Soundgeek Reviews
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Hi guys. New member here so please let me know if I am doing things wrong. I just created a facebook post, but I think most people in the group I posted in are not too familiar with the subject, so I decided to post it here as well:
Had some findings this morning and thought I'd share.
I've been a big oversampling fan for a while now. I upsample either to 4x PCM or DSD 256, depending on the hardware I am using. I used to always prefer DSD, but since about 6 months, for warmer hardware I tend to prefer PCM (to maximize detail) and more analytical hardware I tend to prefer DSD (to make things more natural and soft). Also about 6 months ago, I was reading into apodizing filters and decided to go for Smooth, Minimum phase filter (which is roughly an apodizing filter).
All good so far, but this morning something happened. I was reading into apodizing filters again, and some research shows that apodizing filters can mess with phase quite a bit. Simply put, it solves pre-ringing, but at the cost of phase shift. This phase shift can influence how precise you perceive imaging. I decided to do some A/B testing, and to my surprise I prefered Smooth, Linear phase over Smooth, Minimum phase quite a bit. Soundstage feels bigger and imaging is quite a bit more precise.
Now here is the kicker: when using Smooth, Linear phase, I seem to prefer DSD 256 over PCM 4x again! I think DSD suffers more from this loss in imaging quality, since it is already the lesser analytical format when compared to PCM. Now the pro's of reducing digital glare with DSD outweigh the cons of being less analytical again.
I am curious if anyone has had a similar experience. Would love to hear peoples decisions and experiences regarding upsampling and the reconstruction filters. And hopefully my experience is at all hopeful to someone. I don't know. Maybe I am just a maniak haha.
Had some findings this morning and thought I'd share.
I've been a big oversampling fan for a while now. I upsample either to 4x PCM or DSD 256, depending on the hardware I am using. I used to always prefer DSD, but since about 6 months, for warmer hardware I tend to prefer PCM (to maximize detail) and more analytical hardware I tend to prefer DSD (to make things more natural and soft). Also about 6 months ago, I was reading into apodizing filters and decided to go for Smooth, Minimum phase filter (which is roughly an apodizing filter).
All good so far, but this morning something happened. I was reading into apodizing filters again, and some research shows that apodizing filters can mess with phase quite a bit. Simply put, it solves pre-ringing, but at the cost of phase shift. This phase shift can influence how precise you perceive imaging. I decided to do some A/B testing, and to my surprise I prefered Smooth, Linear phase over Smooth, Minimum phase quite a bit. Soundstage feels bigger and imaging is quite a bit more precise.
Now here is the kicker: when using Smooth, Linear phase, I seem to prefer DSD 256 over PCM 4x again! I think DSD suffers more from this loss in imaging quality, since it is already the lesser analytical format when compared to PCM. Now the pro's of reducing digital glare with DSD outweigh the cons of being less analytical again.
I am curious if anyone has had a similar experience. Would love to hear peoples decisions and experiences regarding upsampling and the reconstruction filters. And hopefully my experience is at all hopeful to someone. I don't know. Maybe I am just a maniak haha.
