Should I buy a Sonoma dsd system?

jeromelang · Feb 28, 2012

I hope Bruce can advise me

I want to play sacds from my computer, with the same quality as the studios.
What will I need?
I think a Sonoma sound card installed in a 4U size computer is necessary.
This desk top type pc would have a hard drive installed.
Then I would need some dsd dac.
Do I need to buy a mps5 sacd player also so that I can rip sacds into the hard drives?

Basically this will give me same quality or better than optical sacds?

Later can I burn dsd data onto DVD-R discs or BD-R discs, and playback on my xds1 and mps5 (if I buy it also)?

Bruce B · Feb 28, 2012

First, you will never be allowed to play a SACD from a computer. You can play the DSD file that is on the disc from your computer though from your hard drive.

I have a Sonoma card in a 2-slot Magma chassis that sits under my laptop. Nice and portable. It's connected to the laptop via Express34 card.
Yes, you can also install the Sonoma card in a desktop type PC, but you have to make sure the bay is long enough since the card is about 12" long.
The only DAC's that you can use from a Sonoma card are the Playback Designs MPS/D-5, The EMM Labs DAC8IV or the Mytek 8x192ADDA with the ST-optical card interface.
You will need a transport if you want to transfer the DSD information from the SACD. This would be either the Playback Designs MPS-5 or an EMM Labs CDSD. Either will work. The advantage of the Playback Designs is it also can be used as a DAC.
You will need the Korg AudioGate software if you want to burn DSD image discs on a DVD-R. These discs will work in quite a few players. Unfortunately they won't work in the PD or the XDS-1.
One of the advantages of using the Sonoma is that you can transfer the MC files off the SACD.
The cheap way is to rip the SACD information on a PS3. There is a tutorial on the Audio Circle website.

jeromelang · Feb 28, 2012

Hello Bruce

Wow. Thanks for these information.

May I ask further questions?

Gus Skinas will not configure a laptop based system for his clients.
He mentioned that only certain laptops with the 3 slot 32bit PCI Magma Chassis can be used.
And those laptops need to be fully compatible with Express cards from Magma.
He also mentioned that there have been some compatibility problems between certain PC's and the Magma.

Question is - what sort of laptop are you using right now?

Question - And what sort of brand and model of laptop, and features/specs would you recommend?

Question - Have you encountered any compatibility issues so far between your laptop and Sonoma?

Question - are there sonic differences between the original sacd discs (played via MPS5) and dsd files (playback via the Sonoma system into the MPS5's dac)

Question - Can the Sonoma software on the laptop create a playlist?

Question - what kind of storage capacity is required to store, let's say 3000 sacd disc worth of content?

Question - if I want to do a recording, must I get the EMM lab ad converter?

Question - are there any sonic differences between dsd content burnt on a DVD-R, and factory made sacd check discs(DVD-R) and commercially pressed sacd discs?

Question - is your blu-ray burner able to burn dsd image onto a DVD-R disc, creating, essentially blu-spec'd sacd discs?

I hope I haven't overwhelmed you with too many questions!

Bruce B · Feb 29, 2012

Where to start??

The laptop I use is a 15" Toshiba Tecra Business laptop. It came with Win XP Pro installed. The cpu is an i5, 4GB memory and a 7.2k HDD with nVIDIA Quadro graphics.

The Magma chassis I use is this one: MAGMA

There have been ZERO issues with compatibility. Guess I just jinxed myself now.

There is a slight difference between SACD's played in the PD MPS-5 and just using a DSD DAC with Sonoma. I contribute this to the filters that are being used in each.

Sonoma can not create a playlist. The way I use it at shows is to put a bunch of songs into one EDL and let it keep playing or you can skip around on the timeline.

A "normal" 2-channel SACD is around 1.2GB, so 3000 discs is about 4TB

If you want to record with the Sonoma, yes you'll need an A-D. We use the Grimm AD-1 and the EMM Labs ADC8IV. One Sonoma card will record up to 8 channels.

I can't answer about the disc comparison, but they should be the same.

Yes, you can burn Blu-ray spec discs using the burner.

jeromelang · Mar 2, 2012

Hi Bruce

Thanks, I really appreciate all these information.
Now I need to get a friend here to advise me on all the required computer hardware.

Bruce B · Mar 4, 2012

Here's a photo of the unit we use.

jeromelang · Mar 5, 2012

Shoown......, salivate......., faint....., with delight!

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Should I buy a Sonoma dsd system?

jeromelang

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Bruce B

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Bruce B

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