Fitzcaraldo215
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We, meaning you and I, have no idea what he did or did not hear. Personally, as I said, I have no interest in verifying it one way or the other. I merely reported what he said, which is obviously a mere anecdote, and it should be considered as such. It sounds plausible to me given my own listening experience. However, he may have his biases or imagination, just like me or anyone else, and his opinion may be valid, useless or misleading like any other anecdote.I am not the only one to observe that he couldn't hear the difference between direct mike feed and the mike feed D-A -> A-D with a PCM system. So i wonder if it's just stuff that those observing this can't hear or whether DSD is the inaccurate medium?
And, some time ago, an AES paper from Germany (Detmold?) indicated scientifically from extensive DBT trials that no audible difference could reliably be heard by test subjects between DSD and PCM 176/192k (not sure which). That does not support your conclusion that DSD is a less accurate medium. But, it also is not on average, consistent with my friend's conclusion, either. However, for now, I give my friend the possible benefit of the doubt. Some people through experience learn to hear latent sonic signatures others do not. Witness our King of Audio, Amir, who is able to discern things in blind testing beyond statistical significance that others simply do not hear beyond chance. However, understood, that my friend has not demonstrated his point beyond statistical significance in DBT testing.
Personally and anecdotally from listening to many recordings, DSD is definitely a viable hirez medium. It has its proponents and detractors on various good or bad technical grounds. But, from my comments in earlier posts, I do not consider it a "must have" in playback, unlike my friend. I happily play it with excellent results using conversion to PCM and using DSP. So, I do not defend DSD, as some do, as the ultimate. It is merely a very good hirez distribution medium, but with some special requirements, limitations and difficulties in playback, ripping, etc. due to DRM and other issues.
Anyone can reach their own conclusions on this. Simply compare on any Universal player the RBCD layer of an SACD recorded and mastered in hires vs. the stereo DSD layer, carefully level matched, of course. The output levels do differ substantially, and material from analog or RBCD masters will likely reveal little discernible difference vs. hirez. And, on some players and DACS, direct DSD to analog conversion can be compared to level matched DSD-PCM-analog conversion. I have done this many times, and I personally do not find DSD to be an inaccurate medium at all. Downloads from various sites can also be used for a similar comparison.