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A good taste of DSD--what is your experience?

Over the last year or so I've pushed to get my digital front end to sound better.  I loosely define better to mean just that and "a touch more analog sounding."

My tube DAC is DSD 256 ready.  I had to use third party software to stream DSD to the DAC from my Mac Air.  I bought 6 DSD albums from Acoustic Sounds. 

While I generally think Redbook sounds great on this DAC and 96kHz files don't sound that much better and Redbook.  With DSD, the margin is greater for the better.  Everything still depends on how good the original recording is though.  

Some older recordings I tried, such as John Lee Hooker and Elvis, sound superb in DSD.  And through a 300B amp the vocals are scary real in the listening space.  The downside to me is cost of the albums, limited DSD library available, and the age-old problem for me of not having an album to hold and read.  I'm not fond of doing the ritual exclusively on a laptop.  

I'm curious as to the experiences of others.  If you have embraced this format, how do you run it and what changes to your system or listening habits have you made ,if any, to accommodate it?

128x128jbhiller

Showing 1 response by porscheracer

porscheracer
132 posts
 
I have a bunch of SACDs that I have ripped to DSF files and play them via Roon/HQPlayer to my DirectStream DAC which supports up to DSD128.

Regardless of format or resolution, the mastering is the single most important element to getting great sound. I have listened to SACDs that sound terrible compared to a 320Kbps AAC rip. You must start with a good mastering.

But, format and resolution matters too. I have the SHM SACD of "Sticky Fingers" and also had the SHM CD. Both share the exact same mastering. But, the DSD64 tracks of the SACD sounded better than FLAC tracks of the CD. Mostly in was in clarity and resolution. There was a little better voice and instrument isolation with the DSD64 files too. But, I would have been completely happy with the CD version if that were all I had.  
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