I thought the topic was the "need" to have the capability of playing any audio format in your system (or if you are a manufacturer, on your equipment?)
Paul McGowan/PS Audio DSD is all about FOMO
- Thread starter Andre Marc
- Start date
Yeh..the original topic is..do you need to fret and stay up at night twisting and turning over DSD when there are less than 300 non classical titles
available for download. Ripped SACDs are another topic.
Andre,
When you put it that way, yes, it's not necessary to stay up all night for lack of DSD in your current DAC
BUT, when looking for your NEXT DAC, it's silly to buy one without DSD capability, for the simple fact that you'll be opening up your choices as far as available formats go. What if your favourite recording comes out on DSD, and that's the format where it sounds the best?
alexandre
Andre,
When you put it that way, yes, it's not necessary to stay up all night for lack of DSD in your current DAC
BUT, when looking for your NEXT DAC, it's silly to buy one without DSD capability, for the simple fact that you'll be opening up your choices as far as available formats go. What if your favourite recording comes out on DSD, and that's the format where it sounds the best?
alexandre
By default, all DACs going forward will have DSD capability due to marketing pressure. Just like just about every DAC on the market
is 192 KHz capable. There are even several DAC makers who do NOT even LIKE DSD, but had to succumb..AMR/iFi comes to mind, as
does Ayre.
Here is a dirty little secret, it does not cost anymore to make a DAC DSD ready.
BTW, DACs are the area that in my opinion, allow for the most gouging.
John Atkinson, who I trust, and is very level headed said the Marantz NA-11S1 and Auriic Vega
got him within 5% of the dcS and MSB stacks.
And let me tell you, there will be more and more titles available on DSD, but as far as
"favorite" recordings, that is a pipe dream unless the entire Beatles, Pentange, Hendrix, u2,
Tim Hardin, Tim Buckley, etc etc etc etc catalogs are newly transferred to DSD. PCM to DSD
conversions are a non starter for me.
Bruce B
WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
With the exception of Lavry.
There are a couple more that jumped the shark and caved... Weiss and Benchmark!
Hi, I am Paul McGowan, CEO of PS Audio and the author of the post that sparked this debate. The article came from my daily Blog Paul's Posts that a number of people read each day. Thanks for letting me post on this forum.
Actually, as a vegetarian I don't even eat fish.
Seriously, thanks for posting some of the comments from my http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/foma/12955/ article entitled FOMO. Perhaps some of the meaning got lost in the translation. It happens a lot to my daily posts, which frankly always keeps them interesting. Let's be clear. I am a HUGE supporter of DSD and no, I don't make a DAC that decodes DSD (yet). I am also a huge fan of tubes and I don't make tube amplifiers or preamps.The whole point of the article was not to dis DSD, PCM or any other format. The point was to suggest that we all think about WHY we're so anxious to have a DSD capable DAC in our system. Is it that we have so many DSD files that we want it? Or is it the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)? I think for many of us it's FOMO. That should in no way suggest I am not a supporter of DSD. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Many of my Daily Posts ask questions that not many people talk about. I write the posts without regard to promoting PS Audio. It's a personal journal and I am in it and spend the time each day to write about whatever interests me about audio, high end audio, music, business, whatever.
Certainly I want to "sell fish" as I run a high-end audio company. But when you read something in Paul's Posts, that doesn't really have a lot to do with PS - sometimes yes - many times no. It's just me rattling on about interesting and controversial ideas.
But DSD, as a format, is (I believe) the future of well recorded high-end audio and it gets my full support.
Thanks for reading. Not sure if I can figure out how to know if anyone replies, so if you reply and don't hear back from me, assume I never figured it out.
Berkeley is bailing on DSD
Have not personally heared the Marantz, but I hear quite dramatic differences between different level DACs.
I would agree with you, almost. While it's true that most modern DAC chips have DSD capabilities built in, that doesn't mean you can do anything with them. The current standard is called DoP (DSD over PCM). In order to convert DoP files into a raw DSD stream the DAC can understand takes some doing and it isn't, as you imply, just flipping a switch to make it work. Just FYI, but I am sure you knew that. The point you're making is, however, completely valid and harkens back to my original post. Audio manufacturers are going to have to add DSD capability to their DACS whether people really need DSD files or not. Just to keep relevant. Many customers don't have DSD files and may never have them. But FOMO is powerful not just to customers but for manufacturers as well.
Paul, great follow up. Yes, while you cannot flip a switch to "unlock" DSD capability, it probably does not require a total overhaul either.
But yes, your original point, and follow up, that FOMO is affecting both high end audio consumers and manufacturers is spot on.
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Hi, I am Paul McGowan, CEO of PS Audio and the author of the post that sparked this debate. The article came from my daily Blog Paul's Posts that a number of people read each day. Thanks for letting me post on this forum.
Actually, as a vegetarian I don't even eat fish.
The whole point of the article was not to dis DSD, PCM or any other format. The point was to suggest that we all think about WHY we're so anxious to have a DSD capable DAC in our system. Is it that we have so many DSD files that we want it? Or is it the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)? I think for many of us it's FOMO. That should in no way suggest I am not a supporter of DSD. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Many of my Daily Posts ask questions that not many people talk about. I write the posts without regard to promoting PS Audio. It's a personal journal and I am in it and spend the time each day to write about whatever interests me about audio, high end audio, music, business, whatever.
Certainly I want to "sell fish" as I run a high-end audio company. But when you read something in Paul's Posts, that doesn't really have a lot to do with PS - sometimes yes - many times no. It's just me rattling on about interesting and controversial ideas.
But DSD, as a format, is (I believe) the future of well recorded high-end audio and it gets my full support.
Thanks for reading. Not sure if I can figure out how to know if anyone replies, so if you reply and don't hear back from me, assume I never figured it out.
Paul, the reason your "FOMO" post is so spot on, is that you ARE a big fan of DSD. As I am, and many others. Your post was in no way anti DSD. It was anti DSD hysteria.
Bruce B
WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
They really didn't cave on USB. They found a way to make owners pay more money for their efforts..... $1800 was it?
Well, yeh..that second box, didn't TAS proclaim they had "solved" the USB "problem"?
Precisely. It makes much more sense for me to invest my effort and financial resources in getting CD right, where all the music is available on, rather than distracting myself and my finances with different other formats on which you can obtain only a small amount of all the music available today.
Again, if anybody thinks that anything of higher resolution than CD will ever gain broader relevance for music distribution they are kidding themselves.
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Bruce B
WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
Oh yeah.... I think Berkeley has been riding the coat tails of the PM2 for years. I know I had great expectations about it, but it wasn't even close.
Bruce B
WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
you can find used BADA MkI for thirty cents on the dollar which is an incredible value at that price. to be fair, their USB converter has custom (read: expensive) clock chips in it which according to them leaves much less profit out of the 1800 than their DAC.
