You could probably say that when the amount of processing/storage required to make DSD sound good is taken into account... But it can sound pretty good.
I listened to some NativeDSD ("PureDSD") stuff, and I must say it sounded great. Maybe just a hint of not being able to locate instruments in front of me (properly defined... or at least what I expected to hear...) was what bothered me a tiny bit. But overall, I was impressed. My only real complaint is the file sizes. This was all done in my main system.
I also have a very nice Roland sound card with an AKM DAC IC inside, which I use as a headphone amp. This thing sounds really good when I feed it DSD, listening with my headphones. It's better than when I feed it PCM... but this is purely due to the headphones I use - HD650. The opposite is true when I tried it (Roland sound card) on my main system. PCM sounds better - go figure. It's all highly subjective and highly system-dependent.
I listened to some NativeDSD ("PureDSD") stuff, and I must say it sounded great. Maybe just a hint of not being able to locate instruments in front of me (properly defined... or at least what I expected to hear...) was what bothered me a tiny bit. But overall, I was impressed. My only real complaint is the file sizes. This was all done in my main system.
I also have a very nice Roland sound card with an AKM DAC IC inside, which I use as a headphone amp. This thing sounds really good when I feed it DSD, listening with my headphones. It's better than when I feed it PCM... but this is purely due to the headphones I use - HD650. The opposite is true when I tried it (Roland sound card) on my main system. PCM sounds better - go figure. It's all highly subjective and highly system-dependent.
I have a 'hd600' special , old stuff, hd650 has more bass , but I wont say they are good headphones... I have the Grados Rs1x , which are way nicer , detailed, etc etc, sometimes I wish I would have purchased Gs1000x , it was just a little better...
Still working on my pcm58 dac... what a mess , China 🙂
Still working on my pcm58 dac... what a mess , China 🙂
perhaps those with the newer chips on these inexpensive Chinese dacs could test out dsd also and let us know🙂
I have some DSD files. I think they sound great, but the files are way too big.
So, for the most part, I convert them to 96 kHz/24-bit FLAC and I can barely tell the difference.
The ProtoDAC board on top of a Rpi sounds as good or better to me as a $1K Chinese DAC, which is quite remarkable.
So, for the most part, I convert them to 96 kHz/24-bit FLAC and I can barely tell the difference.
The ProtoDAC board on top of a Rpi sounds as good or better to me as a $1K Chinese DAC, which is quite remarkable.
I am actually thinking of making Pedja's NOS DAC again (I still have a brand new PCB for it), with TDA1541S1. That was simply beautiful sounding DAC, especially with Audiomeca Mephisto CD transport... the best analog sound I ever had in my home (some 20+ years ago). Not super detailed, not super extended, not able to play 1.536MHz PCM / 1024 DSD... but ohhh so enjoyable. The other day I looked for TDA1541 info to figure out how I'm gonna feed it a digital signal these days... and realised that a plain TDA1541 chip goes for 400 dollars... insane. S2 goes for a cool 1000 bucks. Here's my stash, the very good Schott pulse transformer included 🙂. Ahh, that brings memories... of a great man I learned so much from - Jocko Homo, God rest his soul.
If the recording was made for that format there is nothing wrong with it. Memory is cheap these days. I hope I will live another few years to try multichannel.
Extreme_Boky , this might be a better investment than stock market!
I can say so far that I am displeased with my pcm58 dac... it has more clarity, resolution, etc than PCM53, but it is showing off a lot and there is so much information in the midrange that it is overwhelming and it lacks that bass foundation, everything is... it is hard to explain.
In my last effort to make that Chinese dac work, (spdif , optical, bluetooth all work nicely at 256fs) ...
I installed 2 more bit trimpots for each dac.
I added an extra lt3042+pnp +5V regulator/power supply in chain with the LM317
I changed the pre-regulator to the digital (4 low noise reg) to some high tech low noise (replace LM317)
I replaced the dac -12V lm337 to some high tech low noise reg
It does output -13.37V and the max is -13.2V as specification,
I don't know if I should proceed to use it as is, I have no clue how to modify the internal adjustment, China...
I can say so far that I am displeased with my pcm58 dac... it has more clarity, resolution, etc than PCM53, but it is showing off a lot and there is so much information in the midrange that it is overwhelming and it lacks that bass foundation, everything is... it is hard to explain.
In my last effort to make that Chinese dac work, (spdif , optical, bluetooth all work nicely at 256fs) ...
I installed 2 more bit trimpots for each dac.
I added an extra lt3042+pnp +5V regulator/power supply in chain with the LM317
I changed the pre-regulator to the digital (4 low noise reg) to some high tech low noise (replace LM317)
I replaced the dac -12V lm337 to some high tech low noise reg
It does output -13.37V and the max is -13.2V as specification,
I don't know if I should proceed to use it as is, I have no clue how to modify the internal adjustment, China...
Do you know what Playback Design is using in their machines ? Their older CD player is probably the best turnkey device I heard to date, but admittedly I don't follow the latest tech anymore.
I've been there. Tried to make a DIY DAC sound good. Spent close to 4k AU dollars on DDDAC... You are simply wasting your time and money.
The biggest regret that I have now is all the time I spent playing instead of enjoying beautiful sound.... which I do now every day for around 4-6 hours, loving every second of it.
Get SMSL D-6 (give it a low noise liner power supply, though...) or Gustard A26, or stretch it to Holo Cyan 2 (maybe Holo May DAC..?). Then use HQPlayer Pro.
Here, read this forums... in particular stating from 2024 onwards, and in particular the posts by Jussi Laako:
https://community.roonlabs.com/t/be...ith-hqplayer/132298/1956?u=dabassgoesboomboom
Also, very important info on how the HQPLayer Pro can make a big difference, this is a must read:
https://forum.headphones.com/t/goldens-hqplayer-oversampling-guide/25410/1
Even if not thinking to buy anything (but, I do honestly believe that at least SMSL D-6 can be bought for peanuts, and will show you the glimpse of what HQPlayer Pro can do to digital audio), reading the above 2 threads is so beneficial it is simply a must.
AK4499EX+AK4191 works ok but not great with DSD up to DSD512 (haven't tried DSD1024) when DS modulator is used (i.e. no volume bypass). With volume bypass DSD512 (even DSD256) needs higher BCK which adds noise. ESS dacs typically have much lower high-order harmonics with DSD albeit slightly higher noise. E.g. ES9039Q2M works best at DSD512.
Overall performance with DSD on both AKM and ESS dacs is dependent on the DS modulator. HQPlayer is an easy way to test that.
Thanks @bohrok2610, very kind of you to share. I have just about managed to hit dsd1024 with the AKM4499ex but agree higher clock needed. So with the es9039q2m these inexpensive ones like SMSL-d6S etc will be able to the trick🙂
Understood 👍 was actually thinking of these Intel NUCs and waiting for Moore's Law effect on these hardware … and then all gone! My fully licensed hqplayer looking orphaned for now 🙁
Quite likely. The difference with ES9039Q2M between PCM & DSD is clear. Whether or not it is audible is another question.
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Apart from performing the PCM measurements at only 96kHz instead of something much higher, all you are doing is showing how a perfectly capable PCM stream can produce mediocre results if inadequately fed to an incorrect DAC IC for the job.
In what sense? Can you show how your device performs?
Here is 384k PCM. No difference.
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That is proof you are using the wrong DAC for the job.
I mentioned that DAC with regard to DSD... not PCM.
I mentioned that DAC with regard to DSD... not PCM.