The list of DAC’s with which we have tested and found that HQ Player significantly improves the sound of Redbook by either upsampling to a higher PCM rate or format conversion for DSD DAC’s has grown considerably since the introduction of Closed From filter and the XTR family of filters over the past year
The list on the PCM side is
- Aqua Formula 384 KHz
- Chord Dave PCM mode 768 KHz
- Metrum Adagio 384 KHz
- Pacific Microsonics Model 2 88.2 KHz
- Total DAC D1-6 and D-12 192 KHz
- Trinity DAC 192 KHz
The DSD DAC list is
- Accuphase DC-37 DSD 128
- ExaSound E20, 22 DSD 256
- Lampi GG, Siebener, Atlantic DSD 512
- Nagra HD DSD 128
- Playback Design MP-3 and MP-5 DSD 128 and 256
- T+A DAC8 DSD, PDP300HV DSD 512
- Wyred 4 Sound DAC 2 SE with ESS Sabre 9038 DSD 512
Not tested yet
- Bryston BDP-3 DSD 256
- ExaSound E32 DSD 256
- Gryphon Calliope DSD 512
- Playback Design Merlot DSD 256
- Playback Design MP-8 DSD 256
- RT Design
Entry level DSD 512, Holospring, Ifi, and LKS benefit enormously from PCM to DSD conversion using HQ Player.
The computing platform you are running HQ Player on also makes a big difference, whether its a laptop, Mac Mini with LPS, or a SGM.
Hardware, OS, OS optimization and CPU speed all make a very audible difference
Intriguing list....my experience with the Vivaldi DAC is that using HQ Player is a wash....