Hybrid SACD - Native PCM Layer vs. Converted DSD

[mhz]

I got a hybrid SACD or two in my collection but never had anything to read the DSD layers. I have a cheap Sony Blu-ray player on the way to finally have something that can read the full content. I don't trust that any care was put into the DAC on these things and don't want to buy an expensive "real" SACD player so I'm really planning to use it exclusively for ripping the DSD audio.

I don't have any DSD capable DAC but figure ripping the DSD64 and converting to 96kHz / 24 bit PCM would still give more detail than the 44.1kHz / 16 bit encoded on the standard CD layer. I seriously doubt I'd be able to tell the difference between them but I already have the DSD audio sitting in my collection and a good PCM DAC (Schiit Modi 3+) so I'm gonna try it out when I get the player. Are there any risks in DSD to PCM conversion that might make the converted audio worse than just using the CD layer?

Probably no real answer here but opinions are welcome!

 

[mhz]

Got the player in and ripped a hybrid SACD to DSD64.
The DSD was converted to 24 bit / 88.2kHz PCM with a 30Hz low pass filter.

I honestly can't tell any real difference between this and the 16 bit / 44.1kHz PCM CD audio ripped from the same disc.
The cymbals *maybe* sound a little more distinct but not enough for me to make any claims about the higher sample rate / bit depth.

Out of curiosity, took the CD (top) and converted SACD (bottom) version of the same track into Audacity and there does seem to be at least a little more definition on the spectrogram with the extra samples. I'm nowhere near an audio expert though, maybe it's just the equivalent of sharpening a pixelated image ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Things were more interesting when I zoomed out though. At first I was worried that the low-pass filter used during DSD to PCM conversion would take out details that were in the CD PCM (even if not really audible), but after looking at the zoomed-out spectrogram of the CD audio that is no longer a concern:

This particular CD appears to have a hard frequency cutoff at 20kHz. I don't really consider that an issue (since anything above probably isn't audible) but it also means I have zero worries about losing anything else above that range during conversion.

SACD audio converted to PCM with 30kHz filter:


Definitely not going to go out of my way to get SACD but will probably end up ripping/converting the DSD off any other hybrid discs I end up with.