Is Bit Perfect DSD possible through Foobar2000 to Topping D50iii

[Chrispy]

Most of my SACD's sound noticeably better than the original CD and Tidal's dynamically compressed supposedly high definition streams.

Not my experience, mostly I just gather multich SACD for the availability of the format, not the medium.

ps Sometimes better production values have been attributed to SACD re-releases, tho.

 

[Scytales]

Not my experience, mostly I just gather multich SACD for the availability of the format, not the medium.

ps Sometimes better production values have been attributed to SACD re-releases, tho.

A propos, the production value of multichannel SACDs, there is this outstanding information that M. Janssen has disclosed in his aforementioned thesis (page 94):

What M. Janssen says is that high performance digital delta-sigma modulators (DSM)* used to produce the first generation SA-CD masters had the inconvenient effect of generated bit-streams that were less efficiently losslessly compressed with Philips's DST algorithm. That led to problems at the mastering stage to get adequate playing time when DST was used.

However, while the use of DST is optional for the stereo content of an SACD, it is mandatory for the multichannel content. Therefore, to avoid problems due to less efficient data compression rates, the high-quality bit-streams generated by high-performance first generation modulators often had to be remodulated by less good modulators, which nevertheless produced bit-streams that were easier to data compress without loss.

The new digital DSMs that are at the heart of Mr. Janssen's thesis were designed specifically to solve this problem and avoid the need for (re)modulation by lower-quality DSMs.


*High performance in the sense that the application of dither decreases harmonic distortion at the output of the modulator.

 

[Redacted]

Surely, dead and buried?

 

[AUDACC]

I adjusted the volume of both files up and down several times so that one or the other seemed louder and I still perceived that the flac 96khz file was more subdued. I guess that was my reverse confirmation bias The sample rates offered by this converter were 44.1, 48, 96khz. If I continue down this path, I will try another converter at the Grok suggested higher multiples of 44.1khz.

Topping Service recommended trying other files. If other files fail to run native, they recommend uploading the file to Topping Service through Google Cloud for analysis.

In the interest of not wasting the time of all the posters on this thread, I will refrain from posting until a solution is found. Thanks to all for your helpful suggestions!

Unless someone can verify they are playing native DSD through the Topping 50iii with the version 6.14.0 driver, this may be the latest best answer to the question posed at the beginning of this thread “Is Bit Perfect DSD possible through Foobar2000 to Topping D50iii“

The current Topping USB Audio device driver v6.14.0 on my laptop will not accept DSD64 or DSD128 native for playback through the D50iii. Topping customer service suggested several Foobar2000 component setups to support native DSD playback, but they all failed to play DSD native through the D50iii. All these attempts to solve the problem were using the version 6.14 device driver. Other ASR contributors that have been able to play DSD files natively on the D50iii have apparently done it through earlier versions of the USB driver such as v6.0.0. I tried to download and install the v6.0.0 driver, shown by @AndyZ in post #44 of this thread. However, the v6.0.0 download arrived in my download folder as v6.14. Topping will only download and support the new 6.14 version currently. Perhaps limiting access to native DSD through the D50ii protects sales of their more upscale DAC offerings.

The D50iii produces excellent sounding renditions of the soft rock music recorded in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s that I listen to. No need to change DAC’s to improve on that and therefore don’t need to join the DAC of the month club. However, when I start downloading and playing some native DSD classical music recordings, an SMSL D200 might be an option to reveal a little more low level detail.

 

[AUDACC]

Since there have been no examples presented that showed DSD files playing native or DoP through the Topping 6.14.0 Windows ASIO driver, the next step was to try playing DSD without ASIO through the standard Windows 11 audio path. That was successful. That was verified when Foobar2000 displayed DSD128 and the D50ii front panel showed DSD128 when playing a DSD128 file.

For those that wishing to deliver DSD files bit perfect to the Topping D50iii, here is the Foobar2000 setup for Windows 11 using the standard plug and play driver for the Topping D50iii that successfully does it.

• PLAYER: Foobar2000 v2.25.8
• 
  
• INPUT COMPONENT: SACD v1.5.4, Output (per device): DSD+PCM, DoP checked
• 
  
• OUTPUT DEVICE: Default: Speakers (Topping USB DAC) (exclusive)

So the final answer to the question: Is Bit Perfect DSD possible through Foobar2000 to Topping D50iii? is YES.