Re: [ARSCLIST] Is DSD really "open"??

[Eric Jacobs <ericj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Jim,

In a nutshell, if you distinguish between the format and
the media, I would say the format is "open", but distribution
of the SACD media is "closed".

Thumbnail sketch and opinions:

Open - yes, to the extent that it is documented and third
parties can develop to the DSD "standard".  The standard,
however, is not in the public domain or managed by any
sort of national/international/industry standards body.  I
believe documentation of the standard must be purchased
(it is not freely distributed).

Licensing fees.  I don't know.  You may want to distinguish
between end-user license fees (for use) and developer
license fees (third-party developers).  I don't believe there
are direct end-user license fees, but consumers still end up
paying a premium because developers pass along the cost of
the developer license fees which ultimately trickles down to
the consumer.

Secure media - highly secure, and "closed".  Key generation
is closely guarded, and can only be performed by a select few
organizations.  I don't think security can be disabled
except via unsupported methods.  For example, if I need to
access the raw DSD data on a SACD, I use a custom native DSD
transport (6 SDIF2 outputs) connected to custom DSD DACs to
test audio quality.  I can also connect to a dCS 972 and
convert to PCM directly this way.  You certainly cannot
"burn" an SACD yourself, and there is no alternative media or
DSD software (computer based) players at the
consumer/prosumer level.

PCM-to-DSD software - I'm not aware of anything.  However,
if a DSD output card (SDIF2) exists, you could use several
dCS 972 or 974 boxes (multi-channel) to reformat to PCM, and
just loop the output back to the computer just like you would
with a SRC.

Hope that provides some framework to the question, and some
food for thought.

Eric Jacobs
The Audio Archive


---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 16:24:44 -0400
>From: James Lindner <jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: [ARSCLIST] Is DSD really "open"??
>To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>I saw a vendor presentation yesterday where it was claimed
that the DSD
>standard was "open". I was wondering if that was true.
Meaning - are
>licensing fees involved if you use a DSD software based
tool. Is DSD "open
>source"? Is the file format fully disclosed - and can anyone
write a DSD
>file and not have any restrictions or licensing fees?
>
>I had viewed DSD as a proprietary format and was wondering
if this is true.
>
>Also - does anyone know of software based tools for DSD -
meaning a PCM to
>DSD file converter in software? I know that they are built
into DAW but I am
>more interested in batch oriented tools for larger servers
so I would need a
>true software based set of utilities. Do they exist??
>
>Thanks for the help.
>jim
>
>*
>        Jim Lindner
>*
>        Media Matters, LLC
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>        Email: jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>*
>        Address: 500 West 37th Street, 1st FL
>        New York, N.Y. 10018
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>