Is my blu-ray player good enough for SACD?

[BLindsay]

I have the sony BDP-S580, which i know plays SACD's (ive played some) but i was wondering if i would get a noticeable upgrade in SQ if i upgraded this?

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by BLindsay

I have the sony BDP-S580, which i know plays SACD's (ive played some) but i was wondering if i would get a noticeable upgrade in SQ if i upgraded this?

depends. does your player support SACD over HDMI? if so, that's good. does it support DSD over HDMI? if so, that's even better. if your an analog head, does it support onboard DSD decoding of SACD then out to Analog? if so that's good. to further that, does it support and have multichannel analog outputs for SACD/DSD? if it does all of these things it's good enough.

keep in mind for some of the above, if your streaming DSD via HDMI you must have a receiver that supports SACD/DSD onboard decoding if not, "no soup for you"!

having said that, if your heavy into analog then the game changer for the above it how good of a DAC does the player have? example, the 83SE has a really nice DAC section in it for about $900 the 95 has a great DAC section in it for about $999

other brands dennon, marantz, etc have very good DAC sections in them for $K's so it depends on what your doing with the player and how good your ears are!

I have the standard 83 & the 93 both do a great job with SACD/DSD and all of my receivers/pre-amps support DSD/HDMI decoding onboard so i can stream it. both players have good DAC's so I can decode onboard and send out via analog. both players cost me $500 and i've been very, very happy with both of them. i currently use both, the 93 in the main room & the 83 in the bedroom (to be moved to the basement 2 channel room soon!)

i'll tell you, if i knew then what i knew now, i would have just gone ahead and purchased the 95 which has the ubber superior DAC section and gone XLR out to my pre-amp's XLR input. as my taste have begun changing and i'm liking 2-channel audio more & more and DAC's play a hugh roll in what i'm hearing.

best luck to you. you might want to include a budget that you want to stick to as that will help folks answer your question, believe it or not...

keep us posted.

[BLindsay]

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

depends. does your player support SACD over HDMI? if so, that's good. does it support DSD over HDMI? if so, that's even better. if your an analog head, does it support onboard DSD decoding of SACD then out to Analog? if so that's good. to further that, does it support and have multichannel analog outputs for SACD/DSD? if it does all of these things it's good enough.

keep in mind for some of the above, if your streaming DSD via HDMI you must have a receiver that supports SACD/DSD onboard decoding if not, "no soup for you"!

having said that, if your heavy into analog then the game changer for the above it how good of a DAC does the player have? example, the 83SE has a really nice DAC section in it for about $900 the 95 has a great DAC section in it for about $999

other brands dennon, marantz, etc have very good DAC sections in them for $K's so it depends on what your doing with the player and how good your ears are!

I have the standard 83 & the 93 both do a great job with SACD/DSD and all of my receivers/pre-amps support DSD/HDMI decoding onboard so i can stream it. both players have good DAC's so I can decode onboard and send out via analog. both players cost me $500 and i've been very, very happy with both of them. i currently use both, the 93 in the main room & the 83 in the bedroom (to be moved to the basement 2 channel room soon!)

i'll tell you, if i knew then what i knew now, i would have just gone ahead and purchased the 95 which has the ubber superior DAC section and gone XLR out to my pre-amp's XLR input. as my taste have begun changing and i'm liking 2-channel audio more & more and DAC's play a hugh roll in what i'm hearing.

best luck to you. you might want to include a budget that you want to stick to as that will help folks answer your question, believe it or not...

keep us posted.

Do these answer your questions as to how its hooked up now?






Budget is tough to answer, depends if i need to upgrade my source, my reciever or both and cost vs benefit, if i could only spend $500 but you said for $1000 i would get something amazing, id save up

[pentatonic]

Originally Posted by BLindsay

I have the sony BDP-S580, which i know plays SACD's (ive played some) but i was wondering if i would get a noticeable upgrade in SQ if i upgraded this?

From what I know your receiver can handle dsd and your player can output dsd, so my take on it is no you wouldn't see a difference with another player as your Sony is just a transport, all the decoding being done in your Onkyo.

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by pentatonic

From what I know your receiver can handle dsd and your player can output dsd, so my take on it is no you wouldn't see a difference with another player as your Sony is just a transport, all the decoding being done in your Onkyo.

agreed, the only thing is if he wants to go analog then he may have to go with a different player.

the OP would have to state this of course. right now, the receiver is really doing most of the work.

[BLindsay]

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

agreed, the only thing is if he wants to go analog then he may have to go with a different player.

the OP would have to state this of course. right now, the receiver is really doing most of the work.

do i dare ask why i would want to go analog haha

is my reciever decent at doing the work, or i guess what would you say is my weak point in the chain of my blu-ray to onkyo 806 to HD650s

[pentatonic]

Originally Posted by BLindsay

do i dare ask why i would want to go analog haha

is my reciever decent at doing the work, or i guess what would you say is my weak point in the chain of my blu-ray to onkyo 806 to HD650s

I guess the only thing that could improve your sound would be higher end dacs, but there is a point of diminishing return. How much would it cost to get a significant difference. In my case I use an Oppo BDP-80 but cannot bitstream dsd as my Denon receiver is only HDMI 1.1. So the Oppo transcodes dsd to lpcm which is then converted to analog on my Denon. Not the best setup, but honestly I think it sounds great. Would I get better results with a higher end player or receiver? Probably! But it's fine as is. Start off with enjoying what you have, get accustomed to your new gear. Also, even if this is debated, many think that headphones get better with time, kind of a break in period.

After a while you might want to audition other options, but get to know your sound first. You're well setup as is, enjoy and worry about those things later. Once you're comfortable with your rig, go out,bring CDs and SACDs you know well and test with your own headphones. Not everyone can tell the difference, and often times the price of admission just doesn't justify a slight possible upgrade.

Research the dacs in your Onkyo, read about it and see what's available that might improve your sound. Also there is a question of synergy between your gear, some combinations are just superior. Mind you not all dacs can process dsd. And in your case your Sony only has 2 analog outputs, no mutlichannel.

So I say, don't look to much into it for now, enjoy your new phones. With time if you get the headphone bug many non too expensive solutions exist. I know how exciting discovering hifi can be, but it's also very easy to get lost in this world. Enjoy your 650s as is and then see if you feel like investing into a better solution.