Dual AES EBU - a near future use, or a bit before its time


I have bought a DCS Network Bridge for streaming, instead of updating my Bryston BDP2 to the BDP3. I have quite a bit of Bryston kit, so it was a decision to see what else was out there.

The BDP2 is great with the AES EBU which is far superior to the normal coax, whatever cable I throw at it, so I definitely want AES into my sp3
.
My Bryston SP3 (wherefore art thou sp4?) has 2 independent AES inputs which is great flexibility.
The DCS has 2 aes outs, which can work independently or as dual combined. 
The dual aspect  AES is apparently for higher resolution files than 24/192 such as dsd.
The BDP2 can play dsd but the sp3 does not decode dsd so I use an external dsd dac.

Problem
To play dsd files on the DCS I need to use the dual AES, so  I will lose the single AES for normal files up to 192 unless the usb can be used to send out dsd files (which is the normal method at present for dsd files), No dealer I have spoken to knows.what the usb socket does, probably just for access to usb storage!
I am sure there is an update pending to clarify this but it is heavy going.

Halfway answer
I am not fussed about losing any option to play dsd. There are insufficient numbers of dsd files out there to make it more of an option than just a plaything to compare from time to time, and I generally find them a bit dry and lifeless compares to say 192. I am extremely happy with 192 files.
It does mean that I am not going to utilise the dual aes any time soon, which is a bit sad if a highly rated company incorporates it in a product and presumably believes it is the way forward.
There are VERY few dacs and/or processors with dual aes inputs. I am amazed and so pleased the sp3 has two aes inputs when so many have ziltch. Who makes any? Well DCS do of course, but what a blinking price they are and they do not do digital signal processing either, so you are stuck in a stereo world!

Questions
Are dsd files going to go away like VHS did?
When will files greater than 192 be normal? - if indeed that is an option (I am not a techie). If so how will they fit with capabilities of dacs and processors? Is 192 the limit we have reached?
Should I be at all concerned I am not utilising the Network Bridge to its intended capabilities, and just be happy with what I have got, which regardless of other options is pretty decent indeed?
Or will the industry catch up with DCS products in the aes world?
Will I be dead before anyone is bothered?!

tatyana69
Thanks Esoteric - interesting
My Bdp2 does not downsample, it streams what it gets into the dac, so I was a bit nonplussed by the dCS manual as to what precisely the Bridge does. It does seem to be an excellent feature, not in any other streamer I have come across. It is just a question of configuring.
If Dsd has to be deconstructed into analogue, then doing it in 2 stages in a high quality dac by downsampling first presumably results in unhearable differences?
So all is great until 352.8 is freely available! Then I suppose the whole shebang re the suitable processor is up for grabs and the new ones will have to have a plethora of aes inputs.

The Network Bridge fully supports DSD output (DSD64) on a single AES channel or even on one of the S/PDIF outputs.

In the dCS app configure the Bridge as follows:

AES Downsampling: 192k
SPDIF Downsampling:  192k
Dual AES Sample rate:  352.8k
DSD Downsampling: Off

This will cause PCM content at a higher rate than 192k to be downsampled to 192k. The Dual AES setting will effectively disable dual channel mode.

With this configuration you could have one AES channel to your Bryston and the other (or an S/PDIF connection) to a different DAC.


Technically there is no advantage to DSD. If it sounds different then all the processing and hefty filtering to eliminate excessive high frequency noise (inherent in DSD) may be part of the reason. Higher sample rates can help eliminate DAC non-linearities by randomizing these effects - so high sample rates can improve sound when DACs aren't performing well at lower sample rates. DSD is of course an extreme in higher sample rate that has excessive amounts of noise.

24/96 is or 24/192 PCM are optimal IMHO. DSD brings nothing.