Questions about Sonore ISO2DSD

[B&W Driver]

I couldn't find the perfect forum board for this topic, but this seems to be as close as I could find...

Back in early 2021, we experimented [read: once] with converting a stereo SACD to FLAC. Long story short, we pulled it off, but I'm getting old and I don't recall all of the details. One thing I do recall, however, is that we downloaded and pasted Sonore ISO2DSD into the root of our hard drive as part of the process. Apparently, this utility is used in conjunction with other freeware to pull data off of a physical SACD and, ultimately (in our case), convert it to FLAC.

We recently received an ISO file of some live music that we would like to hear, but our attempts at using ISO2DSD to convert the ISO file to something we can listen to have failed, which leads me to a couple of basic questions...

Was ISO2DSD created strictly for ripping data from SACDs? If not, can anyone with ISO experience write about how to use the ISO2DSD software to convert a raw ISO file stored on a hard drive?

Here's a bit more information. As part of the SACD ripping process, I recall having to create an "iso2dvd" folder in the root of our hard drive. I also [seem to] recall that DSF files that ISO2DSD created ended up in a folder in the same iso2dsd folder. I'm only adding this because I know that placing the folder -- and the ISO2DSD utility it contains -- in the root was a critical part of the process.

Thank you kindly for your time...

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Sonore Software should work, but in the case that this ISO is improperly formatted, using Foobar2000 combined with the SACD plugin should work. If you have an ISO, dropping into Foobar is the fastest. If you have a physical SACD, you'll need to copy it first with the Sonore Software. With ISOs, Sonore is really only needed if you like keeping your extracted files in DSD and not PCM.

 

[B&W Driver]

Sonore Software should work, but in the case that this ISO is improperly formatted, using Foobar2000 combined with the SACD plugin should work. If you have an ISO, dropping into Foobar is the fastest. If you have a physical SACD, you'll need to copy it first with the Sonore Software. With ISOs, Sonore is really only needed if you like keeping your extracted files in DSD and not PCM.

Thank you for the reply, Mister A, but would you please elaborate a bit on the sentence, "With ISOs, Sonore is really only needed if you like keeping your extracted files in DSD and not PCM."? Are you saying that ISO2DSD can be used to convert a raw ISO file as opposed to a physical SACD? If so, do you recall how it is done?

Thanks again for your time...

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Just select the File button and select the output and there you go!

 

[steelydave]

ISO2DSD is strictly for extracting DSD files out of an SACD ISO.

If you want to extract audio from a DVD-A, DVD-V or Blu-Ray you'll need to use something like Audiomuxer (freeware) or DVD-Audio Extractor (paid software) possibly in combination with other software if you need to circumvent copyright protection.

ISO is just a means of extracting a bit-perfect image of a disc, it's not an audio or video format. What you need to figure out is what kind of disc you have an ISO of, and then you can figure out which tool you need to get the audio ripped from it. There should be plenty of threads here about ripping using the software I mentioned above.

If it's an ISO of something with video content as well, you might want to look into something like MakeMKV, which should be able to create a file with the video and audio content that you could play back in any media player software like VLC.

 

[B&W Driver]

Where did you get that, Mister A? The GUI that I get when I open our copy of Sonore ISO2DVD doesn't look anything like yours. Your GUI is about as intuitive as it gets and, compared to ours, it's like comparing MS Excel to Lotus 1-2-3.

Here's a screenshot of our GUI. I trust that you can see what I mean...

 

[B&W Driver]

ISO2DSD is strictly for extracting DSD files out of an SACD ISO.

If you want to extract audio from a DVD-A, DVD-V or Blu-Ray you'll need to use something like Audiomuxer (freeware) or DVD-Audio Extractor (paid software) possibly in combination with other software if you need to circumvent copyright protection.

ISO is just a means of extracting a bit-perfect image of a disc, it's not an audio or video format. What you need to figure out is what kind of disc you have an ISO of, and then you can figure out which tool you need to get the audio ripped from it. There should be plenty of threads here about ripping using the software I mentioned above.

