DSD versus PCM - Is DSD really better or is it a 'myth'

wisnon said:
You can use HQPlayer to upconvert on the fly and play to your DSD Dac's strength. You dont need new music files.
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It would seem that the nature of The DSD provides for better upsampling interpolation.

From my understanding, PCM on the other hand has the potential to introduce digitally induced ultrasonic artefacts at higher sampling rates.
 
wisnon said:
You can use HQPlayer to upconvert on the fly and play to your DSD Dac's strength. You dont need new music files.
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That would depend on if the file your up converting is well recorded. Still it comes down to the music being converted. If its sorry, you get a sorry up conversion but I do see you point. A good file upcoverted to DSD could be rather nice.
 
wisnon said:
Old stuff. The guy is a DSD hater. Whenyou hear quality DSD done right, there can be no question.

Nothing to see there.
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:roflmao: :amazing: :roflmao::amazing:

Dude your hyperboles never ceases to amaze me. I presume you were kidding right?
 
I've been a dsd/sacd fanatic since the year 2000 and consistently felt dsd was quite a bit better. I have many terabytes of dsd and 2xdsd I listen to all the time. I've been living with top level dsd for 9 years, while acknowledging that the 'Lampy' approach to dsd might even be a little better still.

but recently I've been enjoying PCM including redbook which is every bit the equal of my dsd experiences......and maybe just a little bit better. does it also equal or better the 'Lampy' dsd view. I don't yet know that.

I will say that it does require a substantial commitment to get PCM to reach these heights.
 
CPP said:
This PCM vs DSD debate has been going on in every audio and computer audio forum out there since hi-rez stuff started and its never answered, just people defending what they have heard or know or what someone has told them or they read it somewhere. And I agree with Jim, it all depends on the artist and I would like to add, what type of music the person likes. But me, give me a well made recording with an artist that I enjoy and I don't care what format its in. Man its all about the music.
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Absolutely correct. It is never answered because there is no definitive answer; it is a personal observation based on many, many variables. Anyone who makes a definitive declaration (as opposed to expressing their personal preference) just sounds kinda silly.

The recording itself, mixing, conversion, dithering, upsampling, dac execution, filtering, system etc., all have a profound effect on personal preference. I even might guess that some fall romantically in love with--lets say, the sound of tubes versus solid state in a dac and then confuse this coloration with other things. That's all fine but it should be made more clear when someone is describing a preference versus making definitive declarations.
 
Mike Lavigne said:
I've been a dsd/sacd fanatic since the year 2000 and consistently felt dsd was quite a bit better. I have many terabytes of dsd and 2xdsd I listen to all the time. I've been living with top level dsd for 9 years, while acknowledging that the 'Lampy' approach to dsd might even be a little better still.

but recently I've been enjoying PCM including redbook which is every bit the equal of my dsd experiences......and maybe just a little bit better. does it also equal or better the 'Lampy' dsd view. I don't yet know that.

I will say that it does require a substantial commitment to get PCM to reach these heights.
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So what's new Mike?
 
Mike Lavigne said:
I've been a dsd/sacd fanatic since the year 2000 and consistently felt dsd was quite a bit better. I have many terabytes of dsd and 2xdsd I listen to all the time. I've been living with top level dsd for 9 years, while acknowledging that the 'Lampy' approach to dsd might even be a little better still.

but recently I've been enjoying PCM including redbook which is every bit the equal of my dsd experiences......and maybe just a little bit better. does it also equal or better the 'Lampy' dsd view. I don't yet know that.

I will say that it does require a substantial commitment to get PCM to reach these heights.
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Good observations. I am curious Mike, do you mind if I ask what your reference dac's have been in these travels?
 
FlexibleAudio said:
Good observations. I am curious Mike, do you mind if I ask what your reference dac's have been in these travels?
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for dsd, the Playback Designs MPS-5 for the last 9 years. for PCM, I'd say for the first 4-5 years I felt that the Playback Designs was in the ballpark for SOTA PCM. but for maybe the last 4-5 years I've been hearing better PCM performance than the Playbacks. but never toe to toe with my dsd reference, until now.
 
socfan12 said:
Very nice Mike. Auditioning or you purchased it already?
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I bought it 2 weeks ago. been listening since with my 'old' server. I'm in the process of building a 'hot rodded' CAPS v4 Pipeline server (very similar to the Lampizator Komputer but with a stand alone LPS) to fully optimize the Trinity.....and it will also improve the dsd with the Playbacks.
 
Congrats, Mike! You didn't get the corresponding Trinity server? I'll forward you a link to an AE forum where Dietmar talks alot about his work there. Interesting stuff.
 
Mike Lavigne said:
for dsd, the Playback Designs MPS-5 for the last 9 years. for PCM, I'd say for the first 4-5 years I felt that the Playback Designs was in the ballpark for SOTA PCM. but for maybe the last 4-5 years I've been hearing better PCM performance than the Playbacks. but never toe to toe with my dsd reference, until now.
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I somehow thought you would have the PBD. It is amazing what Andreas has done to keep that unit sota with upgrades. The MPS-5 must be the one of the best return on investment pieces of gear in the history of audio. :D

Congrats on the Trinity too!
 
FlexibleAudio said:
I somehow thought you would have the PBD. It is amazing what Andreas has done to keep that unit sota with upgrades. The MPS-5 must be the one of the best return on investment pieces of gear in the history of audio. :D

Congrats on the Trinity too!
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thanks Paul.

I could not agree with you more about the remarkable staying power of the MPS-5. I had the very, very first MPS-5 in customer hands back in June 2006. and here 9 years later on it's 25th software release it's still relevant and competitive at the top of the dsd world, and still respectable PCM performance. it was a good value in 2006 and still is.
 
socfan12 said:
Congrats, Mike! You didn't get the corresponding Trinity server? I'll forward you a link to an AE forum where Dietmar talks alot about his work there. Interesting stuff.
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thanks. I see server technology as fluid. and as I have a network engineer son who can 'make stuff work' for his dad, I don't need plug and play like the Aurender or the Trinity PC & Drive. OTOH if I were to hear what the Trinity PC & Drive did to advance the performance who knows what I would do? the nice thing about staying generic with my server is that it can serve both the PCM and dsd dacs at the same time. if I had 2 systems, or was just PCM maybe I would view that differently.

products to enhance the server 'bit delivery' process are hitting the market daily. whereas dac performance advancement is less volatile.
 
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