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Topic: SACD .dsf file conversion plug-ins (Read 3475 times) previous topic - next topic
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SACD .dsf file conversion plug-ins

Hello,

I have a number of already-converted .dsf files that I want to convert to .flac and/or .wav files.  I see that Foobar2000  (for Windows 10) is likely the tool I want to use.  What I'm not sure about is which SACD plug-in for Foobar2000 I need to facilitate the .dsf to .flac or .wav conversions.

Any suggestions/recommendations are appreciated, and thank you for my "newbie" question.

Dave

Re: SACD .dsf file conversion plug-ins

Reply #1
Not answering your question, but if you just want to tag them and play them with fb2k, then WavPack can store the audio losslessly.
* You cannot use Windows "Exclusive mode" on a sound device that does not support DSD though.
* If so, you must use wavpack.exe to convert - not foobar2000. The easiest is to drag and drop onto wavpack.exe, but better is to use command-line wavpack -h -v -m infile.dsf (that gives higher compression, writes audio MD5, and verifies afterwards, always a good practice).

If you want to convert to .flac or .wav or .aiff, then the conversion will not be completely lossless, but for all practical purposes so, because fb2k will by default select a stupidly high sample rate. My attitude is that if you don't convert losslessly, then you may as well get the file size down: keep the dsf of .wv for archive, and ask yourself what do you need for portable use.


Re: SACD .dsf file conversion plug-ins

Reply #2
Thanks for your reply.

My standard playback is "portable".  The .wav files will be put on a high-capacity USB stick to plug into the port on my truck, or the port of my Sony Blu-ray USB port to play through my main stereo system.  Both have limited file support (e.g. not .flac) and I'd like to avoid the compression of .mp3

Re: SACD .dsf file conversion plug-ins

Reply #3
For mobile use, I'd go mp3 without worrying - as long as the device supports gapless playback etc - and keep a hard drive archive with sane lossless formats. (You need a backup anyway!)

Re: SACD .dsf file conversion plug-ins

Reply #4
To answer question, I guess foo_input_sacd is the one...

Re: SACD .dsf file conversion plug-ins

Reply #5
Just tested and foobar2000 supports DSF 5.1 conversion to multi-channel WAV, FLAC, AAC and OGG.  I could not find a multi-channel encoder for MP3; Fraunhofer once had one in development, but it's no longer on their site.  I didn't test 7.1 as I have no such files.

After resampling to 44100, I also managed to encode the 5.1 WAV to AC3, if that is useful. Here's the test file:
https://ufile.io/u3uec0xg (Good for 30 days.)

Re: SACD .dsf file conversion plug-ins

Reply #6
Thanks for all of your inputs.  I downloaded and installed FB2k on my Windows 10 computer and installed the SACD add-ins.  After some minimal learning curve, I was able to successfully convert all of my stereo & multichannel DSF files to WAV.  While I haven't checked out the results in detail, the "multichannel" WAV files are significantly larger than the equivalent stereo WAV files, which are significantly larger than the equivalent WAV files of the equivalent MFSL standard CD.

One thing I did note was that FB2k kept telling me that the conversion process was not "lossless", and I did notice a somewhat smaller file size for a converted WAV file than its source DSF file.  I'm guessing that I am not personally going to notice any difference in audio quality.

 

Re: SACD .dsf file conversion plug-ins

Reply #7
the "multichannel" WAV files are significantly larger than the equivalent stereo WAV files
Yes, more channels take more bits to encode.

which are significantly larger than the equivalent WAV files of the equivalent MFSL standard CD.
Because DSD streams are not PCM (they are encoded according to different principles - DSD are more like how a "dimmer" on a light quickly switches on and off yet produces an intermediate brightness level). So in order to capture as much as possible, that sample rate, the files become enormous.

The CD could also be of a different mastering.[/quote]



One thing I did note was that FB2k kept telling me that the conversion process was not "lossless", and I did notice a somewhat smaller file size for a converted WAV file than its source DSF file. 
That is strange - the WAV would normally be much larger. (Are you comparing the multichannel?)

But the conversion is not lossless because the files are originally encoded according to totally different principles. DSD streams in DSF files are one bit but extremely high sample rate (again, like a dimmer) - PCM streams in WAV (or AIFF or FLAC) are a number of bits and sampled at an octave over the highest note.

I'm guessing that I am not personally going to notice any difference in audio quality.
You won't. fb2k converts at 32-bit accuracy, and you wouldn't have noticed any difference at half of that. And that is only in the bit depth - also it converts octaves above the audible range.
For two channels you wouldn't notice at the file size of the CD either - SACD was a nonsense format for stereo.

You can find some recordings in various formats at http://www.2l.no/hires/ . To give you an idea of sizes, consider "Finzi: Come Away, Death", stereo only
* 11 megabytes for CD format, FLAC.
* 37 for CD format, WAV
* 55 for 96/24, FLAC
* 69 for DSD packed in WavPack
* 110 for DSD as .dsf - that is ten times as much as the CD format FLAC.
* 442 for DSD converted to WAV.

You won't hear any difference between the 11 megabytes file and one that is forty times the size.