Foobar2K DSD playback using Marantz USB drivers

[Ned Kelly]

Hi All,

 

Having stumbled around trying to work out how to play DSD files on my SA14S1 this afternoon, I wanted to pass on a couple of tips for anyone with a Marantz capable of DSD playback. My laptop is a Core i3 running 64-bit Win 8.1 / F2K V1.3.3

 

I followed Michael Lavorgna's instructions per this page -

 

How To Play a DSD File: using Foobar2000 | AudioStream

 

Certain things that I got away with on my Hugo and iDSD nano just dont work with the Marantz, so I thought it might be a good idea to pass on a my config. From the top menu:

 

File -> Preferences

-> Output -> Device -> ASIO : foo_dsd_asio

File -> Preferences

-> ASIO

-> ASIO drivers

doubleclick on foo_dsd_asio

 

This will open a dialog box for your ASIO Preferences per Michael's screenshots

 

ASIO Driver : Marantz USB Audio

DSD Playback Method: DoP Marker 0x05/0xFA

(I leave the rest of the dialog blank or 'None' - the defaults)

 

Close the dialog box and ensure that the '64-bit ASIO drivers' checkbox is ticked if you are running a 64-bit version of Windows.

 

Finally, and I'm not even sure this is necessary unless you are trying to upsample everything to DSD, go into 'Tools -> SACD' and set ASIO Driver Mode to 'DSD' - I also set the PCM samplerate to 352800 but at this stage I'll save the upsampling for the core i7 in my MBP.

 

I probably dont need to mention that the above is all taken care of automatically using JRMC on OS X Mavericks - I still had to select my output device but I dont recall anything resembling the hassles associated with F2K. As with anything, it all seems painfully simple when you get it working but prior to that point it's frustrating - hope this helps someone out there. Right now I'm enjoying flawless USB playback from a very ordinary ASUS laptop and the Marantz is nailing every format change per the front panel LCD - I love it when a plan comes together

 

Ned

 

PS Note that on the SA14S1, DSD128 displays as 'DSD > 2.8M' - still plays flawlessly and the transition from PCM to DSD and back again is completely seamless - I guess that makes sense using DoP but I have seen various complaints re that transition on other players. Marantz put this together for JRMC and Audirvana users - again, HTH

 

http://www.marantzeu.com/DocumentMaster/master/Marantz_Whitepaper_PC-Audio.pdf