Did some more simple tests (no measurement) this time with PureMusic XO > DAC: MOTU DAW and DSDse > Amps: NCore for lows UcD400 for highs all balanced > Speakers: Scanspeak Revelator setup that is the current studio monitors > test WAV/DSD samples from Ayre Acoustics Design Thoughts. With so many technical variables its hard to reach conclusions... but:
1) Upsampling to 192 kHz provides noticeable improvement. Upsampling further to 384khz with two mismatched DSD DAC did not seem to provide much more improvement and lots more complexity (stream drops/resets).
2) Assuming an upsampled stream, USB sounds better than others (did not try Thunderbolt or Ethernet).
3) DSD is fuller/louder/softer than 192 kHz PCM streams, but not necessarily better. It depends on the music which seems consistent with other content on the web.
4) In this setup computer XO/DSP is sounds better than board.
So the digital signal processing + stream + cables can make the Hypex Amps sound good or bad, so suspect the DLCP must have provided some of the good sound. But the stream is equally important - it needs to be maintained through to the amp.
How to get a 192>384 kHz switchable PCM or DSD stream through to the amps at a reasonable cost.
yes, you probably want the L and R linked, but are they really where you think they are? is an extra HP in there somewhere? That sort of thing.
Its easy to overlook something you thought you set and it isn't really set. Because you KNOW you set it correctly. Never done it myself. Ha.
Cheers
Alan
Its easy to overlook something you thought you set and it isn't really set. Because you KNOW you set it correctly. Never done it myself. Ha.
Cheers
Alan
Did you upsample in the DAC or did you upsample the source material?
It is important to remember that DSD material is often not exactly the same level as the same material in PCM, and we know that even 1 dB of level difference leads to perceived quality differences (even if the difference is too small to be perceived as a level difference).
Right. Did some more listening with SPL matched and I can't hear a difference. At this point I'm going to forget about DSD as most source is in PCM anyways. What got put down in the recording is far more important, thinking the wiki is right.
"When comparing a DSD and PCM recording of the same origin, the same number of channels and similar bandwidth/SNR, some still think that there are differences. A study conducted at the Erich-Thienhaus Institute in Detmold, Germany, seems to contradict this, concluding that in double-blind tests "hardly any of the subjects could make a reproducible distinction between the two encoding systems. Hence it may be concluded that no significant differences are audible. Listeners involved in this test noted their great difficulty in hearing any difference between the two formats."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Stream_Digital
Well with my setup and using SPL balanced samples from "World’s First Valid Comparison of PCM versus DSD" (Ayre Acoustics Design Thoughts) for six people: 1 preferred all PCM, 1 preferred all DSD, 4 said DSD was better for the classical and PCM was better for the vocals, all said there was not much difference and sometimes changed their answer back and forth.
Back to the DSP problem: my understanding is that it is not possible to 4-way cross-over a DSD stream without converting to PCM and then back to DSD - which is where the original problem started - DSP conversion allegedly reducing quality when converting. So might as well stick with PCM.
The only theoretical full DSD solution would be computer source cross-over and feed 8 of these http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/273474-best-dac-no-dac.html. But the one PC crossover software maker I checked with confirmed they cannot split DSD without converting to PCM.
So it's back to the original solution: cross-over and covert the PCM stream with as much quality as possible into an excellent analog handing section.
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