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This week I experiemented with JRiver upsampling all to DSDx2 and I can say is WHOA!
Goodbye high frequency grit, goodbye loud passages grain, goodbye sibilance, hello air!
Anyone have knowledge of a DAC per subject line?
Follow Ups:
No clear answer on this yet. In fact none of the responders even tried LOL.
The FIIO DAPS would be my first choice, but until my kid graduates college and steals his first million Bitcoin dollars, the FIIOs are a bit out of my budget.
If FiiO components are out of your budget, you must have a really cheap stereo. In my opinion, FiiO components are very reasonably priced. You can buy the FiiO M11S DAP on Amazon for $500. I downloaded the manual for this DAP and it will play DSD up through DSD256. Additionally, it has the "all to DSD" capability for up-sampling PCM to DSD64. It can be used as a DAP or an external DAC as well as being able to stream digital music from all the popular streaming websites. It has both balanced and unbalanced analog outputs. How could you ask for anything more for $500?
Well it's all relative of course but here is some of my less cheap components:
Transcendent Sound T8-LN OTL Tube amp
Musical Fidelity A1-2008 Class A integrated amp
QUAD 909 amp
Reference 3A DeCapo I speakers
ELAC DBR2 Reference Speakers
Various cheap chinese components such as FIIO K5 dac/pre, SMSL SU1 dac,AIYIMA A07 amp
Do I lose my audiophile creds now? :)
Are you talking about DACs that upsample everything to DSD ? I know PS Audio makes such DACs but they're pricey. Cheaper ones surely exist.
But here's a question for you.
If you can do on the fly PCM to DSD conversion in JRiver (as I can in Roon) why would you do it in the DAC? Software based PCM to DSD conversion is likely to be more flexible as I have found with HQPlayer and Roon. I have no experience with JRiver.
Depending on the settings you choose on-the-fly PCM to DSD conversion can be very CPU intensive which means you probably need a modestly decent computer - not a NAS with low-end CPU. In my case if I'm running DSP including on-the-fly PCM to DSD conversion I use my Mac Mini M1. I've had good results with my older Intel i7 3.2GHz 6-core Mac Mini as well. But trying it on my Synology NAS is a no go.
I want to get my computer out of my audio chain. I am running Jriver on a honking big machine that I built for my son to game with years ago, it is a power and heat hog, and needs to be somewhere else.
I want to get all my windoz heat generators out of my life.
You can get a current model Mac Mini for as low as $499 or a low power Intel based NUC. These are quiet and consume very little power.
By DSDx2, do you mean DSD128?
Both my FiiO DAPs have "All to DSD64" and it seems to sound better than CD PCM so I use it, but I suspect that "All to DSD128" would sound even better.
A friend sent me some albums he up-sampled from CD to DSD128 and they sounded like you describe. My DAPs "All to DSD64" sounds better than CD PCM, but not as good as the up-sampled albums my friend sent.
Happy listening!
John Elison
yes, DSDx2
And I did try x1 and the x2 does sound smoother, less grain in the loud passages- both mids and treble.
So are you saying the DSD 64 sound better than the actual CDs from which they were upsampled?
Upsampling to DSD is like a rock smoothed over by the ocean currents. It's still a rock but no longer the original rock that it once was.Is it better? I think that's just a matter of personal preference. I don't want my Type-A hard rock and blues to sound like they've been sedated by DSD upsampling. I suppose if you have some nasty recordings and harsh sounding equipment DSD upsampling will tame it.
I've compared DSD albums to the same albums in PCM as well as on-the-fly PCM to DSD conversion during playback. I generally prefer high quality PCM as DSD sounds artificially and intentionally smoothed over. But that's just my observation for my preferred sound.
Edits: 11/04/23 11/04/23 11/04/23 11/04/23
Like you say, it's a matter of preference. No audio reproduction played on speakers in a listening room will sound identical to the actual performance. Therefore, you just have to choose the imitation that sounds best to you.
My favorite imitation is not up-sampled PCM to DSD, but actual DSD256 recordings of the original. To me, they sound better on my audio system and in my listening room than other digital formats.
To each his own!
Happy listening!
John Elison
DSD is an artificial smoothener!
Live music, not so much.
Yes, I think that CDs up-sampled to DSD64 sometimes sound a little bit better than the original CDs. Up-sampling seems to take the edge off of the highs. This is even more noticeable in the CDs my friend up-sampled to DSD128.
On the other hand, my favorite albums are those originally recorded in DSD256 or else transferred to DSD256 from their original analog master tapes.
Happy listening!
John Elison
I do not know the origin of all the music files I listen to.
But for the most part, the upsampled playback sounds noticably smoother and less sibilant and grainy in the loud passges to my ears with my system.
Perhaps if I had different playback system there would not be an improvement, I have no way to know.
sounds like you already have one.
SMSL SU1
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