You can change the LED light by set the "BL"Warning; Long post, from a new member....
I bought the D-6, two months ago based on Amir's review, and I love it. I bought it through Amazon, and got the 2 year extended warranty - just in case.
I'm using USB and Foobar2000, with the SACD component.
The audio from this is fantastic, out of the box, and no problems. I did do the clicking fix (as mentioned in Post 200 here), and that worked.
The display is cryptic, and too bright, but it does give all the info you need - once you understand it.
To fix the brightness issue, I cut up one of the dark anti-static bags that semiconductors are packaged in, and taped it over the display. Maybe a bit crude, but it works.
While the normal FLAC playback of this DAC is great - I found something that's (suprisingly) better: I'm up-converting all my FLACs to DSD 256 with Foobar's DSD Processor.
This actually makes even 44.1 - 16 bit files sound noticeably better. I was totally surprised by this, but it's real. The reason it does is that apparently the DAC internally processes everything as DSD, so it must first convert the FLAC (PCM) files to DSD. The converter in Foobar can do a better job at this, because it has the greater resoruces of the PC. I now play everything in DSD.
Before you call me crazy, read this:
Most modern Delta-Sigma DAC chips can decode multiple file formats, including PCM, DSD, and Wide-DSD. When they are decoding PCM, a Delta-Sigma DAC chip has to first convert it into DSD, the chip's native format. Another reason for the common misconception that DSD performs better than PCM has to do with the poor quality of the real-time PCM to DSD converters built into native DSD Delta-Sigma DACs. Since R-2R ladder DAC chips can only decode PCM formats some DAC manufacturers use chips or FPGAs at the input stages of their DACs which convert DSD to PCM. But no R-2R DAC chip can decode DSD on its own.
In almost all cases I would recommend playing music files in the native format which your DAC chip decodes. That would be PCM for an R-2R DAC chip and DSD for a Delta-Sigma DAC chip. There are several brands of player software on the market which have real-time PCM to Double-Rate DSD converters. HQ Player is one of the most sophisticated player software packages on the market today. HQ Player (and foobar) can be configured for real-time PCM to DSD conversion as well as real-time DSD upsampling to Double, Quad, Octuple, and even higher rate DSD formats. Using player software that is capable of converting PCM to DSD and upsampling it to at least Quad-Rate DSD is highly recommended.
(from this article):
This article explains how to do this in Foobar:
Foobar 2000 for Dummies (Part 2) – Playing DSD – SACD plugin
(Last updated 07 Feb .2023) For a guide on how to losslessly compress DSD file size by 50% very easily with Wavpack 5.x, BatchEncoder and SACD plugin 1.04 (or later) click –> HERE <R…diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com
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SMSL D-6 DAC Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
Yes you can, but as others have mentioned here, even the lowest setting is still too bright.
Not at all possible with the AK4493S chips...
Not sure where you got this info from but it is wrong.
Can simply pull up the AKM datasheet
If you set the mode to PrD , then when you play DSD to the DAC, you actually bypass all the DAC chip internal DSP. Known as AKM "DSD Direct" mode in the datasheet
Well, it's working here, so don't know what you're saying.
I got it from the article I quoted and linked to, check it out.
Check out the part i quoted, that you wrote. There is no way the AK4493S chip is upsampling PCM to DSD.
I don't need to read an article because I have read the AKM datasheet itself.
You are correct, the DAC chip doesn't up-sample PCM to DSD.
Please re-read what I originally wrote:
I'm up-converting all my FLACs to DSD 256 with Foobar's DSD Processor.
The second article I linked describes this process.
Yes you also wrote "The reason it does is that apparently the DAC internally processes everything as DSD, so it must first convert the FLAC (PCM) files to DSD."
that's the part I first replied to and quoted...
so, your initial post is a bit confusing. because you said:
"The reason it does is that apparently the DAC internally processes everything as DSD, so it must first convert the FLAC (PCM) files to DSD."
if i understand this, in fact, this dac is not converting pcm to dsd, it's just playing it as pcm. but, you think it sounds better if converted elsewhere and then played as dsd. i'd posted a link to your post here on another blog, and got the same response as music1969 gave, re: this dac not internally converting pcm to dsd.
doug s.
I based what I said on the article I quoted. If you choose not to read it....
Lol no worries, but the article is completely wrong.
For SMSL D-6, only accurate sources are the user manual and AKM 4493S datasheet
This is something different - the D-6 does have a DSD Direct mode, where you completely bypass the DAC chip DSP.
So all the DSP is done before the DAC, during the PCM to DSD coversion.
Most modern Delta-Sigma DAC chips can decode multiple file formats, including PCM, DSD, and Wide-DSD. When they are decoding PCM, a Delta-Sigma DAC chip has to first convert it into DSD, the chip's native format. Another reason for the common misconception that DSD performs better than PCM has to do with the poor quality of the real-time PCM to DSD converters built into native DSD Delta-Sigma DACs.
Yes, as I understand it, it skips a process in the DAC chip by doing it on the PC.
All I know is - it sounds noticeably better to me.
except in this case, there is NO process skipped in this dac, because this dac chip does NOT have the ability to internally convert pcm data to dsd data...
doug s.
Im this case he is converting PCM to DSD with JRiver
agreed; his mistake is that he thinks the article he referenced applies to this dac and it does not.
doug s.
You can also set the display to go off.
rentaclaus
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Here you can find a lenghty discussion about the obstacles of supporting native DSD in pipewire (a linux soundsystem) and the question if this would make sense or is only a waste of time and efforts. Seems things are more complicate ...
gitlab.freedesktop.org
Support for native non-PCM hardware input/output (DSD, etc.) (#93) · Issues · PipeWire / pipewire · GitLab
This may be a giant waste of time but I've been thinking recently about biggest shortcomings of "digital versus analogue" volume control: analogue path is always source of...
Thanks for the link. Interesting, but he's discussing digital volume controls here - not exactly what I'm doing.Here you can find a lenghty discussion about the obstacles of supporting native DSD in pipewire (a linux soundsystem) and the question if this would make sense or is only a waste of time and efforts. Seems things are more complicate ...
Support for native non-PCM hardware input/output (DSD, etc.) (#93) · Issues · PipeWire / pipewire · GitLab
This may be a giant waste of time but I've been thinking recently about biggest shortcomings of "digital versus analogue" volume control: analogue path is always source of...
But he does indicate a preference for outboard processing.
OK...
I confess that most of the data sheet is over my head,
But I don't see anything in there that says HOW the chip processes PCM (that I can understand, anyway).
I based my knowledge on the article, which you say is wrong, How so ?
Is this chip a "delta-sigma" type ?? I'm assuming it is, since it's not a resistor-ladder type, and he indicates that most DACs are one or the other.
Maybe this is no longer true ?? (the article is from 2015).
So are you saying that the chip does not process everything internally as DSD, as he indicates ?
All I see, in the block diagram is a "PCM data interface". How do you know that this block doesn't convert PCM to DSD, ahead of the DSD demodulator ?
Respectfully, just trying to learn...
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