DSD and the Golden Gate

Tim F said:

Hi all,

I now have a GG2 I've never used DSD and currently stream Tidal from an Auralic Aries Femto. Any advice on DSD? I'd like a play to see what it's like rather than investing thousands. Is this worth looking into? I play mostly recent alternative /rock /pop and rarely classical.

Cheers, Tim

Click to expand...

native dsd files are great, all levels (dsd, 2xdsd, 4xdsd, 8xdsd). and tape directly mastered to dsd is also excellent. lots of those files are out there to download.

but no one streams dsd, so you are limited to dsd files or SACD's.

5 years ago i would have encouraged you to try hard to have as much dsd as possible. i was a dsd snob. but advances in dac hardware has brought PCM up to equal, or maybe better, than dsd. so there is no good reason to even worry whether you listen to PCM or dsd. what you want is the native format it was recorded in first.....and not worry about which one. and most recently designed dacs no longer care either. so it's recording dependent. and most are originated in PCM. so chasing the music that is where it will lead you.

go native, that will sound best.

and likely streaming will fill more and more of your musical time. dsd has lost some of it's relevance. it still sounds great but it's no longer unique in that way.

This article and subsequent free test files present on the site to compare various rates of DSD to DXD (32 bit floating 352.8kHz PCM) might be of interest if you can tolerate a few minutes of acoustic music. The solution below is used by them to provide DSD512 files of native DSD64 recordings.

Given choice between a commercially available SACD/download where file was converted from analog source/PCM. Or native rate PCM upsampled to DSD in HQP. The HQP result will be superior in almost all cases. Again this is something you could easily try for yourself with your DAC. Lukasz may even have said a few words on this subject.

Going into divisive territory. Needledrops in high resolution PCM or DSD with clicks/pops removed etc. are another way you might enjoy testing out DSD on your DAC.

I like the sound of PCM files upconverted to DSD better than when played natively. The music just seems a little more relaxed. By contrast, my few native DSD files sound unnatural but experience is limited here. I use a GG1 and a EMM DAC2X DACs.
I you use Roon, you can upconvert via the software. Sonically, I prefer the PCM to DSD conversion my Lumin U1 mini does. I don't think the Auralic products do this.

Kenc said:

I like the sound of PCM files upconverted to DSD better than when played natively. The music just seems a little more relaxed. By contrast, my few native DSD files sound unnatural but experience is limited here. I use a GG1 and a EMM DAC2X DACs.
I you use Roon, you can upconvert via the software. Sonically, I prefer the PCM to DSD conversion my Lumin U1 mini does. I don't think the Auralic products do this.

Click to expand...

Try native playback of DSD with HQP. Blows away Roon for that.