"Eiron" wrote in message


A search through usenet reveals the popular opinion that
universal players convert SACD data into PCM, thus losing
all of the sonic benefits of SACD.

The notion that universal players convert SACD data into PCM, thus losing
all of the sonic benefits of SACD is total ignorant BS on two vastly
different grounds.

(1) The sonic benefits of SACD would be present in a well-designed PCM
system that had identical bandwidth and dynamic range. In fact the 24/192
PCM format vastly surpasses SACD for dynamic range, and practically matches
it for bandwidth.

(2) SACD digital-to-analog converters are simpler and cheaper to make than
PCM converters, all other things being equal. A SACD DAC is a PCM DAC with
about half the function removed or bypassed. The most popular converter
chips for universal players are chips that process SACD by internally
bypassing portions of their circuitry that are only required for PCM.

Another opinion is
that this only applies to the digital output;

The digital outputs of any consumer so-called hi-rez player is either
elaborately enciphered to prevent bypassing native resolution conversion
from digital to analog, or downsampled to 48 KHz PCM.