There are many other DACs to consider in that price range, and many readers will already have favorites. If so, the U-DIO8 is the way to maintain your sound quality and your preferred sound quality when making the move to multichannel. Nor is there any shortage of choices for those who can spend more.
Enter Mytek HiFi's Brooklyn DACs. My experience of using them for multichannel sound goes way back to Mytek's implementation of a similar scheme of stacking DACs originally based on a proprietary ASIO USB driver (footnote 5), and, more recently, based on the use of a "virtual audio device" function built into MacOS. In both cases, the physical link was a USB hub, and because USB does not employ a discrete audio clock, linking the DACs' clocks was necessary. This requirement is obviated by the U-DIO8, which extracts the clock from the audio data and sends it to each of its S/PDIF outputs.
Given my experience with the miniDSP so far, I wasn't greatly surprised to hear that the Brooklyns à trois sounded no different hooked up to U-DIO8 from how they sound with their clocks linked. They offer a highly precise, detailed sound, with good bass and excellent reproduction of space. In clock-linked mode they can deliver PCM resolutions up to 32/384, DSD up to DSD256, or MQA, none of which is currently possible with the U-DIO8. That being noted , did I prefer the Mytek-miniDSP combo to the exaSound e38? I still don't know. Most of the time I prefer the e38, but the cooler sound of the Myteks is more appealing with certain recordings, particularly for the Brooklyn's various choices of digital filter.
Finally, I set up three Benchmark DAC3 HGCs, which, like the Myteks, are really digital preamplifiers with multiple analog and digital inputs, and are capable of higher PCM sampling rates and DSD. Benchmark has promoted using their DACs in this fashion, albeit with a PCi soundcard, so I anticipated no problems, and had none. The DAC3 HGCs lit up, locked instantly, and produced some of the most glorious multichannel sound I've ever heard from my system. Superficially it was very similar to what I hear with the exaSound e38—wide range, balanced, and dynamic—but it was also notably if subtly more detailed in the highs.
This was accomplished without brightness or etch; my reading of Benchmark's publications leads me to believe that they would ascribe this to their apparently obsessive pursuit of low noise levels. The noise specifications of the exaSound e38 and the Benchmark DAC3 HGC are both excellent, though there is a 3dB difference in their A-weighted signal/noise ratios: respectively, 125dB vs 128dB. Both levels should be inaudible, and I hear no noise per se from either—but the Benchmarks' more delicate treble contributes to my perception of the ambiences of recording venues, particularly in multichannel. A setup of one miniDSP U-DIO8 and three Benchmark DAC3 HGCs would cost $6884, a price I find appealing, coming as it does between the exaSound e38 ($3850) and the Merging Technologies NADAC+ ($12,000).
I hesitate to suggest that a trio of three different DACs would do the job—you can't be confident that they'll all have the same I/O latency, or that their individual clocks will behave identically from the start and/or over the long term. I can't even be absolutely certain that three units of the same model of DAC off the same production line will behave identically. I can say that, based on my weeks of listening, all four of the matched trios I tried behaved well.
As I mentioned, neither higher resolutions nor DSD are possible with the miniDSP U-DIO8, but despite my appreciation for those options, I play almost everything at 24/192 or 24/176.4, in order to use Dirac Live EQ, which for me has greater sonic appeal than higher sample rates.
Finally, there's the matter of volume control. This can be accomplished with a multichannel preamp, but that's another niche in which the choices are few. Alternatives are to control the gain with the music-player software, or with the direct analog inputs on a good pre-pro or AVR. In addition, some DACs that include remote control of volume will track nicely when using one remote for three DACs, the Benchmark DAC3 HGC being a good example.
The immediate impact: With a single inexpensive device, miniDSP has suddenly and effectively created dozens and dozens of multichannel DACs to choose from. Three or four samples of any DAC with an S/PDIF or AES-EBU input can now, together, act as a multichannel DAC when connected to a single miniDSP U-DIO8. All of those who've been complaining about the mere handful of multichannel DACs available: your time has come. The miniDSP U-DIO8 is as indispensable to multichannel audio as a cream filling is to an Oreo.
Ripping SACDs with an Oppo universal player
Only days after the July 2018 issue of Stereophile hit the streets, several readers e-mailed us about a passing comment in my column about using Oppo's BDP-103 and BDP-105 universal disc players to rip SACDs for my file server, asking for details. They knew about the older method of using an ancient model of the Sony PlayStation 3 to do this, but hadn't gone that route because of the difficulty of finding the right PS3 and the complexity of setup. I've used two old PS3s for ripping the DSD content of SACDs, and found that once I got it all set up, the process was relatively smooth. But using an Oppo is much easier. I haven't written about any of these methods because they occupy a gray area of copyright protection, and in my general ignorance of such issues I'm loath to expose Stereophile and myself to legal action. All I'll do here is convey some information already readily available on the Internet, and provide links to the necessary programs and apps, none of which we will offer or host. The following instructions are adapted from several websites (thank you, grill and haggis999) and describe just one way to do it—the easiest way, I believe. The original and most detailed source of information on this topic is the thread initiated by Ted B.'s original announcement on ComputerAudiophile.com.
You'll need to download and install two packages of applications. The first is an AutoScript package, that is installed on a USB stick. This will put your Oppo player into a state in which it will follow ripping commands sent from your computer. The second package is ISO2DSD, an efficient and handy graphic user interface (GUI), provided by Sonore, that will control the ripping of the SACD's entire contents to an ISO disc image file, as well as the extraction of multichannel or stereo track files to a playable format.
Following are the step-by-step instructions:
1) Connect your Oppo UDP-103 or UDP-105 player to your local area network (LAN), following the instructions in the player's manual. Write down the player's IP address. Make sure your computer is connected to the same LAN.
