DSD / SACD Audio Playback

  • I posted in another thread that I was interested in whether libreelec could play dsd audio through dsd compatible dac's.

    The music portion of Kodi is fantastic as far as metadata, album art, lyrics ect. And when used with a nice remote such as yatse or the official remote it is a great headless music player.

    Having tidal and Spotify add-ons, and hopefully one day Amazon music it's a great thing.

    The only reason I use a separate music streamer is because I have a collection of high resolution dsd audio files.

    The music streaming os I use is called snakeoil os. However there are many such as daphile, rune audio and more.

    Some of these streamers have the option of using different audio wrappers and backend/front ends such as Logitech media server, roon, Spotify connect, mpd and lots more.

    I have tried them all, Logitech media server has a few add-ons of its own, Deezer, tidal and some more. However the sound quality from mpd is just something that made me fall over.

    Music Player Daemon (MPD) is a free and open music player server. It plays audio files, organizes playlists and maintains a music database. In order to interact with it, a client program is needed. The MPD distribution includes mpc, a simple command line client.

    The ability to be able to push YouTube audio to Kodi is another thing that these audio os are not capable of doing. Spotify is always hard to set up and half the time tidal doesn't work.

    I think because libreelec is already mature with so many coders. It could be so easy to add certain audio features that will have audiophiles shifting over in the millions.

    If no one else cares about this please dismiss this thread however if these were implemented. We would have an even bigger community with an all in one solution.

    Just a thought and I hope someone knows what I am talking about.

    When using mpd currently with snakeoil I have to use bubbleupnp and send my music via something called upmpdcli . Which I guess is mpd's upnp protocol

  • well I guess the only way to know is to ask right?

    If this is the case, I think people would be verrrrrry interested and will be my little project over the upcoming days.

    I just have a feeling that my dac could be the problem then.

    I might start a thread titled "compatible dsd dac's" and ask everyone to list their dac who was able to get this working.

    Libreelec I love you haha. You continue to suprise me and make my life and entertainment better without paying a cent.

    I am going to donate because if I can get this all working why would I pay to have roon when Kodi can do everything, plus more, plus video and tidal/YouTube clips... Speechless.

    I don't suppose anyone knows if Amazon prime music addon will ever make it's way to Kodi?

  • Here is a link to SACD/DSDIFF playback on the Kodi Forum:

    SACD/DSDIFF Playback

    To install the addon, do this:

    Go to add-ons / kodi addon repository / audio decoders / SACD ISO support

    Note: This is only supported with Kodi 19 versions

    that link seems to be a link on how to rip sacds with a PS3

    With libreelec there is no audio decoders in the directory you pointed me towards

  • What version of Libreelec are you using ?

    You must be running LE 10 (Matrix) (Kodi 19 or 19.1) in order to install the correct addon. The actual LE download number is 9.97.1 (latest).

    The link above is to Kodi's Forum pages and the thread is about playing DSD / SACD files using XBMC (old name for Kodi). I don't know where you saw info on ripping SACD's with a PS3 unless they discussed that in the thread.

  • What version of Libreelec are you using ?

    You must be running LE 10 (Matrix) (Kodi 19 or 19.1) in order to install the correct addon. The actual LE download number is 9.97.1 (latest).

    The link above is to Kodi's Forum pages and the thread is about playing DSD / SACD files using XBMC (old name for Kodi). I don't know where you saw info on ripping SACD's with a PS3 unless they discussed that in the thread.

    I'm using Kodi 18.9

    9.2.6?

    If my system info page is correct.

  • What version of Libreelec are you using ?

    You must be running LE 10 (Matrix) (Kodi 19 or 19.1) in order to install the correct addon. The actual LE download number is 9.97.1 (latest).

    The link above is to Kodi's Forum pages and the thread is about playing DSD / SACD files using XBMC (old name for Kodi). I don't know where you saw info on ripping SACD's with a PS3 unless they discussed that in the thread.

    Is this the wrong version?

  • LibreELEC-RPi4.arm-9.97.1.img.gz

    Click on LibreELEC 10.0 Beta

    so sorry i misread your comments above.

    i updated to the latest matrix, found the sacd.iso decoder. im just about to try it.

    this was at very early hours of the morning so i couldnt do much.

    now to get the dsd/mpd working.


    the only thing was when i updated pretty much all my addons broke. thats ok i will spend a few hours getting the matrix ones.

    two more audio questions. is there a tidal addon for matrix? and will the deezer addon stream at 192khz?

  • dsd will only work via usb, unless you have a i2s output from your pc or rpi, hdmi cant send dsd, unless you buy a conversion box which converts from hdmi to i2s.

    some avr's are capable of doing dsd over hdmi from certain cd/bluray players. for example my denon 3808ci. however that is only from players such as oppo's, cambridge audios, denon and a few other bluray players. sony does one for cheap but i dont listen to enough physical cd's and dont own any sacd's

    i wonder if there will be a way that hdmi from pc will be able to work with these avr's doing dsd..

    just a little bit of information regarding why some people may see their dsd files as pcm on their avr's

    luckily i have a few usb dacs

  • LibreELEC-RPi4.arm-9.97.1.img.gz

    Click on LibreELEC 10.0 Beta

    thankyou so much for your help. i am still trying to work out the wavpack/dsd mpd side of things.

    i am using a pc, not raspberry pi unfortunately.

    i made a post on stereonet. people will take note and hopefully have some more audiophile coders move to libreelec after what i had written

    Looks like kodi might be back in the audiophile game - Digital Sources, DACs, and Computer Audio - StereoNET International