Building a DSD system

Fantastic! More dsd stuff, my favourite subject

Thought it was a great question, however the answer just confused me. Does one stream DSD if so from where does one do this?
Sorry Paul some of us just want to listen to music in it's best form but we are not computer nerds or electronics engineers. Usually you are very good at expressing things in layman's terms, but i'm no wiser after your answer than when I started. (If that makes me a dummy I can live with that, I just love music).
Thanks for your effort though.

Finally! Listening for a few minutes to one who knows (you) can save someone who knows not (me) save hours of useless web research. Unfortunately in my case, the web effort has happened, your video came late 😉

Amazing how much confusion is out there in the www. Now I understand why there are no further settings in roon about "pure" DSD: DoP is (!) pure DSD.

Love your explainer videos! Carry on with these!

MY journey was as follows :
1. Get a networked SACD player + SACD layered SACDs... then you are playing DSD files on the analog out of the player;
2. Buy DSD files online, put in some type of USB or network storage or computer (w/ Audirvana) and have your DSD DAC reach out to it if it can OR plug in laptop to DSD capable DAC using USB cable.

BTW, I still have not found an elegant, legit and legal way of ripping DSD's out of SACDs so I've given up on that. I've seen numerous posts and they seem to be very hodge podge in their implementation of ripping SACD's DSD files....

ЗАШИБИСЬ!

Equilibrium! DSD over a phone, a tablet or most computer is just toooo much… if you have a pretty good sound system, and the room, and all the whistle that match your listening gear… may be, in some case, DSD may be a great experience… but every track you buy is a guess… some are good… some are great… too expensive for the good (you have cheaper alternatives)… some are just great! This is the $$$ way of audiophile? 🤓

Get a media player/DAC like an SMSL DP5 or Eweat DMP20 or DMP50. These will playback and convert DSD to analogue straight into your amplifier.

I have a bunch of ripped SACD’S on my laptop and I use foobar to send it out to my dac that’s hooked up to my system. I feel that’s the easiest way to do it.

So here's the thing. Paul could make 1000 videos about the same topic, repeated questions, and I could watch all over and over. This is how good he is. Love it.

Chasing DSD is a bit like chasing that whale. Whilst you spend your days chasing it a lot of great sounding music is passing you by on the PCM boat going the other way. Hifi for hi-fi's sake. Personally I'd rather enjoy that vast stream of music on a $10 radio with a crappy speaker than spend my time chasing that whale.

Being an Audiophile seems to me to be a full time job constantly spending money to keep your job. 😳

Oh, boy here goes Paul again with a bunch of misinformation designed to make you believe that DSD is somehow superior to PCM, which it is not.
The truth of the matter is that 98% of the DSD material out there available for purchase is DSD recordings of PCM.
Paul wants you to believe that DSD is more accurate than PCM but this is absolutely not true.
Because PCM uses multi-bit words to record each sample the recording and playback are more accurate than DSD samples.
DSD must add large quantities of noise to the original recording in order to create timing accuracy of the samples, PCM does not require this large quantity of noise.
Paul also falsely states that DSD is a constant stream of ones and zeros, which it is not.
DSD takes samples just like PCM and no information, ones, and zeros, are recorded between samples so the flow IS NOT constant.
Paul would also try and fool you into believing that DSD is somehow superior to PCM at the initial recording stage, but as you can see by the above information DSD is actually worse because of the need to add large quantities of noise, the need to convert to PCM to mix and edit, the need to reconvert back to DSD to give the illusion that the file is a DSD file, and the need to reconvert to a PCM container file, and back to a DSD file in order to playback.
Each of these conversions creates more distortions from the original file.
A cleaner more accurate way to record is to record in high-resolution PCM, mix and edit in high-resolution PCM, and deliver the final product in high-resolution PCM.
Less distortion, fewer conversions, less cost, and better quality.

I've read with great interest about this and may have an easier/cheaper way to dip your toes into DSD:

I happened to have an old Sony DVD/CD/SACD player I got in the early 00s. Never had a SACD disc, so picked one up used on eBay. Since this was an older unit, it had only optical/coaxial/analog (RCA) output (no HDMI). After a bit of more reading found that this unit only output SACD audio through the analog outputs (probably for copy protection/IP purposes). So you're essentially stuck using a DAC that's about 20 years old.

