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Ripping SACDs on MacOS

Biberfan
audio

Ripping SACDs

Updated July 19, 2025 for MacOS Sequoia

I wanted to document how I was able to successfully rip SACDs to enjoy DSD files for playback on my hifi system. I only own around 10 SACDs so I didn’t see the need to invest in an SACD transport. But I do own the following:

  • MacOS Computer that serves music using Roon
  • PS Audio DirectStream DAC (built on a DSD model)
  • Oppo BDP-103 Bluray player

Only do this if you plan to use these files legally—meaning you’re not going to share them online once extracted. I offer no warranty about the sources of these scripts that make this work and have not written them. Do this at your own risk.

There are pundits that say that DSD sounds better than PCM digital audio. I did this to test the theory for myself. This makes sense only if the recording was recorded as DSD natively.

Many sources point to this page by Sonore with a Java based tool to extract DSD. The idea is that you install something on your Oppo and this will talk to the player over the network to do the job.

This did not work for me. Instead, I used this command-line tool. Before you get to work, know that you have to prepare a USB Flash drive (in Windows FAT format) with three files before you get to ripping.

July 2025 Update

This command line tool has been updated to be compatible with MacOS Sequoia and for M-series processors. You need to scroll down to the bottom of the page to access the executable. It's also available for other platforms other than Mac, FWIW.

I recently got some new SACDs and needed to rip them. My previous experience had been on a MacPro with Intel processors, can't remember which OS. With my Apple Silicon Mac, I had to get around some updated security protection built into the OS.

This did not work for me at first; I had to change the permissions of the sacd_extract script. You can do that with

chmod 755

Drag the file into the Terminal, and hit return. It sets it to be executable. Then, MacOS prevented me from running it, because of its Gatekeeper security. Try running the command via the terminal (point to the script as detailed below) and then go to System Settings and to the Security panel, and tell it to run anyway. You'll get another warning the next time you try and run it, but then it will work.

Download the AutoScript files here which was posted originally in 2016 by a user named ted_b. Make a folder on the drive called AutoScript then copy these three files:

  • AutoScript
  • AutoScript.TSS
  • sacd_extract

Insert the USB flash drive into the front of your Oppo and it should spit out the tray to load an SACD.

Next, you’ll need the IP address of your Oppo player. This works with the BDP-103 and BDP-105. You can hook up the player to a TV and get the IP address after using the wireless dongle or connecting your player via Ethernet to your network. I didn’t have a TV in my computer room so I used a network sniffer to obtain the IP address.

The SACD-ripper software is a command line tool. I installed mine in my home folder and ran the script from there. I inserted my IP address for the player with port 2002 and then used a number of flags outlined in the FAQ that comes with the tool. I wanted stereo files and wanted the files in a Sony file format I knew would be compatible with my equipment.

My command line execution therefore looked like this:

~/sacd_extract-0/sacd_extract -i 192.168.1.174:2002 -2 -s -P -C

Substitute your own IP address for your Oppo. If you did not put the executable in your home folder, the lead up to the name of the executable will be different. The easiest way to do this is to grab that file and drop it into Terminal from the Finder.

Your albums will be waiting for you in short order in folders named for each one. I then moved these to my Roon directory for ripped music and it indexed them and I was ready to go.

Additional Notes

  • Even though the last time I ripped SACDs was over 5 years ago? My player kept the same IP address. I can't remember if I manually set it or not. But that made quick work without having to sniff the network again.
  • If you have multiple SACDs to rip, I remember the last time the drawer opening once the scan was done. This time, the player sits idle and you'll only know the ripping is done by watching your Terminal window.
  • Each time you insert a new SACD, you can shortcut the same command again by tapping the up arrow on your keyboard, then hitting return.
  • Some may ask why do all of this? If it's isn't obvious, SACDs deliver a higher resolution format over redbook CDs. While I will admit in streaming PCM digital files that it's difficult to hear a sonic improvement, I do hear the difference with DSD audio over PCM. At a superficial level, the music sounds smoother or more 'relaxed' or natural sounding. To each their own!

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