What settings to use for ripping SACD discs?

[ferrarabrainpan]

I've added the HDCD option to the DSP settings for HDCD rips and my understanding is it will rip 20-bit HDCD discs to 24-bit (what frequency I don't know... 44.1 or 48 or ?)... But what about SACD discs? I have an SACD of Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection and CD Ripper reads the track info when I put the disc in but is it reading it as a regular CD? Do I leave the encoder settings (I rip to AIFF as a rule) to "As Source"? Or should I manually select a higher bitrate and frequency, and if so, what numbers? Another SACD I have is a dual-layer SACD of Something Anything by Todd Rundgren so that is a double-disc and the SACD layer has the whole album on Disc 1 whereas the standard CD layer has the music spread onto two discs, and it is apparently the standard audio layer that is being read by my PC and CD Ripper when I insert the disc, since it shows the track listings for disc 1 of the CD version (13 tracks, not the whole 25 tracks that appear on the SACD layer).

Confusing... but I guess what I need to know is should I leave the AIFF encoder settings for bitrate, frequency and channels at "As Source" or bump the settings up to higher figures (and if so, what numbers should I select)?

[mville]

Re: What settings to use for ripping SACD discs?

CD Ripper does not read the hi-res DSD layer of an SACD.

However, it will read the red-book audio CD layer if it exists i.e. the SACD is a hybrid SACD.

[ferrarabrainpan]

Re: What settings to use for ripping SACD discs?

Thanks for clarifying that. I suppose if I really want a digital copy of an SACD disc then I should go to Acoustic Sounds or somewhere and buy it again if it is for sale. Not that critical as long as I am planning on keeping the SACD albums for home playback, since ripped files for sharing or portable playback are good enough for my needs at 16/44.1 AIFF.

[mville]

Re: What settings to use for ripping SACD discs?

Yes, you can purchase hi-res audio files online.

It is also possible to rip the DSD layer of an SACD, but not with CD Ripper. Some PS3 models with particular firmware and OPPO and Pioneer models with a particular Mediatek chip will. Search the web for more info.