If it's an ISO of something with video content as well, you might want to look into something like MakeMKV, which should be able to create a file with the video and audio content that you could play back in any media player software like VLC.

Okay, thank your for the clarification, Dave, but I still think that Mister A's version of Sonore ISO2DSD makes ours look like running DOS script.

One of the initial questions was whether or not the utility was strictly for use with ripping SACDs and I believe that your post clearly explains that the answer is a simple, "Yes." Thanks again.

EDIT: Perhaps the "bare bones" GUI we have is due to the fact that we are Mac users, aye?

 

[steelydave]

My (Windows) version looks the same - the screenshot the other user has posted is from a different program, "SACD Extract GUI". I think both of them are just graphical interfaces that send the same commands to the sacd_extract command-line software. There's nothing that program can do that ISO2DSD can't, though the layout is maybe a little more intuitive.

 

[mandrix]

It’s basically a bootleg/Russian release DVD I found out after the fact, and AudioMuxer would not rip the files so I converted to .MKV to preserve the video in hopes his Oppo will play that from the USB port.
I used DVDAudioExtractor to rip flacs also, it had no problem. Not sure why AudioMuxer choked. I'll get with Pl4it at some point and see if he knows why AM didn't like the DVD .iso if he wants to check it out.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Where did you get that, Mister A? The GUI that I get when I open our copy of Sonore ISO2DVD doesn't look anything like yours. Your GUI is about as intuitive as it gets and, compared to ours, it's like comparing MS Excel to Lotus 1-2-3.

Here's a screenshot of our GUI. I trust that you can see what I mean...

View attachment 76631

Ah, I should link it.
https://www.videohelp.com/software/sacd-extract

 

[B&W Driver]

Thank you, Mister A. I find your GUI to be head and shoulders above the Sonore version.

 

[B&W Driver]

Well, I couldn't get the SACD Extract GUI to start in Mac OSX 10.12.6, but I appreciate the try, regardless, Mister A.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Well, I couldn't get the SACD Extract GUI to start in Mac OSX 10.12.6, but I appreciate the try, regardless, Mister A.

I should mention that the actual sacd_extract executable is offered separately and is needed in the directory of SACDExtractGUI for the program to function.

 

[B&W Driver]

I should mention that the actual sacd_extract executable is offered separately and is needed in the directory of SACDExtractGUI for the program to function.

I'm a bit confused now, Mister A, but I'll try to explain ...

I employed the link you included in Post No. 10 (above) and downloaded it to a fresh folder in the root of our hard drive. After that, I used a unzip utility to open it up in the same folder. After the zip file was unzipped, there were four (4) files in the folder: changelog.txt, readme.txt, sacd_extract & sacd_extract.cfg

The sacd_extract file is a 228 KB Unix executable file and, as I mentioned before, the interface (GUI) does not start when that file is opened. I'm very far from being an expert on any of this software, but this leads me to believe that it's the SACDExtractGUI zip "package" that I need to find and download before I can use the intuitive interface you pasted into Post No. 4 (also above). Google searches for the GUI part of the program have lead me to old file lists that muddy the water by specifying that certain interfaces only function with certain executables.

If you happen to know where one can find the interface files one needs to use with the sacd_extract "package" you linked me to in Post No. 10, I'd appreciate the pointer.

Thank you

 

[mandrix]

OK I see, the newer gui has to be started from the cmd line in Windows. With a Mac I have no clue.
Java must be installed.
From Windows cmd line it's:
java -jar sacdextractgui.jar

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

For Mac users, there's Sonore's DSD2FLAC...

 

[ted_b]

I'm confused....Why are you still fixated on an SACD extraction tool (Mac or otherwise) when it's clearly not an SACD ISO!? Play the .mkv that boondocks created (or the flacs). Or extract the music from the MKV using MMH. But there is no reason to keep trying to download versions of SACDExtractGUI or ISO2DSD. This is not a DSD issue!

 

[par4ken]

I couldn't find the perfect forum board for this topic, but this seems to be as close as I could find...