As luck would have it, I needed to upgrade my AV receiver at the time. I picked up a well-reviewed Denon unit at Costco. After a bit of reading on this unit, I found that it could playback native DSD (*.dsf) files using the internal DAC. These files can come from many sources (phone/network share, etc.), but the easiest was via USB flash drive plugged into the front of the receiver.

I did more research and found an older Sony blu-ray player that did have HDMI and coaxial outputs that would allow me to send the audio out the HDMI to the receiver and even had a setting for DSD output. It also allowed me to rip the SACD files (with a bit of hacking required) and I used those to test the USB flash drive method described above.

So check the documentation on your amp/pre-amp/receiver, it may just have a built-in DAC that works with DSD. If so, you might just be a USB flash drive and the purchase of some DSD music away from trying it yourself!

This could be a "poor man's" method to check out DSD before making a huge investment. All in, I've spent less than $500 (for the new AV receiver and a used Sony blu-ray player)

Your mileage may vary - Good Luck!

Bob

What's also confusing to me is this. My Denon DCD-A110 says it plays DSD discs. Many of my SACD's have the DSD logo on them. BUT, when I'm playing those SACD's, the display of the Denon says SACD.
Denon's manual says I need to play DSD discs, as if they come from me, something I've made.

I was under the impression that Fanless PC’s built for silence & low latency coupled with the right Audio cards & quality speakers (maybe sometimes on Screens?) were usually best for Audio experiences without the Vinyl in general.

Allegedly FreeBSD has better Audio quality than Linux, if you’re into Open Source OS’s.

stop spouting bollocks.............

YES, just ask MoFi and Jim Davis about “capturing” original master tapes with DSD…

VOX player is free and plays DSD.

Im gonna disagree. Grabbing a used & working SACD player is the simplest way to go for the beginner. You can find TONS of Sony units in all kinds of flavors for around $100, DAC bullt in and good to go. Yes.... a USB DAC thats DSD compatible is the same price, but the initial setup and acquiring DSD files is a bit hairy.

Paul, my Denon AVR X-4700H receiver preamp output voltage is 1.2 volts, and I'm thinking of getting an Emotiva XPA 5 GEN3 five-channel power amp with an input sensitivity of 1.5 volts, will the receiver drive the amp to the full power of 250 watts all channel driven?.

But... You cannot actually record DSD! Or can you?

DSD is, say, an 11 MHz sample. Above 50% is ON, below is OFF. Feed a sine wave in, and you'll get a "perfect" DSD square wave. 50% ON, 50% OFF.

So you need a ton of processing to get back the "original" sound, if even possible. Think about converting a B&W photo to greyscale for a newspaper. Maybe ok for mass market, but maybe missing the magic?

Ivor/Linn missed one point, which you continually rant about: if you have cr*p speakers, whatever you play will sound cr*p - or not very good. So you need a "balanced" system, unless currently upgrading. I never liked Linn's cartridges; I used a Decca London until I couldn't get it replaced ansd now use an ADC ZLM which was "designed" for CD4.

So once again I request a sample of something recorded directly to DSD and the same music converted to PCM please. You said a million times about how much better DSD is. Let us hear it please?

Why not stick to FLAC?

Love Paul's response. I agree with what he said, just adding few cents... DSD and cheap is an oxymoron. Sure, lots of modern receivers, AVRs, even amps, have built-in DAC able to decode DSD. Many SONY Blue-Ray player reads SACDs. For a PC you can get Foobar2000 for free. And it where the "cheap" part ends. SACDs are expensive. Legit DSD downloads are expensive. In average SACD is $50+. And of course you have to have system which would allow to actually hear the difference.

Thank you, that’s just awesome to have it put across like that in layman’s terms, so helpful, I am going to buy a DAC with DoP and I2S input, the latter to use with a hdmi to I2S converter, playing sacd’s from my Sony blu-ray player. Much appreciated from Leicester UK

I am a frequent viewer of your short videos and, on occasion, learn something in spite of myself. Although I have enjoyed my system for decades, I don't know much. I get lost quickly when you start uttering acronyms one after another. So when you started talking about D.S.D, I Googled it. Imagine my surprise when the first response was, Disorders of Sexual Development! While I agree that those of us who are cursed with Audiophilia are dabbling in the O.C.D. arena to some extent, I had not associated sexual development as being part of the equation.

It might help if you dumb down your responses by explaining what your acronyms stand for, enabling those of us who are not members of Mensa to understand what you are talking about. Thanks.

Excellent