Super Audio CD - Copy Protection

Copy Protection

SACD has several copy protection features at the physical level which as of 2012 appeared to make the digital content of SACD discs difficult to copy. The content may be copiable without SACD quality by resorting to the analog hole, or ripping the conventional 700MB layer on hybrid discs. Copy protection schemes include physical pit modulation and 80-bit encryption of the audio data, with a key encoded on a special area of the disk that is only readable by a licensed SACD device. The HD layer of an SACD disc cannot be played back on computer CD/DVD drives, and SACDs can only be manufactured at the disc replication facilities in Shizuoka, Japan and Salzburg, Austria. But there is software available which allows ripping/copying an SACD using an early Sony PlayStation 3 Console.

Some later SACD players have encrypted IEEE 1394 (also called FireWire or i.Link) or HDMI digital outputs carrying DSD data, and it may be possible to get the raw DSD data from these links. The protection mechanism used is Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP), which can be used in "Copy Once" or "Copy Never" modes.

There seems to be one solution for obtaining digital non-DRM output on SACD as well as DVD-A players. A company based in Switzerland offers a modified output board that taps into the digital datastream prior to D/A conversion as well as converting DSD to PCM that the S/PDIF port can transfer.