Hello, I own a 40gb ps3. I understand that it can't play sacd's. Do ps3 games output sacd sound? thanks
No, Super Audio CD is different from Blu-Ray and as such cannot co-exist on the same disc. However, most PS3 games use 5.1 surround sound. I don't know about whether they actually use 24bit/96kHz for sound though as that's up to the developers.
Converting SACD audio to a DTS 1.5Mbps stream? Isn't that downgrading? I mean, considering that SACD is beyond CD quality and DTS is merely a compressed surround audio (though better than Dolby Digital AC-3). But I guess it's better than no SACD support at all.
Yes, you're right, that makes no sense at all. How on earth are you meant to use SACD when it's not the correct format? That's like Sony saying 'Oh, it can play 1080P Blu-Ray discs, but you'll have to watch them at 720i'.
Technically you could keep SACD-format audio (the so-called DSD format which differs fundamentally from PCM used in, err, every other audio implementation) around on a non-SACD disc, so it might be possible for a game to contain DSD audio. Not sure why you'd want that, though. Recent research demonstrated that DSD has its flaws, too - apparently the resolution above 10khz is actually lower than that of CDDA.
I can't believe that. SACD uses delta sigma modulation at a very high sample rate (2.8MHz), so for accurate 22KHz playback, there's 128x oversampling. That works out to way more precision than 16-bit PCM with 2x oversampling. The thing people criticize are quantization errors which is a problem with the encoder, not the system. Also the argument over which technology (PCM vs ΔΣ) is better is pretty moot since most PCM players today already have "1-bit DAC" which are really delta sigma encoders! Because ΔΣ is so cheap (it only requires encoding logic + 1 output wire + analog low pass filter) it's not going away.
and lets be honest how many people except the audiophiles with 5 way speakers in a 7.1 setting connected up with silver oxygen free cables with gold plated Beryllium copper connectors are going to tell the difference between SACD, DVD Audio or plain CD?
None what so ever. Unless you have all that stuff like you said there's no way you'll notice unless you're looking at a digital read out analyzing every peak on the display :lol: Yakumo
Back to the original question, yes it will play SACD's and in full quality via stereo phonos, but to play multi channel full quality you'll have to use the hdmi/ilink output.
I'm honestly not sure that the transport hardware in a PS3 can even do SACD justice. You need one of these:
The PS3 can output audio data over IEEE1394... gee, I didn't even know it had a FireWire port. How's that work, anyways?
I just hope that the world of commercial audio doesn't rely completely on lossy compression in the future. I mean, you'd think with increasing storage capacities and lower prices, the use of lossless audio will not be such a burden HOWEVER, how is such a technology marketed toward a consumer who accepts today's lossy compression as "just fine"? Things like videogames and movies, I have no problem considering all the assets that go into the final product (ie, on a disc). But with music, I would like to think that for every album released, there is a physical retail CD released along with digitally distributed tracks which, at present, are lossy. In lieu of a physical retail CD, a lossless option would be preferable alongside the standard lossy. I will go fly a kite if anything below the CD-grade benchmark is considered the standard in the future. Sorry for the hijacking.. just had to get that out. ** Audio over FireWire is possible, but it's DRM-ridden.
^Agreed^ While I think iTunes and the like are convenient and clever, I don't like the idea that they are distributed in a compressed format. This is why I always [try to] buy physical CDs, as they sound better, and I also feel like I am purchasing a piece of art, rather than a soulless file. Am I old fashioned?
Right you are, it's over the HDMI not over firewire. Im stuck back in the days when sacd was only possible over phonos or firewire. Denon, sony and a few othersd used firewire on alot of their high end recivers/processors
