SACD on PS3 will not work with Optical audio out

SACD does not work through Optical or Digital Coax. You must use the HDMI in order to play SACD. If the PS3 had analog outs, you could run them to your receiver/processor, but since it does not, the only way is through the HDMI.

Vortex:

You need the following to obtain SACD sound in multi-chanel configuration:

1) a player (not the PS3) with multi-channel analog outs to a receiver with matching imputs; OR
2) a player with HDMI 1.2 or better (no analog needed i.e. the PS3 that has HDMI 1.3) to a receiver with HDMI 1.2 or better; OR
3) a player (not the PS3) with i-Link outputs to a receiver with an i-Link imput.

If you want SACD in mult-channel from a PS3 either find a HDMI 1.2 receiver or wait (The best option) for a HDMI 1.3 receiver so you can play all the new advanced audio codecs including Dolby Tru HD and DTS Master Audio in their lossless versions.

Actually DVD-Audio is just like SACD with it's higher resolution section. So you're dead wrong there. Sony didn't do anything wrong.

And if you think you're hearing DVD-A quality by playing it on any dvd player or computer, you're not. You're actually listening to a DTS stream which is quite a bit inferior to an average CD. Although it would be in surround which might sound cooler to you.

^^ I listen to DVD-Audio on a PC. I have a soundcard that does actual 5.1 multichannel analog connected to my HT receiver. I get true DVD- Audio (96kHz/24bit) sound and it is amazing. DVD-Audio can be played on any DVD player that has 5.1 multichannel analog outputs as well.

A DVD audio disk has the same restriction. You need a dvd player that understand the format (or it will play another sector which is a toned down version of the sound/menu), when you got the right player, if you use the tos-link optical connection, you will see it's only stereo too, or you use 6 cables for analog audio to your receiver (which does a not so bad job).

I can clearly hear the difference on my system. It's like day and night.

So in fact, it's the opposite, if you have SACD disks, you can use them in your PS3 but if you have dvd audio disks, it's game over. That's why blu-ray will win the war. As soon as peoples realise that to get 1080p thru hddvd, they need a 1000$ hddvd players (like the new one coming, pretty late I might had). They will choose what has the biggest user base, which will be blu-ray.

Sad that the only way I can keep listening to the few dvd-audio disk I bought is to keep my little Pioneer dvd-player because the 3 hd-dvd players that toshiba is offering don't read dvd-audio format? It's like they dropped the ball on their own format? Sure Sony is not, they are playing SACD disk on the PS3 for the next 10 years at least.

Not to pick but this is false, you really need a player that has the dvd-audio logo beside the dvd-video. It's far from ALL the players, because of the license cost.

Not all dvd player are able to see the extended partition that contain the hidef signal. If they don't, they fall back to the Dolby one.

Interesting. All the DVD players I have seen that have Multi channel outs, have dvd audio capability. Cheaper ones do not have multichannel outs, only optical. I thought having multichannel outs on those DVD players was because they are DVD audio capable.

Seem to be right most of the time, but not always. It really need a little chip and the license.

It's true that for the players out now, when they have the 6 analog output, they also have dvd-audio and SACD (while before, it was one or the others).

Even seem that the new standard dvd players that have hdmi output (without the 6 analog ones) cannot play the 2 hidef audio only formats..! That's strange as the spec for the HDMI connector/connection allow the bandwith and the protection required for them.

It's all great that tech gets better, but the capabilities are limited to nonsense most of the time and gets really more technical and confusing than it needs to be. Just give is all that is capable and stop screwing with us. !

Well, yes our problems are linked to the protection a little.

But in this case, an optical connection simply CANNOT let the signal thru, it's physically impossible to have that bandwith in it.

As impossible as to let thru a TrueHD signal thru a HDMI 1.1 connection.

Analog connection don't have that problem since if it's more noisy than usual, it does'nt matter.

Actually Sony - to the best of my knowledge has never used i-Link to transmit sound. They use it exclusively for Video capture and transfer. Pioneer, however, has used it for SACD/DVD-A in their TX-i series receivers since 2001 or so. I have been enjoying SACD and DVD-A in pure digital form for over a year now between a Pioneer 49TX-i and a Pioneer DV-59AVi.

It is this omission - plus the fact that the new Pioneer Blu-Ray drive doesn't play CDs - that drove me to the PS3 (the only current BD player that has HDMI 1.3). I am now wating for a new HDMI 1.3 receiver later this year to pair with it.

Generally speaking DVD-Audio is much improved over SACD. It's a pity the PS3 does not do it. I will have to listen to my DVD-As downstairs or in my wife's car.
Good thing I don't own too many of either.

HDMI 1.1 is all that's required for SACD playback. 1.2 is not necessary

what are some excellent SACDs? I like all kinds of music...

The vast majority are of those players can play DVD-A discs because they are playing the DolbyDigital tracks on them. Few can play the high-resolution DVD-A tracks.

Nope. Both my XA-SCD777ES and my XA-SCD9000ES SACD players will output via iLink.

Only if you convert it to PCM first.

I only have two SACD's: Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, and Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral.

TDSOTM deserves a place on any collector's shelf. It is, hands down, the most impressive combination of clarity and sound field I have ever heard. I'm 31 years old, so Pink Floyd isn't strictly before my time, but many of my younger friends aren't familiar with the material. Each time I demo the disc to these people, their jaw's just drop.

My father, a die-hard Pink Floyd fan, has probably heard the album tens of thousands of times. He's familiar with every nuance. When he heard it on my system, he heard new things he had never noticed before.

It is interesting that the revived, formerly dead, thread reveals such a deep misunderstanding of both DVD-A and SACD. Perhaps that accounts, in part, for the commercial failure of them.

Oh, for my recommendations, see my columns which are archived at the link cited in my signature.

WOW... Kal has graced the PS forum. Welcome. If only you were around (in this forum) back when this thread and a bunch others like them were started, there would be a much better understanding of these formats.

Thanks but I ain't interested in PS or any other game hardware. Just responded to an audio title.

Yeah I figured as much. Most of us serious about SACD and the non gaming functions of the PS3, have found the 2ch and surround music format forums.

Sure. BTW, I was not dissing you guys but using the opportunity to comment on what I see as a general problem. Of course, the major fault lies with the designers of the problem!

Newer PS3's
Still offering SACD?

Agreed!


Only the MGS4 modles. The current 40gig and new 80gig (same hardware as the 40gig except the Hard drive) do not support SACD.

And, to be fair--the original quoted comment was made in January of 2007. A couple of things have changed since then regarding the PS3.

Absolutely. They didnt even have a 40 or 80 gig in 1-07..nevermind version 2 of the 80gig..lol

For those of you who haven't run across it, a decent site for PS3-SACD related topics:

http://www.ps3sacd.com/forums/

BB