Tír Na HiFi

I'm buying a new DAC, its a newer version of a 24bit 192kHz DAC I had a couple of years back.
It's got an option of DSD (Direct Stream Digital) which if I'm honest I don't fully understand.

I've read some web based articles and listening tests on the DSD format however as usual opinions are widely mixed, some say its a great increase in sound quality over 24/192 while some say the format is old and already surpassed.

Any point in (future proofing) and getting the DSD option on the new DAC or is it yet another 'fad' that will pass, if not already done so?? I'm going the streaming route shortly so its pretty much a question of where DSD material is/will be available, is it available on SACD or hi-res downloads?

Please don't eat me alive if this is the wrong forum or if there are technical inaccuracies in this posting, just looking for a little unbiased advice. Many thanks.

Here's my experience of downloading a DSD album - I couldn't!! It was a free sampler album that I got and the file size was 9.2Gb. Yes, Gb - and that's just one album. So while more and more albums may become available in the higher res formats, I think it will remain a niche for many years to come, and while you might get new albums, the older classics won't ever be released in the higher res I think.

If its free, then go ahead, but otherwise I don't think the availability of material will be there for a long time - and who knows what else will be along by then.


Fran

in the world of ultra high resolution, between 4k TV and DSD, which would you buy?

That's good to know Fran, I had no benchmark for the file sizes although there has to be a relationship between quality and quantity.

Please be aware that if the original (digital) recording has been made with a lower sample rate then you will not gain anything with higher sample rates. You'll only be paying for 'empty' bits.
Record labels are trying to milk out a new source of revenues since the high res is taking off.

Just for fun, make a spectrogram from some of your high res tracks and see where the music information stops. DSD is also not as good as digital can be because they have to use LPF to get rid of the high frequency noise and most didn't start life as DSD but as PCM.

Also be aware that the analogue recordings don't contain that much information either. Dynamic range is often only small and can be well captured by 44.1/16.
Besides this aspect, record label often don't use flat masters, but some master created for vinyl or cd. The masters created for vinyl aren't very suited for digitising because they have been made for the limited capabilities of turntable playback.

So be aware of what you spend your money on.

Cheers

Aleg

DSD [Direct Stream Digital] is the encoding system used for SACD's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Audio_CD

DSD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Stream_Digital needs a special player or it can be converted to WAV format [PCM]. When converted a SACD it is roughly equivalent to 88.2/24-bit resolution. This is called DSD-64 but there is a higher resolution version called DSD-128 [which will require more space to store the files]. Assuming standard 88.2/24-bit resolution this gives files which are three times as large as CD 44.1/16-bit resolution. Higher resolution files will be larger.

There are two sources for DSD files. Firstly -- if you have an old Sony Playstation PS3 that has NOT BEEN UPGRADED to the latest software you can rip SACD's http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-s ... -2-a-7495/ but this only makes sense if you have a large collection of SACD's already. Secondly some record companies are now selling DSD rips of SACD's on line.

James