2) Copy the unZipped AutoScript folder to the root folder of a USB stick.
3) From Sonore ISO2DSD, download the iso2dsd_PC_v7 file (or the one appropriate for OSX or Linux). Put the unZipped files into a root directory on a drive of your computer. (Make sure the drive has lots of space; SACD ISOs are large.)
4) Turn off the player's Auto Play/Resume Modes and power down the player. Insert your prepared USB stick. Turn the player on again. The disc tray should open automatically.
5) Insert an SACD in the tray and close the tray. Wait until the player recognizes the disc.
6) Run iso2dsd_gui.exe from your computer. At top left of the menu that then appears, select "Server Input." Then, under "Output Mode," select "Raw ISO." In the IP Address Port window, enter your player's IP address (from Step 1). Click "Execute." The ripping process will start within few seconds.
7) When the app reports "Done," eject the SACD. To rip more SACDs, repeat from Step 5 or click "Quit."
8) Remove the USB stick. Reboot to return player to normal use.
The result of this ripping will be an ISO file containing everything on the SACD. While this will be playable with the JRiver Media Center or FooBar players, it's better to extract the individual tracks as DSF files. This, too, can be accomplished with ISO2DSD:
1) At top left, select "File Input."
2) Under "Channel Mode," select "Multi" (multichannel) or "Dual" (two-channel).
3) Under "Output Mode," select "Sony DSF." (footnote 6)
4) Click on "Convert DST to DSD."
5) From the list in the "Select Files Port" window, select the filename of the ISO you want to convert.
6) Click "Execute." The extraction process will begin in a few seconds.
7) Repeat as needed.
This all may sound complicated, but in practice I found that it became almost automatic. I have a USB stick that I've devoted to getting my Oppos in the mood to rip, and a dedicated 2TB external hard drive for ISO2DSD, associated files, and ripped ISOs and DSFs. Later, for listening, I move the ISOs and DSFs to my NAS. This process also works with certain Pioneer and Cambridge Audio players that use the same Mediatek chips as the Oppo 103 and 105. A similar process, recently described on ComputerAudiophile.com, permits ripping with a number of recent Sony BD players. Unfortunately, Oppo's final universal players, the UDP-203 and UDP-205, are not suitable.
Finally, I want to acknowledge: Mr. Wicked, the masked man who first discovered a way to rip SACDs; Ted Brady, who's been essential in getting these processes out to a grateful public; and Sonore, for developing the ISO2DSD software, which lets us avoid the complexity of multiple user scripts.
Next Time in the Round
I'm going to eliminate my preamps and try running the three Benchmark DACs into three Benchmark power amps. I'm also expecting two new pre-pros from familiar sources—we'll see which one arrives first.
Footnote 5: See footnote 1. Footnote 6: "Output Mode" also offers these options: "Philips DSDIFF," "DSDIFF Edit Master," and "Raw ISO." "Sony DSF" will get you easily playable files that accept metadata tags. You can also rip directly from SACD to DSF files, but for various reasons, most users prefer the two-step method
This was accomplished without brightness or etch; my reading of Benchmark's publications leads me to believe that they would ascribe this to their apparently obsessive pursuit of low noise levels. The noise specifications of the exaSound e38 and the Benchmark DAC3 HGC are both excellent, though there is a 3dB difference in their A-weighted signal/noise ratios: respectively, 125dB vs 128dB. Both levels should be inaudible, and I hear no noise per se from either—but the Benchmarks' more delicate treble contributes to my perception of the ambiences of recording venues, particularly in multichannel. A setup of one miniDSP U-DIO8 and three Benchmark DAC3 HGCs would cost $6884, a price I find appealing, coming as it does between the exaSound e38 ($3850) and the Merging Technologies NADAC+ ($12,000).
I hesitate to suggest that a trio of three different DACs would do the job—you can't be confident that they'll all have the same I/O latency, or that their individual clocks will behave identically from the start and/or over the long term. I can't even be absolutely certain that three units of the same model of DAC off the same production line will behave identically. I can say that, based on my weeks of listening, all four of the matched trios I tried behaved well.
Only days after the July 2018 issue of Stereophile hit the streets, several readers e-mailed us about a passing comment in my column about using Oppo's BDP-103 and BDP-105 universal disc players to rip SACDs for my file server, asking for details. They knew about the older method of using an ancient model of the Sony PlayStation 3 to do this, but hadn't gone that route because of the difficulty of finding the right PS3 and the complexity of setup. I've used two old PS3s for ripping the DSD content of SACDs, and found that once I got it all set up, the process was relatively smooth. But using an Oppo is much easier. I haven't written about any of these methods because they occupy a gray area of copyright protection, and in my general ignorance of such issues I'm loath to expose Stereophile and myself to legal action. All I'll do here is convey some information already readily available on the Internet, and provide links to the necessary programs and apps, none of which we will offer or host. The following instructions are adapted from several websites (thank you, grill and haggis999) and describe just one way to do it—the easiest way, I believe. The original and most detailed source of information on this topic is the thread initiated by Ted B.'s original announcement on ComputerAudiophile.com.
I'm going to eliminate my preamps and try running the three Benchmark DACs into three Benchmark power amps. I'm also expecting two new pre-pros from familiar sources—we'll see which one arrives first.
Footnote 5: See footnote 1. Footnote 6: "Output Mode" also offers these options: "Philips DSDIFF," "DSDIFF Edit Master," and "Raw ISO." "Sony DSF" will get you easily playable files that accept metadata tags. You can also rip directly from SACD to DSF files, but for various reasons, most users prefer the two-step method
