Media Players that will handle SACD iso's?

[Jeddia]

After contacting kdLinks support, it appears that the media player doesn't support flac/wav with 5.1 - only stereo. Has something to do with the codecs, I'd guess. The unit was designed to play uncompressed hi-def video files with hi-res audio. Anyone know of any, preferably free, software that will take a flac or wav with 5.1 and convert it to a simple .vob struct with blank video or something of the like? At this point, I'm less concerned with quality than I am with functionality. Hearing the SACD 5.1's in lossy surround instead of lossless, is at this point....better than not being able to play them at all.

 

[HomerJAU]

Depending on how many FLAC files you have (time to convert) also remember if you convert to vob then you must down res to DTS or Dolby Digital. You can't have 5.1 PCM at above 48kHz.

I recommend buying another media player such as one of these Mede8ers that support FLAC at up to 24/192 7.1:

http://www.mediaconceptusa.com/mede8er.html

The 600 model is $190 and will accept a USB drive for input or Ethernet LAN cable for connection to a server/NAS.

The 600, 800 and 1000 models use latest chipset that supports DTS-HDMA and Dolby True HD lossless at 24/192 7.1 use Passthrough to an HDMI amp. Also plays FLAC, DVD VOB, BD M2TS, MKV including 24Hz video.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

JRiver has announced the impending release of their little (NUC-based) server box which is said to do everything that JRMC does on a PC. It will be $395. If all this turns out, it will be a killer product. http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Id

 

[Jeddia]

if you convert to vob then you must down res to DTS or Dolby Digital. You can't have 5.1 PCM at above 48kHz.

Yeah, I get that. Like I said, DTS 5.1 at this point, is better than not being able to listen

The kdLinks HD700 is an awesome media player. The processor is a juggernaut, and it plays just about everything you throw at it with no jitters, no errors, ever. Ever. Uncompressed rips of 4 hour movies at 1080p with HD 7.1 audio (40gb files) it starts in 1.5 seconds and never stops/jitters. It's way better than any of the previous media players I've owned.

That said, it evidently wasn't designed to play LPCM 5.1 containers like FLAC or WAV. It'll play them if they're stereo, just not surround. It wants DTS/DD header for 5.1 stuff. So, I need something to convert these 5.1 WAV's/FLAC's to DTS. Foobar does the initial read of the SACD iso and converts the tracks to nice little FLAC/WAV's, I'm just trying to get them one step further down to I can actually play them (since I don't 5.1 out of my computer - which clearly would make things easier, but it's not an option). It appears that Foobar will play DTS encoded WAV's/FLAC's, but won't encode non-DTS to DTS.

That Id box looks neat, but it seems to be more about the convenient bells & whistles than I really need. Not that I'm interested in spending $400 just to play a few FLAC/WAV's that I currently can't play. But it looks like a neat box.