POLL: WHO IS/HAS USED DSD?

[Jim Shaw]

IS DSD IMPORTANT, TRIVIAL, OR A WASTE in home audio?

 

[Ra1zel]

I have quite a few SACDs, they sound great

 

[MrSoul4470]

I have quite a few SACDs, they sound great

I have quite a few CDs. Some of them sound bad, some really great and way better than other HiRes stuff I have. I think the format really doesn't matter at all and if a SACD sounds better then it's simply because it's produced well and not because it's a SACD.

 

[polmuaddib]

I don't understand the answer: Yes, but don't see the point of DSD here. What's that suppose to mean? Someone plays DSD files secretly at home, but denies doing it on this forum?
I play DSD files and SACDs all the time even though I know there is no audible difference between PCM and DSD.
Is it a waste? Of course not. It's a lovely format which was very complicated to play natively in PC domain just a couple of years ago.
Impossible to edit, takes more space then PCM, sounds the same, but it gives me joy when I listen to it.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I play DSD files and SACDs all the time even though I know there is no audible difference between PCM and DSD.
Is it a waste? Of course not. It's a lovely format which was very complicated to play natively in PC domain just a couple of years ago.
Impossible to edit, takes more space then PCM, sounds the same, but it gives me joy when I listen to it.

Agreed. I play DSD files all the time, sometimes as DSD but more often as PCM in order to enjoy the advantages of DSP for room/speaker correction.

 

[regan]

sounds the same, but it gives me joy when I listen to it

Why?

 

[Leiker535]

I source DSD to PCM 24/44 (or 96 if I'm in a oily mood) because the masters, recording equipment, producing and level of commitment from the team behind real DSD or DXD recordings, specially classical, is astonishing and top notch. Sites like NativeDSD and Sony's own catalogue are very good ways to source those good masters/recordings, even if I often times just end up searching the title of the album on Qobuz later on .

I also like to search for old vinyl/tape rips on the interwebs, as they are from before the Loudness Wars, and getting them on DSD is specially nice as it further guarantees I'll have a clean slate to do my own restoration/processing with iZotope RX Advanced; the results speak for themselves and often surpass the streaming`s masters.

But no, I dont hear a difference from the format itself (although the royal blue light coming from my DAC when I play it natively does flare up the dopamine receptors)

 

[Leiker535]

Why?

Why buy a collector's swiss watch when you can look time up on your smartphone?

 

[jeffbook]

I ripped all of my SACD discs using my Oppo BDP-105 to DSD64. Some of the rips were SACD only, but I ripped the multi-layer SACD discs to DSD64 as well. I play all of these back with Foobar 2000. They are output as PCM @ 88200 Hz into a Topping D10s. Prior to my conversion to a streaming only front end, the Oppos was my primary music source. I enjoy SACD and PCM equally and never could tell any difference between the 2 formats.

I still listen to SACD in a surround sound format on occasion. I enjoy it all.

 

[polmuaddib]

Why?

One answer is in post 8 and the other is because ten years ago or more I spent a considerable effort to play DSD natively.
At that time I believed it was superior sound, more analog and what not.
My main impression of DSD was that it sounded less harsh then PCM.
Now I know that they sound the same, but my perception remains. Strange, but who cares, as long as I enjoy it.

Also, since DSD recordings are made for audiophiles (who else?), I believe that more care is taken in the recording part of production, sometimes. And that may be the only valid point for it's existence nowadays. I could be wrong, of course. It's just my assumption.

 

[Sokel]

Same DAC,same everything:

(blue for PCM,yellow for DSD)

A little unfair for DSD as E-MU is hot for full volume and that affects DSD.
However,apart from the elevated noise Tone1 appears to be a lot cleaner with DSD.
(all of this seems inaudible at the 1Khz measurement but with a Multitone vs Level measurement I have seen them way inside the established (here) thresholds.)
So maybe there's more to it.

In real life I just don't care how music it's stored,I just want to be able to play it.
So yes,a lot of DSD's.

 

[antcollinet]

Why buy a collector's swiss watch when you can look time up on your smartphone?

Not really a valid analogy. There is no look/feel to a different format of audio file. The experience of using it is identical. Unless it is just seeing .dsd on your screen that generates joy.

 

[kongwee]

Since 99% DAC are DS, DSD is the format to store. Can even output DSD signal direct to Class D amp w/o modulation.

 

[voodooless]

Can even output DSD signal direct to Class D amp w/o modulation.

For most amps, that would not work. Basically any of the high performance class D amps are self-oscillating. They have no use for a PWM input signal. Also there are many issues with applying feedback. Class D amps aren’t digital.

 

[voodooless]

Since 99% DAC are DS, DSD is the format to store.

So you store video in a format that can be streamed to HDMI without conversion?

DSD is very inefficient and you can’t do any processing on it at all. It’s just a total PITA.

 

[Snoopy]

There are some pretty nice masters only available on SACDs. So it really shouldn't be about DSD Vs PCM but rather about the master that you prefer.

I often listen to DSD files. And I upsample everything to DSD512. Just because I feel like upsampling in software does a better job than the DAC oversampling files.

But keep in mind that SACD players have a cut-off frequency. And DACs as well for DSD files. (22khz the lowest and up to 52khz something?)

 

[Snoopy]

So you store video in a format that can be streamed to HDMI without conversion?

DSD is very inefficient and you can’t do any processing on it at all. It’s just a total PITA.

I use EQ, volume leveling on my DSD files.

 

[Sokel]

I use EQ, volume leveling on my DSD files.

How?

 

[voodooless]

How?

By conversion to multibit. There is no other way.

 

[Sokel]

By conversion to multibit. There is no other way.

So double conversion with software or something.That's old,thought that something new has emerged.