2. digital
  3. 1391614689

why dsd

Until a few days ago, i had never heard of dsd. Apparently it was developed thru sony/philips and used as the foundation for super audio. Why is everyone so hyped on this. I have had a sony 9100es for several years and have a handful of discs. Big deal. I am selling the damn thing and will toss in the discs if anyone is interested. I get the waive stuff bla bla bla. Yes- digital can sometimes sound bad, but have you ever listened to a poorly engineered record. Ugh. Less to do with the medium and more to do with the recording

My MAc mini into my C2 sounds good and upgraded spotify is great.

We are so caught up in hype. We split hairs over everything and talk about stuff that only an electrical engineer gets. We call 4k budget gear! Are you kidding me???

Music is something that touches your soul, and we don't listen in a perfect room with a lab coat on. If my foot taps then I'm happy.

I am trying to buy a dac with pre and HT pass, not because I am going to squeeze an additional drop of shimmer out of my system, but because I need something easier for my family to use.

Stop buying into hype! Records sound great but digital is more convenient and has opened the door to a world of music that should blow you away. If you are more concerned with being sold than just enjoying the music then you are missing the point.

Any thoughts on a dac/pre combo with bypass :-)
famoej

Showing 3 responses by audioengr

audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Most of the excitement is due to the limited quantities of really well-recorded tracks and the fact that it is hi-res compared to CD sample-rate. If they took this kind of care to record CD tracks, they would be even better than DSD IMO.

I have compared a number of dual-layer PCM/DSD disks and I always find the PCM layer of the same recording to sound even better than the DSD layer.

Even with this result, I must offer some DSD capability in my products in order to compete in the current computer audio market. Its what the customers want and expect.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
"many reviewers who praised SACD playback claim at the same time that CD layer playback performance of these players was substandard"

This is not so surprising. I believe it is actually easier to design a good DSD DAC/SACD player than a good CD player/DAC. As a result the quality of the SACD hardware will probably beat the CD hardware in most players.

When I made these comparisons it was with a top-end SACD player that I had highly modified, both SACD and CD sections. They were both terrific, but it really showed that the CD layer was more live and accurate than the SACD layer in most recordings. Particularly obvious in classical recordings.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
"Steve, do you think that recording music in pure DSD and mixing for SACD in mind could make a difference?"

Certainly, but the quality of the A/D, the master record clock and the mixing etc. all matters. I'm shocked most of the time when I find out how the average recording studio captures a digital track. They are not doing nearly as good as job as we are on the playback side and their equipment choices are disappointing IMO. Finding a recording engineer that is a believer in quality cables is almost impossible. They typically don't mix for the audiophile, they mix for the boom-box and car stereo.

Some of the best tracks I have heard were captured using multi-track analog tape and then mixed with analog mixers and then finally digital conversion to 24/192. They used a variety of audiophile cables too.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
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