Delta Sigma DACs

The fact that D/A converter is Delta Sigma does not make it DSD capable - ESS9038pro has interface for DSD but Wolfson  WM8740 doesn't.

Cheeg, The product of Delta Sigma converter is square wave with modulated duty cycle (Pulse Width Modulation).  The only processing necessary to convert it to analog is to filter (average) it.  DSD (and SACD) is the same product od Delta Sigma converter.

Jwm, nobody is trying to win anything (that would be juvenile).  Sound quality is a matter of DAC quality and not the architecture.  When you listen to SACD or DSD you're listening to the output of the Delta Sigma converter.

AFAIK, studios use PCM not because of sound quality but because there is no equipment to do mixing on DSD.  Still a lot of people enjoy SACD and DSD in spite it went thru DSD => PCM => DSD transition.

Again, SACD is a product of Delta Sigma converter and in order to convert it to analog you need filtering and not another Delta Sigma DAC. I’m afraid you’re stuck with Redbook layer. Your Cambridge CXU can output digital only as S/Pdif and this format won’t work for SACD.

Cheeg, Yes, it can play SACD but it cannot output it other than analog.