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Exactly! I can understand why DAC manufacturers leave out a NOS option, even when the chip supports it. Too many users think it's just a feature to turn on without understanding what it is for: "I don't want unnecessary processing of my music, just the original source". Understandable...

I was simply replying to @Reynaldo's question about NOS. I am not using NOS myself. In fact, my DAC is Gustard A18, which doesn't have a NOS setting. This DAC has been absolutely awesome (and still is). I am very glad I bought it, even though it was more money than I had originally planned to...

Leave it OFF unless you oversample in software. And only do so if you have top quality oversampling (such as HQPlayer) which can do a better job than the DAC chip.

This is MQA being rendered to its Original File Sample rate (OFS) through coax after first unfold by the source (Roon etc). MQA requires displaying OFS instead of MQA in those situations.

I am from Denmark. Maybe I should just start posting in my native Danish language. Surely everybody who reads this thread either understands Danish, or they will happily copy my posts to Google for translation. Easier than me having to include an English translation in my posts. Right? ;)

The posts I saw from that member were all completely factual and to the point, and contained more specifics about MQA workings than other posts in the thread. But they DID challenge the prevailing consensus in the thread -- and he received loads of hate, venom and ridicule from other members for...

No worries. I think maybe a line in my previous answer might have caused the confusion. I edited it to be clearer (I hope).

The one linked by Frio in the post above mine. In short, Tidal made a public version of the MQA encoder available for small artists to upload HiRes tracks. Someone managed to trick the encoder into creating its worst possible output, by telling it to encode real music while feeding it synthetic...

That's a whole other discussion. MQA didn't suddenly change because of GoldenOne's video. It does what it has always done, including how it's implemented in X16 and other DACs. It's not so mysterious. The Tidal app just includes the MQA Core decoder as it has for ~3 years now; it decodes the...

Think about it: Even if the Tidal app performs first unfold when playing through BT (UAPP does that) the resulting stream is majorly changed by the BT process. Transcoded and most likely resampled. There will be no MQA data left for the DAC to process. I guess Gustard can technically claim MQA...

That must be a mistake. There is no way it COULD work in BT mode, since the stream is transcoded in the BT transmission. And in many cases also resampled. So any MQA data would be mangled. Good catch :)

The U16 firmware is for U16, not for X16 ;)

No oversampling/upsampling will add musical information not already present in the original file. Period. This is true regardless of whether it takes place in software or in the DAC chip. The only reason to use upsampling software on your PC is if it can do a better job at it than the DAC...

It WILL oversample it, but that won't add any musical information not already present in the file. The oversampling is done merely as a technical step in the process of turning the digital signal into a proper analog waveform. It reduces rounding errors, if you will. 44 and 48KHz are actually...

I know. I tried to keep it simple, but evidently I didn't succeed :facepalm:

I edited my post immediately after posting it to avoid that ambiguity. No ultrasonics are going to magically show up in your 44.1Khz file by the DAC's oversampling. It'll be deliberately limited to 22.05Khz by the source. If you're playing a HiRes file, it may contain ultrasonics up to half the...

You generally shouldn't worry about oversampling (or upsampling). Modern DAC chips do a great job of reducing noise and distortion and reconstructing the waveform, and oversampling is part of that process. Just worry about getting a bit-perfect digital stream to the DAC. You can play with the...

I posted what I did a few days ago in the Review thread: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/gustard-x16-balanced-mqa-dac-review.17419/page-119#post-744002 I didn't use the Gustard provided Foobar (which I couldn't find anyway) but just the v1.6.3 I had already...

Any modern Delta-Sigma DAC will oversample, including X16 unless you choose its NOS filter. And it will oversample far higher than 96KHz. It's an integral part of their noise shaping and how they reconstruct a proper waveform from digital samples. And you (not you personally) really shouldn't...

ASIO bypasses the Windows Audio system entirely, which can yield lower latency. It was really meant for studios and others to connect their DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) to an interface, sound card or other audio hardware. It requires 3rd party (non-Microsoft) hardware drivers and software...