SACDs Not playing

[David1701]

I need help. Obvs!

I just got a new Sony X700K so that I could finally hear my SACD (Moody Blues, Genesis) through my home theater system. TV is LG 4K with Sonos Arc, bass unit and 2 side speakers. As Surround as I can get.

I hear nothing. The screen shows all the info. It is playing normal CDs just fine>

Even more embarrassing. I bought it to replace my Sony X800M2 because of the same problem. I was told I couldn't;t play SACDs with it, didn't do true 5.1 etc... and now I see the X800 can play SACDs.

I can return the X700, and I will, but what am I missing here? I've seen posts about setting the layers but I see no menu function that allows me to do that with either player and the manual seems to be of no help.

I hope someone her can walk me through this. Thank you in advance!

 

[TLS Guy]

I need help. Obvs!

I just got a new Sony X700K so that I could finally hear my SACD (Moody Blues, Genesis) through my home theater system. TV is LG 4K with Sonos Arc, bass unit and 2 side speakers. As Surround as I can get.

I hear nothing. The screen shows all the info. It is playing normal CDs just fine>

Even more embarrassing. I bought it to replace my Sony X800M2 because of the same problem. I was told I couldn't;t play SACDs with it, didn't do true 5.1 etc... and now I see the X800 can play SACDs.

I can return the X700, and I will, but what am I missing here? I've seen posts about setting the layers but I see no menu function that allows me to do that with either player and the manual seems to be of no help.

I hope someone her can walk me through this. Thank you in advance!

That player will play SACDs, but I suspect what it is connected to can not. I have that Sony player and it plays SACDs fine. I suspect you have a receiver that can not decode DSD.

 

[David1701]

That player will play SACDs, but I suspect what it is connected to can not. I have that Sony player and it plays SACDs fine. I suspect you have a receiver that can not decode DSD.

I'm not using a receiver, I thought I could just route the SACDS through the LG and out the Sonos. BTW the X800 plays HD/Ultra discs with full sound on all speakers just fine. Same with BluRay audio discs, just not theSACDs.

I welcome your advice.

 

[Mark E. Long]

I agree with TLS it’s not the player it’s the capabilities of the Of what is decoding the signal possibly .

 

[David1701]

That's great but I don't have what to takes to invest in the kind of system you have.

Is there a piece of gear that could solve my problem?

 

[TLS Guy]

I'm not using a receiver, I thought I could just route the SACDS through the LG and out the Sonos. BTW the X800 plays HD/Ultra discs with full sound on all speakers just fine. Same with BluRay audio discs, just not theSACDs.

I welcome your advice.

Well, you have found out that you thought wrong. It is not a loss though, as it is fantasy to think a sound bar could do any justice to an SACD.

What you need is a receiver or AVP and power amps and decent speakers. Soundbars are a massive fraud on the public, and worse by far than a pair of decent stereo speakers. So, neither your TV or sound bar can decode DSD. Actually not all receivers will decode DSD, so you have to look at the specs.

 

[TLS Guy]

That's great but I don't have what to takes to invest in the kind of system you have.

Is there a piece of gear that could solve my problem?

No there is not, and that is the long and the short answer. DSD is a spurious construct and is dying its expected death. Basically it has no advantages over PCM, and in fact downsides.

 

[David1701]

Yeah, I know I thought wrong. Thanks for confirming.

I had a pair of 901s that was the best thing in the universe, and I never expected a mere soundbar to replicate that, not that the Bose hardware could play SACDs either.

If augmented my ARC with a Sonos subwoofer and two Era 300s.

 

[David1701]

No there is not, and that is the long and the short answer. DSD is a spurious construct and is dying its expected death. Basically it has no advantages over PCM, and in fact downsides.

So what you're telling me is that I can be happy with my audio CDs, BluRay audio but forget my SACDs

 

[lovinthehd]

I'm not using a receiver, I thought I could just route the SACDS through the LG and out the Sonos. BTW the X800 plays HD/Ultra discs with full sound on all speakers just fine. Same with BluRay audio discs, just not theSACDs.

I welcome your advice.

I'd be surprised if a tv would be equipped to handle dsd. I just looked at my LG C5 manual, it only mentions two codecs via DTV (MPEG, Dolby Digital) even though it can handle more than that.

HD/Ultra discs don't use dsd like SACDs do. As mentioned, you likely need a receiver that can handle dsd (I have several) and can only think of adding an external dac that has the dsd capability, and that will generally just be 2ch which is somewhat a waste of use for SACD. What Sonos model is it?

 

[TLS Guy]

So what you're telling me is that I can be happy with my audio CDs, BluRay audio but forget my SACDs

Only SACDs use DSD, everything else uses PCM. DSD is one bit digital and was brought about by a total and actually a very stupid understanding of decoding PCM. Any hype about DSD is pure, what we call here, Audiophool BS, and there is more than enough of that to fill tons of manure pits.

The real stupidity of it is that you essentially have to convert to PCM to edit the recording and then convert back to DSD. So, totally pointless.

 

[Joe B]

I need help. Obvs!

I just got a new Sony X700K so that I could finally hear my SACD (Moody Blues, Genesis) through my home theater system. TV is LG 4K with Sonos Arc, bass unit and 2 side speakers. As Surround as I can get.

I hear nothing. The screen shows all the info. It is playing normal CDs just fine>

Even more embarrassing. I bought it to replace my Sony X800M2 because of the same problem. I was told I couldn't;t play SACDs with it, didn't do true 5.1 etc... and now I see the X800 can play SACDs.