Back in early 2021, we experimented [read: once] with converting a stereo SACD to FLAC. Long story short, we pulled it off, but I'm getting old and I don't recall all of the details. One thing I do recall, however, is that we downloaded and pasted Sonore ISO2DSD into the root of our hard drive as part of the process. Apparently, this utility is used in conjunction with other freeware to pull data off of a physical SACD and, ultimately (in our case), convert it to FLAC.

We recently received an ISO file of some live music that we would like to hear, but our attempts at using ISO2DSD to convert the ISO file to something we can listen to have failed, which leads me to a couple of basic questions...

Was ISO2DSD created strictly for ripping data from SACDs? If not, can anyone with ISO experience write about how to use the ISO2DSD software to convert a raw ISO file stored on a hard drive?

Here's a bit more information. As part of the SACD ripping process, I recall having to create an "iso2dvd" folder in the root of our hard drive. I also [seem to] recall that DSF files that ISO2DSD created ended up in a folder in the same iso2dsd folder. I'm only adding this because I know that placing the folder -- and the ISO2DSD utility it contains -- in the root was a critical part of the process.

Thank you kindly for your time...

If it's a SACD ISO, just open it in Foobar and click convert. You just need to have the SACD Decoder installed in Foobar.

For DVD ISO's just use WinRAR to extract the files. Then convert the VIDEO_TS to flac with DVD Audio Extractor.

ISO2DSD is great if you want to save .dsf files. They can be converted to flac with Foobar as well.

 

[mandrix]

I'm confused....Why are you still fixated on an SACD extraction tool (Mac or otherwise) when it's clearly not an SACD ISO!? Play the .mkv that boondocks created (or the flacs). Or extract the music from the MKV using MMH. But there is no reason to keep trying to download versions of SACDExtractGUI or ISO2DSD. This is not a DSD issue!

If I understand correctly, he still wants the ability to rip SACD via the Oppo and thinks the newer GUI might be better/easier/what he wants to try.
So my .iso isn't really the whole story here, we've moved past that I think.
He may have only a Mac, in that case Foobar wouldn't be much help to him.....I know many these days are enamored of flac, and I am too, but I still keep backup .iso's of all my discs. Call me paranoid...

Anyway I can't speak for him, just thinking out loud here.

 

[jimfisheye]

I've used the very same Sonore iso2dsd Javascript based app. It's crude but appears to work OK. Found it a few years ago and never looked back.

The unix executable goes in the same folder as the Java GUI app as mentioned. I guess this GUI is someone's home brew and this is supposed to be a command line app? Not sure what features I might be missing if any?

Are there features available that are command line only?

The GUI looks like what B&W Driver posted above on the Mac. I haven't tested it beyond OSX 10.13.6 yet. That's still my daily driver. OS XII Monterey is still pretty "experimental" at present. I've looked over my shoulder at a couple Windows screens in recent times and they do still like that DOS look!

The important bit is to know to convert the dsf files to 32 bit floating point wav with 32:1 decimation. That lands on 88.2k 32 bit floating point files.
The peak value transcoding from DSD to PCM can land anywhere from -6db to +6db! The -6db examples simply lose a bit of resolution but the +6 examples will clip if you were to go straight to 24 bit fixed!
I use XLD (X Lossless Decoder) in 32:1 decimation mode for that transcode.

So the 2nd step is to normalize the whole album to be just under 0db. Then render to 24 bit fixed.

My questions might be:
Is there something more modern and not so "home brew"?
Is the command line version more featured?
Is there a "better" GUI version someone made?
Is there a version that outputs whole disc at once?

Does that Mac only DSD2FLAC mentioned have more features?
Does it do the intermediate 32 bit floating point and normalize parts automatically?

The big complaint about iso2dsd is corrupted track segues for tracks with audio that segue between them. It's either a crude chapter split error like video apps that only have frame resolution or fallout from DSD needing to know what the last sample was and that getting screwed up at track boundaries. A disc at once feature would work around that.