Ray, please check and compare with locally served DSD music .i.e copy a DSD file to BBB uSDCard or eMMC
This looks like an interesting thread.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/273474-best-dac-no-dac.html
Ray
was planning to do that sometime to compare SQ results but I seem to have a dead SD card this morning; I've got a spare one around here somewhere.
Ray
A small correction on the Bubble display info (now I'm looking at it instead of recalling). Playing a DSD128 file and Bubble is showing 5644kbps/705.6KHz and for DSD64 file 2822kbps/352.8KHz.
Ray
Acko, did you see the post I made on at the end of the tread I linked to? I'm pretty sure Allen Wright was using this approach on his SACD mods 12-15yrs ago. Have a look, I would appreciate your thoughts.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/273474-best-dac-no-dac-5.html#post4313909
Ray
I will eventually. Whilst the concept is simple, the filtering side needs careful attention. DSD produces a lot of ultrasonic noise (starting from as low as 20KHz) from the noise shaping process and this gets pushed out to higher frequencies. So that is why there is interest to go beyond DSD128 as it makes filtering easier and better.
A simple LPF, whilst good enough to get excited from the sound coming out cannot fully attenuate the ultrasonics. Amplifiers and tweeters respond to ultrasonics if you look at the BW and though we cannot hear this it can be very wasteful energy and damaging to the ears. And also pity those poor pets!
As you can see some guys are using Lundahl trafos as filters but afaik they are wideband and respond up to 100KHz, so will not effectively filter the low freg ultrasonics.
So some work required on the filtering side and also looks like we have to consider a DSD only DAC in its own separate box for the time being. Chip manufacturers of course try to shoehorn DSD/PCM DAC for convenience but I would think DSD needs its own path for the best performance.
my 2 cents but any thoughts, ideas or collaboration welcome
Hi,
For a simple DSD DAC. Try checking signalyst webpage --> Products-->Hardware.
Br
Caad
Yes, I have seen that. Hardware claims to be open but for it to operate requires the upsampling and sigma-delta modulation process running on his PC software - not so simple and similar to what is happening within the 9018 DAC in DSD mode. I would prefer something similar to what Lampizator has done - nicely tuned filter, without any further signal processing!
After all the Scarlet Book indicates this way also ...
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Sound like you've given it a fair bit of thought & you've hit the nail on the head, HF noise seems to be the main challenge. I believe it starts even lower as 20KHz, for what I could hear from Doede's prototype.
Yes, I have been following your developments also. Great work guys! keep it up. I am just piecing together some theories only at this stage. But during some of my DIY lash up and testing of raw DSD outputs, I noticed my pet dog becoming restless, although to my ears is still fine music. Someone then cautioned me and I think we got exposed to some ultrasonic radiation
So please take care!
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Very intresting. Do all the clever stuff realtime in software PCM to DSD convertsion & even accoustic correction.
And nowadays we are bathed in RF energies from home wi-fi also, round the clock!
It's not simple because the upsampling process is done by a high performance PC, Intel i5 or i7, using Signalyst HQPlayer.
The process performance of Intel i5 or i7 is higher 9018 so that singalyst DAC generates a lower level of noise. However, the sound of singalyst DAC is a weak bass.
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Interesting! It goes to show that pure grunt itself is not enough. Besides, upsampling/converting 44.1k to DSD and hoping this will produce Super HiRes music just will not cut , at best only colours the sound! Best if you are going for DSD is to save/get money to buy some professionally recorded material ...
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I've been reading about 'non-DAC' DSD decoding and that observation has come up a few times but not just with the Signalyst solution; perhaps it's something that isn't quite cracked yet?
I think it's too early to arrive at that conclusion. Based on my limited experimentation I have preferred the sound of FLAC rips converted to DSF to the original rips.
Ray
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