DACS that don't do DSD - obsolete?

I'm probably way off base since I'm just now looking into this stuff. But it seems that impressive results are being had up-rezzing PCM to DSD like with the Sony HAPZ1, J-river - what Mitch4t is describing.

If this is true, a DAC without DSD capability could be a liability.

Not everyone likes the DSD sound so best to audition if you can.

I know there are very strong proponents of older R2R PCM DACs (these DACs don't convert PCM to sigma delta before converting to analog) like the TDA1541 or the PCM1704s. There are certain characteristics of those DACs that I like - I own an Ayon CD5S.

But I do like how SACDs and native DSD DACs sound which I feel are closer to my analog rig.

There is hardly any high rez music out there and I dont care for dsd until there is a wealth of recordings. That being said the consumer will expect very good deals on non dsd dac's in the future.

Personally I've always preferred SACD / DSD sound. It's always sounded to me like 90% of the way to Vinyl SQ with none of the downsides. But that's besides the point.

Even if I never play a DSD disc for the rest of my life, it seems like with the new PSAUDIO DirectStream, the Chord, The Sony HAPZ1 etc - the new performance frontier is moving to DSD up conversion from PCM etc and the use of gate array's instead of off the (quickly obsoleting) shelf chipsets.

If you have a DSD capable DAC even in a humble version its inevitable that some kind of stand alone device that could do the up-coverting ahead of it and pass through to the DAC would be available in the near future.

Your choice of original media or file type would be irrelevant.

Dear Larrybou,

This is a ridiculous argument, just because a dac can or can't do DSD is hardly a reason for not buying it, you buy a DAC because it sounds great period!

It is of course nice to have a dac which can do DSD but to automatically say that DSD is superior to PCM is a ludicrous statement, it really depends on the hardware.

I have listened to many, many, dacs, and there are ones that sound great on DSD and ones that sound great on PCM but to say automatically that the DSD sounds better or brand A DAC sounds better because it is playing a DSD file is just silly.

On some pieces of hardware DSD files sound too soft and a bit rolled off, while the same file played via PCM sounded more detailed and dynamic so it is up to a persons taste, ear and system match.

My shop sells many dac including the NAD M51 no DSD and the Auralic Vega DSD as well as Naim Dacs No DSD, and it comes down to taste.

The Vega is better than the NAD, but boy does the NAD sound amazing especially for $2k, the new Naim DAC V1 also is shockingly good for $2,500.00

We also sell the Lumin which is a pure streamer which does both DSD conversion and PCM playback and in that piece the DSD conversion does sound a bit better.

So are non DSD Dacs obsolete no they are not, and just because you use a gate array doesn't negate a good dac chip.

The Lumin uses Wolfson dac chips and in a recent demo blew aaway a DCS Puccini which uses a custom ring radiator decoder made from discrete gate arrays so in audio as with a anything else there is no absolute just opinions.

Which is better a Mercedes or BMW? Comes down to taste, doesn't it. Does the Tesla electric car now obsolete the internal combustion engine non-electric car?

Now their are proponents of each but which is ultimately better depends on what you personally value.