I can return the X700, and I will, but what am I missing here? I've seen posts about setting the layers but I see no menu function that allows me to do that with either player and the manual seems to be of no help.

I hope someone her can walk me through this. Thank you in advance!

Go into the settings of your Sony X700K from the home page. Curser down to "Audio Settings". Curser down to "DSD Output Mode". Press the enter (middle of 4 way switch on remote). Curser down to "Off". Hit enter again. Then hit return to get back to the home page.
This will output all SACD signals as PCM. This is the first place to start.

Only SACDs use DSD, everything else uses PCM. DSD is one bit digital and was brought about by a total and actually a very stupid understanding of decoding PCM. Any hype about DSD is pure, what we call here, Audiophool BS, and there is more than enough of that to fill tons of manure pits.

The real stupidity of it is that you essentially have to convert to PCM to edit the recording and then convert back to DSD. So, totally pointless.

I'll say it once again. Sony and Philips engineers pioneered the development of both the CD and SACD. To say they actually had "a very stupid understanding of decoding PCM" proves you're an idiot. How in the world can the guys who invented PCM have no understanding of it?

 

[lovinthehd]

Go into the settings of your Sony X700K from the home page. Curser down to "Audio Settings". Curser down to "DSD Output Mode". Press the enter (middle of 4 way switch on remote). Curser down to "Off". Hit enter again. Then hit return to get back to the home page.
This will output all SACD signals as PCM. This is the first place to start.

I was thinking it would only play 2ch this way for some reason....I think I was thinking of the tendency of the players to only do 2ch analog output when converting dsd....

 

[David1701]

I'd be surprised if a tv would be equipped to handle dsd. I just looked at my LG C5 manual, it only mentions two codecs via DTV (MPEG, Dolby Digital) even though it can handle more than that.

HD/Ultra discs don't use dsd like SACDs do. As mentioned, you likely need a receiver that can handle dsd (I have several) and can only think of adding an external dac that has the dsd capability, and that will generally just be 2ch which is somewhat a waste of use for SACD. What Sonos model is it?

The ARC is mounted and I can't tell you but I think it's Gen3 and I got the Sub at the same time. which is Gen3 S26.Side speakers are 1st Gen Era 300s

 

[David1701]

Go into the settings of your Sony X700K from the home page. Curser down to "Audio Settings". Curser down to "DSD Output Mode". Press the enter (middle of 4 way switch on remote). Curser down to "Off". Hit enter again. Then hit return to get back to the home page.
This will output all SACD signals as PCM. This is the first place to start.


I'll say it once again. Sony and Philips engineers pioneered the development of both the CD and SACD. To say they actually had "a very stupid understanding of decoding PCM" proves you're an idiot. How in the world can the guys who invented PCM have no understanding of it?

Thank you Joe for being truly helpful. I'm going to try that and get back to you.

 

[lovinthehd]

The ARC is mounted and I can't tell you but I think it's Gen3 and I got the Sub at the same time. which is Gen3 S26.Side speakers are 1st Gen Era 300s

Ah, didn't realize that was the model (ARC) thought it was your connection type. I also looked at your manual and think Joe has your solution, thought you already exhausted setup in the player options.

 

[David1701]

Thank you Joe for being truly helpful. I'm going to try that and get back to you.

Okay Joe, I set DSD output mode to Off – No Sound
Selected Digital Audio Output to output to PCM and I have sound!

There is a separate menu for Music Settings that includes SACD playback Layer. When I set it to SACD again no sound. When it is set to CD there is sound.

Nothing gives me multi speaker output. (BTW I really like the warmth of the remastered Genesis from Analogue Productions. Even on the ARC only it sounds great.

1) Would a LightSpeed EX100-EARC-KIT be helpful in changing that? In terms of multi speaker functionality?

2) Also, no audio settings change anything as regards my X800M2 Total silence from my SACDs. But it's worth the $300 the X700 if it now plats all my physical media.

Further thoughts?

And thanks in advance

 

[David1701]

Ah, didn't realize that was the model (ARC) thought it was your connection type. I also looked at your manual and think Joe has your solution, thought you already exhausted setup in the player options.

Yep, Joe's got me cooking again.

 

[Joe B]

Okay Joe, I set DSD output mode to Off – No Sound
Selected Digital Audio Output to output to PCM and I have sound!

There is a separate menu for Music Settings that includes SACD playback Layer. When I set it to SACD again no sound. When it is set to CD there is sound.

Nothing gives me multi speaker output. (BTW I really like the warmth of the remastered Genesis from Analogue Productions. Even on the ARC only it sounds great.

1) Would a LightSpeed EX100-EARC-KIT be helpful in changing that? In terms of multi speaker functionality?

2) Also, no audio settings change anything as regards my X800M2 Total silence from my SACDs. But it's worth the $300 the X700 if it now plats all my physical media.

Further thoughts?

And thanks in advance

I believe you're facing the limitations of the devices you're connected to. I do not believe you are having any problems with the players.
Not sure how you're thinking of using the LightSpeed products. Others may be able to help you with that.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yep, Joe's got me cooking again.

This post supercedes the results you mention in the post before or ?

The manual does indicate you should be able to get lpcm output over hdmi. It is connected via hdmi?

ps In music settings I also see this in your manual:
[Super Audio CD Playback Layer] [Super Audio CD]: Plays the Super Audio CD layer.
[CD]: Plays the CD layer. x

[Super Audio CD Playback Channel] [DSD 2ch]: Plays the 2ch area. [DSD Multi]: Plays the multi-channel area.