DSD ISO Support

Still waiting for it, too. It never crossed my mind that a software made for the audiophile folk wouldn’t have that feature, but here we are :wink:

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Remind me — what’s the reason for not wanting to convert to DSF files? Just too much work?

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It’s also the case that the ISO file (for multichannel) is almost always losslessly DST compressed, and DSF doesn’t support compression. DFF does, but then there’s no metadata in the file. So stereo DSF files are already large, and multichannel DSF files are absolutely huge. I rip to ISO so I won’t have to deal with the optical media again, and can reprocess as needed. The stereo DSF files are already ~75% the size of the ISOs they came from, and the multichannel will be 1.5-3x (depending on the number of channels) the size of the stereo. So we’re in the >2TB range vs 700 GB.

Disk space isn’t expensive (I remember when the first “consumer” hard drive dropped below $100 per MB [1983]), but multiple terabytes of SSD (if you want an absolutely silent machine in your listening room) aren’t trivially cheap (about $350/TB is the best I currently know of), and upstream bandwidth for cloud backup is a major bottleneck for me and many other home users.

Even though the sacd_extract program is multi-threaded (and uses 1 thread per core, which is the right way), it’s still pretty slow, at least on my 4 GHz iMac (the Windows or Linux versions might be faster, but I’ve never tried them). It’s 5-20 minutes per ISO, so a day+ of solid work for the computer with automation. Why do that again?

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too much work, inconvenience,…etc

and by the way whats the reason for not wanting dsd.iso capability in roon.

Noone has to use it if they dont want to. People who dont want iso support can always convert to dsf and disregard iso support. There are many features in roon that i dont use. There are also upcoming new features that i will never use. I never oppose them
Anyway DSD.iso support is asked by quite a number of members,

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Usually people are against something because they have no need for it.
There is fear that Iso playback implementation bites time away from other more “urgent” features.
Like MQA fixing for example.
I use Xrecode 3 for conversion. Easy to use, fast and inexpensive.
I keep all my Isos because of their multichannel content.
Playback with multichannels is done via JRiver or via an Oppo 105.
If you want to playback multichannel Isos with an Oppo over your Homenetwork you have to google for some alternative software.

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Is it possible you need SACD certification to play an ISO, but you don’t for DSF files?

Yeah, thats why most all other playback software offer iso playback.

I guess a relink to the official “why” is in order (it’s way upthread):

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/dsd-iso-support/1259/7?u=orgel

Again (from way upthread), I’m not opposed to .iso support per se, but as @miklats mentioned, effort devoted toward implementing this feature is effort not devoted to other things to which I personally assign a higher priority.

Just a couple of points, and then I won’t beat this particular dead horse any longer:

Even if you really, really want DSD .iso support in Roon, does it strike anyone as strange that more than two years since the start of this thread, Roon users are still on this? IMO, .iso’s are less and less of a factor as time goes by, since more and more of that DSD material is available for sale as a .dsf download (not to mention that more and better tools are available for extracting .dff’s and .dsf’s). Also, if you like that music you have in .iso form, wouldn’t it be better to just go ahead and extract .dsf’s so you can listen to it in Roon? (I took an analytical look at my library, and it appears I’ve done this for hundreds of SACD .iso’s — an effort I began well before I started using Roon — so I’m well aware of the amount of work involved.)

Second, as if we didn’t already know, here’s another example of what a strange and wonderful place audiophilia is: There’s one group of audiophiles that insists that storing tracks in a losslessly compressed fashion is heresy and results in a reduction of sound quality, and there’s another faction that insists that DST lossless compression is an absolute necessity for storage of MCH DSD files.

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I think Sony dropped the SACD format last year.
There are reissues of prior titles ( they call it remastering).
Most of that originates in Japan.
But I didnt see new stuff at all since quite some time.
You can buy at e-onkyo and others.
I bought the Koeln Concert from Keith Jarrett this year. Also a SACD reissue.

what the added valued of this SACD. It’s played on a barpiano. I enjoy it but it is casettetapemusic.

I am aware of roons comments on the subject which i believe explains roons concern on implementing this as a feature rather . What ı meant to ask was what difference it would make for people who dont want iso support. THey are free not to use it .

I get that higher demand for other features exist. But as an end user I have as much right as any other to ask for a feature. It is in Roon s discretion to whether do it or not. FOr instance I never use dSP engine or i am not interested in MQA but i like it that they exist. SO i think iso support wont harm.

Roon has already said that it is not high priority on their list and i get that however they also have not said that they will never do it.

Different people, different tastes

Just accessed the ultraRendu free trial … & what … no iso play back? ie. half my music, tbs worth …

Clearly it is inconvenient, but if Roon works for you in other respects it might be time to think about converting to DSF. I’ve no idea how long that might take for “terabytes worth” though, I don’t know how much of your collection is multichannel.

You must understand, there are a lot of other things much more important than the support for SACD Iso files.
A very important task is the implementation of MQA rendering.
That alone must take a lot of the available resources.
I use Xrecode for translation of Isos into any format you need.
That keeps the process close to painless.

I’ve had success with Xrecode (https://xrecode.com) with Windows - cheap, seems to have good functionality and works well.

You could also look at this article. JCR

If roon cannot update or fix for dsd iso support and if roon does not implement remote playback/streaming to phone outside home via port forwarding, it is certain for me that I will drop roon forever. There are many other free options available which will serve the purpose. I really want iso support because an iso represents a physical disc as accurate and as “virgin” as it can be. Conversion can be influenced by many factors you choose and the file size for MCH sacd is almost 3x. If roon cannot see the benefit here, it will see the same fate as Tidal now!

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I use Jriver for ISO playback.
I converted lots of Isos, splitted them up etc…, but stoarge requirements are huge.

I guess other people feel DSD .iso support is “trivial”, but I and many others obviously don’t. Better support for this and other lossless formats than lossy MQA.

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