I know it is digging up and old thread, but this subject is something in which I have great interest, DSD processing.
DSD-Wide was/is Sony's answer to editing DSD. It is advertised as maintaining the sample rate, that is, non-decimating.
I have had conversations with several knowledgeable people. Some who seem to think it is no big deal to create a non-decimated conversion of 1 bit to multibit. Others tell me that they know of no way possible to convert a 1 bit DSD signal to multi-bit without decimating.
So decimated or non-decimated, that is the question. All I can go by are the claims made by Sony about the e-chip and assume that it is non-decimating.
So now, lets assume that it is indeed non decimating. Now we have another problem. I have the DSD-wide white paper right here in front of me, and it is very clear that the FIR filter used in summing the 1-bit signal into multi bit has an impulse response of around 96khz. Why is that a problem? Because filtering with that kind of time smear means DSD-wide is really no better than PCM, regardless of the sample rate. And it is very conceivable that DXD could sound as good or better than DSD-wide, depending on the quality of the filtering.
That said, I know Michael Bishop, an excellent engineer formerly of Telarc fame, is on record saying he prefers the sound of DSD-wide to DXD. I wonder what others who have had the same opportunity to compare think?