Even if an SPDIF connection could output DSD from an SACD player, the Opus 21 still could not convert it to analogue. DSD is a fundamentally different digital sampling method/encoding than the PCM that the Opus can convert.
Please read my post #11 for more detail. There are DACs from companies such as EMM labs and dCS that can accept a native DSD digital signal via a firewire connection also a number of home cinema amplifiers that also can do this, Pioneer and Yamaha spring to mind. Denon have their own proprietary interface, Denonlink, the third version (Denonlink 3) has also been approved to pass DSD. There is also HDMI that can pass DSD to AV amps with HDMI inputs, from such machines as the Sony PS3.
Getting around the copy protection would not help you in this case. Earwicker I understand your frustration. SACD is a great sounding format with equipment of a certain level, and it is a shame to me that Sony seems to have lost interest in it. There are however still many great new recordings coming out every month, but they are mostly classical and Jazz, so if those are not your music genres then the selection of music is pretty small. I did just pick up an excellent remastered SACD of the classic Pixies album Surfer Rosa, so there are other genres out there. A lot of modern POP recordings would not do SACD justice (they don't even sound as good as they could on CD), so no great loss there.
Please read my post #11 for more detail. There are DACs from companies such as EMM labs and dCS that can accept a native DSD digital signal via a firewire connection also a number of home cinema amplifiers that also can do this, Pioneer and Yamaha spring to mind. Denon have their own proprietary interface, Denonlink, the third version (Denonlink 3) has also been approved to pass DSD. There is also HDMI that can pass DSD to AV amps with HDMI inputs, from such machines as the Sony PS3.
Getting around the copy protection would not help you in this case. Earwicker I understand your frustration. SACD is a great sounding format with equipment of a certain level, and it is a shame to me that Sony seems to have lost interest in it. There are however still many great new recordings coming out every month, but they are mostly classical and Jazz, so if those are not your music genres then the selection of music is pretty small. I did just pick up an excellent remastered SACD of the classic Pixies album Surfer Rosa, so there are other genres out there. A lot of modern POP recordings would not do SACD justice (they don't even sound as good as they could on CD), so no great loss there.