"A big surprise at the AES was the confirmation by Sony that DSD technique, used in SACD, uses multi-bit PCM during recording and mastering processes and that only uses one-bit technique as it applies to consumer playback systems. Jim Johnston of AT&T Research speculated that DSD and DVD-A data streams might be able to co-exist if output from different points within the same microprocessor."

Apparently they use PCM for recording and mastering, even for SACD. Now the advantage of no conversion between formats suddenly disappears.”
(From a ESP page)

What do you think of this?