DTS-CD SACD to Creative Labs DTS-610 out = DTS disc?

[TopTip]

Resurrecting an old thread, I am sorry if this was continued elsewhere and I did not see.

I put this gadget, which I had purchased nearly a decade ago, to its first use. Having also finally set up a CD-4 playback system (Matsushita EPC 451 strain gage cartridge, Panasonic decoder) I fed the four channels into the DTS-610 and tried to record the digital out on my CD recorder.

Did not work -- the finished CD played back as static.

Then I tried to capture the DTS stream on a Mac, with QuickTime 7.6.6. QT's "Movie Inspector" said the stream was running at 44.1kHz BUT with 24 bits! COULD THAT REALLY BE? It runs a bit over 2mb/s.

In any case, this was successful: feeding the Mac's optical out to my AV receiver, Rick Wakeman's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" played back in all its 70s quad splendor.

Now I have to figure out how to burn the file to a DVD.

Others' experiences?

 

[The Quadfather]

I bought one of these and found it does a good job with CDs. I was able to use it to burn my own CD's, which I played in my truck's Clarion DTS system. However, I haven't used it much.

 

[vinylguy4]

Resurrecting an old thread, I am sorry if this was continued elsewhere and I did not see.


Did not work -- the finished CD played back as static.

Others' experiences?

This is the symptoms I get when the volume on the cd recorder is not set to +- 0, do not want to alter the dts stream in any way.

vinylguy4

 

[TopTip]

So I have continued to make recordings using the Creative DTS-610. I record them using QuickTime 7 on an iMac. I then play them off the iMac, connected to an AV receiver via optical TosLink. The sound is excellent, despite the age and even the condition of some of the LPs.

However, I encountered a number of issues. The iMac's light output is so weak that with anything longer than 3 foot optical cable there is no sound. Worse, on my Mac Mini the optical out produces only a slight chirp (I read with later OS versions the optical out cuts out when an HDMI cable is used. Still, even with the HDMI unplugged, I had no success).

So now I have these .mov files, containing the DTS tracks on the iMac (44.1kHz and 20 bit, per QuickTime) but no way of producing a playable CD or DVD.

Any suggestions?

 

[sjcorne]

Hi everyone

I know this thread is pretty old and there is probably little to no interest in the DTS-610 device at this point, but for me it has been the only way to digitally capture SACDs or legacy quad vinyl/tapes. I don't really have the technical experience or funds to buy an expensive four channel soundcard or the sony vegas software, so this has been the cheapest solution I can find.

The device works really well but it is the CD recorder and the recordable discs that have been causing a lot of issues for me lately. I bought an old Phillips CDR-880 off ebay a year or two ago solely for this purpose and was disturbed to find that the only discs it will read are 1-2x AUDIO ONLY CD-R or RW. So I bought a few RWs that worked and have made maybe 20 or so recordings that sound great in the car. However, after being erased 5 or 6 times, the discs usually fail in the middle of the recording and delete whatever I had already. Imagine recording a Q8 (which obviously is not rewindable) and having the recorder display suddenly revert to zero. Needless to say, it's pretty aggravating...I'm not sure if it's the recorder or the discs, but I was under the impression that CD-RWs can be erased and reused more that 5 or 6 times.

So, my question is, is there anyway to capture the DTSWAV stream coming out of the DTS-610 on a computer? I've seen a couple cheap soundcards that have a TOSLINK input online and figure I can just record with audacity and export as WAV. But as we know with DTS-CD if the bitstream is altered in any way during the recording the encoding will be lost.

Has anyone managed to successfully record the DTSWAV stream on a computer and burn to cd?? If so, what software and soundcard to use would be helpful information.

I really don't like dealing with 8-tracks as I'm always afraid they will break in the middle of the recording (my player already ate Argent's In Deep, The Best of the Guess Who, and Santana I), so I want to transfer the few tapes I have left to digital as soon as possible.

Thanks

 

[vinylguy4]

I gave up on music CD-RW discs, I always seemed to run into a bad spot on the discs.
So I just got a bunch of music CDR discs at costco, hopefully they will last me a long time.
CDR's are working well for me. If I mess up on a track, they were cheap enough to just toss it and try again.
They do still sell music CDRs ( amazon, etc ).

 

[sjcorne]

I gave up on music CD-RW discs, I always seemed to run into a bad spot on the discs.
So I just got a bunch of music CDR discs at costco, hopefully they will last me a long time.
CDR's are working well for me. If I mess up on a track, they were cheap enough to just toss it and try again.
They do still sell music CDRs ( amazon, etc ).

I meant to respond sooner but thanks for the advice...I found a 30 pack of Maxell Music CDRs on Amazon and they seem to work for the most part. The recorder often gets an "OPCFAIL" error but after 2 or 3 tries (and sometimes turning it sideways) it will read them and record fine.

I managed to repair and save a few Q8s but my player has inconsistent speed and is likely approaching death.

 

[Owen Smith]

I know this is an old thread. I am looking for a Creative Labs DTS-610 to convert from multi channel analogue (various potential legacy sources) to DTS to feed into my AVR which has only HDMI or SPDIF in for multi channel like many modern AVRs. Do any of the people that used a 610 on this thread no longer have a use for it and would be willing to sell and ship to the UK?

 

[JediJoker]

I know this is an old thread. I am looking for a Creative Labs DTS-610 to convert from multi channel analogue (various potential legacy sources) to DTS to feed into my AVR which has only HDMI or SPDIF in for multi channel like many modern AVRs. Do any of the people that used a 610 on this thread no longer have a use for it and would be willing to sell and ship to the UK?

