Headphones and Amps and DACs... Oh My!

[Jon]

sorry for the out-of-order of this but I just saw this: do you mean a PS3? Because there's a version of the PS3 that will allow you to rip SACDs after a bit of trickery with the firmware.

as for the rest of your post: good luck. HDCD is fairly rare on cheaper players right now. Combine that with an SACD player and you're looking at some high-level (and high-price) equipment. and not to add to your headache but there is also DSD over HDMI but it will only work if the receiver has the DAC for it, otherwise it's just a PCM signal. the forums at https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/ would be a good place to read up and ask questions if you aren't already.

side note: dbpoweramp and foobar can decode HDCD digital tracks if they are lossless, if it matters. for example you might find that the Grateful Dead albums you're worried about might not matter at all.

Yep, I meant the PS3. Thankee-sai.

The Grateful Dead releases are interesting because only a few include peak extension, and a good portion of the releases are the wrong speed. Unfortunately, Sunshine Daydream is one of them.

I've been trying to find a discounted Marantz SA8005, but no luck so far (MSRP is $1200). We have a Sony UBP-X700 which has been fine for DSD playback. Using a PC+software does seem like the best approach.