RMAF 2009

PC Audio @ RMAF

John Atkinson  |  Oct 7, 2009

There was full program of seminars and workshops at RMAF, as well as my own "Squeezing the Music Till the Bits Squeak," the session featuring Harry Pearson, and Michael Fremer on "Turntable Setup," I moderated a panel session, "How to Get the Most Out of Computer-Based Audio," on Saturday afternoon. The A-List panel—(from left to right) Gus Skinas (SACD Center), John Stronczer (Bel Canto Design), J. Gordon Rankin (Wavelength Audio), Charlie Hansen (Ayre Acoustics), record producer Joe Harley, and Chris Connaker (www.computeraudiophile.com)—discussed the best way to use a computer as a legimate source component in a high-end audio system. All concerned felt this was the way forward for the high-end audio industry, particularly with the increasing availability of hi-rez downloads, and it was a shame that the session was limited to an hour.

One spippet shared by Gus Skinas, who is still strongly associated with the SACD medium, is that DSD recordings made on the increasingly common devices from Korg and other manufacturers can be burned on to DVD-R blanks to produce discs that play on a Sony PS3 (both generations) and Sony's new 5400 SACD player. These can't be called "SACDs" as they lack the physical watermark and the DRM restrictions that are required by the SACD license. But the DSD Disc, as it is called, is a legitimate hi-rez format.

COMMENTS
John Atkinson's picture
Submitted by John Atkinson (not verified) on October 7, 2009 - 12:02pm

The session was video'd, but I don't know when it will be made available by RMAF.

Matt's picture
Submitted by Matt (not verified) on October 7, 2009 - 11:18am

John, is there seminar video available and will it be online?

Jim Tavegia's picture
Submitted by Jim Tavegia (not verified) on October 9, 2009 - 4:02pm

John,I would be very interested in learning how to transfer this DSD data onto DVD-R and what are the equipment requirements. This is really interesting to me. Does this also include the Tascam DV-RA DSD recorder?Thanks,Jim

hi-rez_rulez's picture
Submitted by hi-rez_rulez (not verified) on October 11, 2009 - 5:25am

What's interesting, the DSD files are available in two options, 2.8MHz and 5.6MHz DSD, the latter is probably higher resolution than 24bit/352,8kHz PCM, now that's audiophile! :) Definitely the best way for archiving LPs today.I wonder when will the DSD files be available at HDtracks.com

allan's picture
Submitted by allan (not verified) on February 18, 2010 - 10:40am

Jim,the AudioGate software which comes bundled with Korg's inexpensive MR-1 DSD-recorder can handle all DSD and PCM formats, as well as perform conversion, transcoding, up- and downsampling, etc. This might be the easiest/cheapest way to do this.I have been using this package for needledrops, and it works like a charm.

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