Please hono(u)r @Owen Smith's request first, but I am also interested in a DTS-610 shipped to Oregon.

 

[jwb474]

Keep an eye on the auction sites like Ebay, they pop up every once in a while. I been using one for years and a couple of years ago a brand new in box showed up on Ebay and jumped all over it.
This little box solved interface problems. I currently use it to send the 4ch analog output of my Quad R-R and 8--Track decks from one side of the room to the AV center on the opposite side of the room.. The optical signal goes directly into the A/V receiver. I have plans on using a 1-2 optical splitter to send the signal to a Technics SH-AC500 and from that to the input of the Sansui QRX-9001.
In this world of trying to integrate old analog (Especially 4ch) with today's technology can be frustrating at best. It would seem that there could be a market for someone like Involve to market boxes to solve integration problems. Just a thought and wishful thinking.

 

[JediJoker]

In this world of trying to integrate old analog (Especially 4ch) with today's technology can be frustrating at best. It would seem that there could be a market for someone like Involve to market boxes to solve integration problems. Just a thought and wishful thinking.

They seem uninterested, preferring to focus on matrix decoding solutions. The dream is a multichannel ADC to HDMI converter for lossless integration of legacy analog sources. Until such a device is available, the DTS-610 seems to be the only (imperfect) solution.

 

[Owen Smith]

I am keeping an eye on ebay. As for the HDMI fees problem, a potential solution is for an analogue to DisplayPort convertor instead since the licencing fees for DisplayPort are vastly lower and it can carry the same types of audio. Then you buy an off the shelf DisplayPort to HDMI convertor to get it into your AV amp. It's a shame two adaptors are needed but being digital the second adaptor should cause no loss of quality.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Thankfully now that the DSD stream on an SACD can be copied there's no need to convert SACD's to DTS

 

[JediJoker]

Please hono(u)r @Owen Smith's request first, but I am also interested in a DTS-610 shipped to Oregon.

Well, I'll be damned: one popped up on eBay tonight, and for the price, I had to snag it. The ad copy is just a stub, though the pictures do make it look unused. I would have preferred a known working unit, but beggars can't be choosers. Here's hoping it works! And hoping one pops up in the U.K./Europe for you, @Owen Smith!

 

[mandrix]

I have, or had one. Where exactly it is right now is unknown. It's been unused for many years.
My walk in closet is packed with old gear and various pc things. Next time I go digging around pulling stuff out I'll see if I can find it. Pretty sure I saw it a while back.
I'd have to think about how I could test it. IIRC, it has both SP/DIF and toslink outputs.

Also boxed up I have two Creative SB350 7.1 sound cards. With the Creative software player of old I used to be able to play DVDA discs from the pc optical drive. I have some modded software for it but it's untested by me on Win11. I think Creative stopped updating it after Win7, maybe Win10. IDK.

 

[Owen Smith]

Well, I'll be damned: one popped up on eBay tonight, and for the price, I had to snag it. The ad copy is just a stub, though the pictures do make it look unused. I would have preferred a known working unit, but beggars can't be choosers. Here's hoping it works! And hoping one pops up in the U.K./Europe for you, @Owen Smith!

I have a saved ebay.co.uk search for one, and my understanding is that will pick up anything worldwide. I've certainly seen stuff from the US. But this one never emailed me, possibly you bought it before it got round to emailing me. Certainly looks like a good buy for the price, it's essentially free. I suspect the seller thought it was some old junk.

EDIT: I hadn't realised there's a Location option for saved searches. Mine are all set to Default, but I have no idea what that means. I've changed my saved search for this to Worldwide location. I'll decide if I'm prepared to buy from wherever it is if one ever turns up.

 

[Owen Smith]

I'd have to think about how I could test it. IIRC, it has both SP/DIF and toslink outputs.

Analogue outs from one of your Oppos to the 610, then SP/DIF and/or toslink to your AVR which should be able to decode the DTS.

 

[mandrix]

Analogue outs from one of your Oppos to the 610, then SP/DIF and/or toslink to your AVR which should be able to decode the DTS.

I found the unit. However, the input for the 610 is 3.5mm so I need to dig around and find some adapters to go from regular RCA. I should have some around here.
Well actually there is also a toslink input.

 

[mandrix]

OK. The unit has S/PDIF, Toslink, & Coax inputs. Outputs are Toslink & Coax.
Initially I have confirmed the unit works with toslink input from one of my Oppo's and coax output to my AVR, as those are the cables I could put my hands on quickly.
After inspecting the unit, I remembered/saw the little "door" for the toslink output broke off a long time ago. This did not prevent it from working but heavy toslink cables (think very heavy) as I remember had to have some assistance to stay in place. e.g. I used to have a 50 ft long very heavy duty cable running under the house to the old Audio cabinet in another room.
IIRC I used a specific technical device called a "rubber band" to affix the heavy toslink cable to the device.

I will try to do further testing tomorrow or ASAP to determine if the analog RCA outs from the Oppo to the S/PDIF inputs on the device function, and I can get the settings all configured correctly. (I've been using only HDMI for a long time so have to go through and figure this stuff out again. C.R.S. you know).

EDIT: meant to add, I have no further use for the device, and quite willing to sell it.

 

[Owen Smith]

The question is what would it cost to ship from the US to the UK. Likely to be just as relevant as price.

toslink doors are notorious for breaking off, don't worry about that. My AVR has 4 coax and 2 toslink inputs and one of the toslinks is already in use.

I do recall now seeing that it has 3.5mm inputs. Slightly annoying but there are cables and/or adaptors to deal with that.