Ripping SACDs has gotten much easier! Give it a try!
billbillw
Posts: 7,099
I was spending time at the old Computer Audiophile forum around 9 years ago when a few folks first discovered that you could rip SACDs from a certain few Oppo DVD players and later, certain few Pioneer DVD players. That forum has since become AudiophileStyle. Early on, most of the players that could do the ripping were still pretty expensive or rare. (Mostly Oppo or the newest Pioneer models). I sorta followed it for a while. I was reading up on it and waiting for a model of Pioneer to get discounted.
The process early on was very complicated requiring command line knowledge and a fair bit of computer skills and some luck to boot. A year or two later, someone discovered that a slew of very cheap Sony DVD players could also do the ripping. My interest bloomed and I grabbed a cheap Sony S5100 BluRay player from eBay in May 2018 for a whopping $31 shipped (including original remote). I struggled with the early command line process, but managed to rip the ~21 SACDs I had at the time into an ISO file, which required a second step to extract the DSF files using a freeware from Sonore. Once it was done, I sorta forgot about things. I listened to my limited collection of DSF files and mostly enjoyed them over FLAC versions.
Flash forward to last year when I started buying used SACDs again from eBay after upgrading to my Denafrips DAC. Just a few here and there for some of my favorite albums, but the numbers are growing slowly. I was still ripping them using my old instructions from early 2018 and struggling for each one. I got a batch in the mail this week and decided to explore that old thread again today. Some google searching also found a thread at HiFi Haven that is a little newer and skips past the early learning stages that the original thread had. Here is the HiFi Haven thread:
https://hifihaven.org/index.php?threads/rip-sacd-with-a-blu-ray-player.3652/
Things are so well organized over at the HiFi Haven thread, I was able to download the GUI, update the .exe file from github, update my AutoScript USB stick, and run an extraction of these new discs today with just a handful of mouse clicks! Much easier and only 1 step to create an .iso backup and the .dsf files. I think anyone who is even partially computer literate could do it now.
The moderator (MikeyFresh) at HiFiHaven is very helpful and doesn't seem to mind guiding people to the exact posts that describe the process for whatever particular BluRay player they have. Also, since their search "this thread" feature works well, I was able to find exact instructions for my S5100 without having to post any questions. I think other models will be just as well supported. Oh, and they have also doubled the number of BluRay players that can perform the ripping. Post #16 at the thread above has the latest list of supported BluRay Players.
If anyone is interested in archiving their SACDs for streaming (or preservation), I encourage you to check the list of supported players and if you don't have one already, you can probably find one for less than $40 on eBay. Read up a little and take the easy steps to save them. I actually found one of my SACDs (Columbia remastered Kind of Blue hybrid SACD) is starting to de-laminate. It was not in the best shape when I got it, but its even worse now.
If that thread is still too daunting, let me know and I might be able to help you navigate the process and avoid mistakes.
The process early on was very complicated requiring command line knowledge and a fair bit of computer skills and some luck to boot. A year or two later, someone discovered that a slew of very cheap Sony DVD players could also do the ripping. My interest bloomed and I grabbed a cheap Sony S5100 BluRay player from eBay in May 2018 for a whopping $31 shipped (including original remote). I struggled with the early command line process, but managed to rip the ~21 SACDs I had at the time into an ISO file, which required a second step to extract the DSF files using a freeware from Sonore. Once it was done, I sorta forgot about things. I listened to my limited collection of DSF files and mostly enjoyed them over FLAC versions.
Flash forward to last year when I started buying used SACDs again from eBay after upgrading to my Denafrips DAC. Just a few here and there for some of my favorite albums, but the numbers are growing slowly. I was still ripping them using my old instructions from early 2018 and struggling for each one. I got a batch in the mail this week and decided to explore that old thread again today. Some google searching also found a thread at HiFi Haven that is a little newer and skips past the early learning stages that the original thread had. Here is the HiFi Haven thread:
https://hifihaven.org/index.php?threads/rip-sacd-with-a-blu-ray-player.3652/
Things are so well organized over at the HiFi Haven thread, I was able to download the GUI, update the .exe file from github, update my AutoScript USB stick, and run an extraction of these new discs today with just a handful of mouse clicks! Much easier and only 1 step to create an .iso backup and the .dsf files. I think anyone who is even partially computer literate could do it now.
The moderator (MikeyFresh) at HiFiHaven is very helpful and doesn't seem to mind guiding people to the exact posts that describe the process for whatever particular BluRay player they have. Also, since their search "this thread" feature works well, I was able to find exact instructions for my S5100 without having to post any questions. I think other models will be just as well supported. Oh, and they have also doubled the number of BluRay players that can perform the ripping. Post #16 at the thread above has the latest list of supported BluRay Players.
If anyone is interested in archiving their SACDs for streaming (or preservation), I encourage you to check the list of supported players and if you don't have one already, you can probably find one for less than $40 on eBay. Read up a little and take the easy steps to save them. I actually found one of my SACDs (Columbia remastered Kind of Blue hybrid SACD) is starting to de-laminate. It was not in the best shape when I got it, but its even worse now.
If that thread is still too daunting, let me know and I might be able to help you navigate the process and avoid mistakes.