effectively achieve 20bit/44.1kHz with a suitable decoder.

DVD-Audio can be 2ch or more channels, and can be encoded at various bit depths (16, 20, 24) and sample rates (44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192kHz) with 192 limited to 2ch.

SACD can also be 2ch or more, and is encoded as single bit-stream (DSD), at 2.8224MHz. It is only available via analogue line-outs, or, i-Link (firewire IEEE 1394), and later presumably thru HDMI.

The 2ch outs, carry either a 2ch or down-mixed - when permitted - multi-channel signal.

DVD-Audio can be output via digital S/PDIF or Toslink outs, while SACD can't, but is usually down-sampled to 44.1 or 48kHz if copy protected.