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It's not really something they would advertise directly, since CUDA is a software library.

 

So, to look for CUDA capabilities, you actually look at the video cards (or integrated Graphics card if a laptop). NVIDIA will have de facto CUDA support.

 

[EDIT] I will add that a certain amount of direct marketing is done towards segments which do make a lot of use out of this, namely gamers and also AI researchers/users.

 

That's what I thought.

 

When CUDA was first released, Nvidia made a big deal about it. Lately, it's rarely mentioned, if at all.

 

These days you usually have to go into Windows Control Panel to get the info on the Graphics Card and how many CUDA cores it has (if from Nvidia).

 

I'm guessing that the rise of Intel's Integrated Graphics Chips for Laptops means that you'd need to look at gamer laptops to get one with some CUDA processing power.

 

With HQ Player supporting CUDA, might be time for systems built for audio downloads streaming to highlight that feature. And maybe even show the CUDA logo. CUDA Inside?! :)

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As many of you know, if a label/artist/producer wants to edit this analog thing called DSD they, almost invariably, need to send it to DXD first.

 

Nope, they can also process in the analogue domain.

Dedicated Line DSD/DXD | Audirvana+ | iFi iDSD Nano | SET Tube Amp | Totem Mites

Surround: VLC | M-Audio FastTrack Pro | Mac Opt | Panasonic SA-HE100 | Logitech Z623

DIY: SET Tube Amp | Low-Noise Linear Regulated Power Supply | USB, Power, Speaker Cables | Speaker Stands | Acoustic Panels

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Nope, they can also process in the analogue domain.

 

Depends on the producer and recording engineer. As Ted noted, Jared Sacks uses a custom Analog Mixing Board for his DSD sessions. Cookie Marenco does the same - she has a full analog mixing desk at Blue Coast Studios for DSD.

 

So DSD without DXD is indeed possible. :)

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Nope, they can also process in the analogue domain.

 

Seems to be trend these days that studios go back to analog desks with DAW automation. Like for example one of the well known mastering studios here:

Chartmakers Mastering Studio expands into mixing with an SSL AWS 948 | Solid State Logic

 

With desks like:

http://rupertneve.com/products/high-voltage-discrete-mixer/

AMS Neve | 88RS

AWS

Signalyst - Developer of HQPlayer

Pulse & Fidelity - Software Defined Amplifiers

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Seems to be trend these days that studios go back to analog desks with DAW automation. Like for example one of the well known mastering studios here:

Chartmakers Mastering Studio expands into mixing with an SSL AWS 948 | Solid State Logic

 

With desks like:

http://rupertneve.com/products/high-voltage-discrete-mixer/

AMS Neve | 88RS

AWS

 

DSD & Analog have always lived in symbiosis. All it takes for the studios using analog desks to produce DSD files is to hook their analog feed up to something like the new Playback Designs 11.2MHz DSD ADC and voila. :)

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So DSD without DXD is indeed possible. :)

 

Absolutely!

Dedicated Line DSD/DXD | Audirvana+ | iFi iDSD Nano | SET Tube Amp | Totem Mites

Surround: VLC | M-Audio FastTrack Pro | Mac Opt | Panasonic SA-HE100 | Logitech Z623

DIY: SET Tube Amp | Low-Noise Linear Regulated Power Supply | USB, Power, Speaker Cables | Speaker Stands | Acoustic Panels

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When CUDA was first released, Nvidia made a big deal about it. Lately, it's rarely mentioned, if at all.

 

Just need to know where to look. It's still a very big deal, and with everything moving towards intelligent machines based on deep learning, it will continue to be a very big deal.

 

This is from last year:

 

Dedicated Line DSD/DXD | Audirvana+ | iFi iDSD Nano | SET Tube Amp | Totem Mites

Surround: VLC | M-Audio FastTrack Pro | Mac Opt | Panasonic SA-HE100 | Logitech Z623

DIY: SET Tube Amp | Low-Noise Linear Regulated Power Supply | USB, Power, Speaker Cables | Speaker Stands | Acoustic Panels

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DSD & Analog have always lived in symbiosis.

 

It's even more than that: DSD is analogue and it happens to be storable in digital format. (this is barring the odd zero coding).

Dedicated Line DSD/DXD | Audirvana+ | iFi iDSD Nano | SET Tube Amp | Totem Mites

Surround: VLC | M-Audio FastTrack Pro | Mac Opt | Panasonic SA-HE100 | Logitech Z623

DIY: SET Tube Amp | Low-Noise Linear Regulated Power Supply | USB, Power, Speaker Cables | Speaker Stands | Acoustic Panels

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Merging's Horus is apparently the only ADC that can record natively at 11.2896MHz at the moment, but with latest AKM ADC chips: VERITA AK5572EN, AK5574EN, AK5576EN, AK5578EN (all capable of native 256Fs DSD conversion) we should see more such devices on the market soon. Playback Designs has also a new DSD256-ready ADC on the way (see post above).

 

Personally, I'd expect to see more ADCs that can do native 11.2896MHz DSD recording in the future, than native 352.8kHz PCM. AFAIK all current PCM ADCs are delta sigma ADCs.

 

Hmm, regarding the Horus I remember asking Tom whether Horus actually recorded 1 bit DSD 256 natively, and his response was "no but close".I think he mentioned 5 bits?

I think that with HORUS everything is captured internally as DXD but can be output as DSD as well.

If so ,it isn't really native DSD right?

Morten Lindberg of 2L outputs the native DXD from his Horus and Nadac and so obviously does Berndt van der Wolf of Challenge Classics.

In other words are there really any truly native DSD 256 recordings AT ALL on the market yet?

Not to mention DSD 512.

There is as far as I know not a single native DSD 512 recording available from any label yet.

To me it seems as what many assume to be native DSD isn't really native in the strict sense.

But yes T+A has obviously built a DSD 512 capable 1 bit DAC. But there is no one actually making any native recordings at that rate,because there are as yet no ADCs capable of doing so.

It seems to me as what many here seem to prefer via T+A's new DAC is actually at its theoretical best, DXD masters converted to DSD 512 but not native DSD.

At worst just upsampling of lower rates DSD and PCM rates to DSD 512.

I am kinda thinking why not stick with the native DXD?

Can it really get any better and more accurate than the actual master anyway?

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...

It seems to me as what many here seem to prefer via T+A's new DAC is actually at its theoretical best, DXD masters converted to DSD 512 but not native DSD.

At worst just upsampling of lower rates DSD and PCM rates to DSD 512.

I am kinda thinking why not stick with the native DXD?

Can it really get any better and more accurate than the actual master anyway?

 

Actually I would prefer the original performance! In any case there are those of us who actually hear sonic benefits from upconversion, and from good reports, the T+A is an outstanding DAC when using these techniques. Bits have no sound themselves, they make sound. Its good that we have choices and I would expect that a $12K DAC would use its bits wisely.

Custom room treatments for headphone users.

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I am kinda thinking why not stick with the native DXD?

Can it really get any better and more accurate than the actual master anyway?

 

What we have found is

1) With Exasound E22 Mk1, DXD files delivered native sounded excellent, but when converted to DSD 256 with HQ Player 7th order filter these DXD files sounded noticeably even better.

 

Exasound's implementation of SABRE, which is minimal processing by design, delivers a clear SQ advantage to DSD. We have found a very similar relative SQ between hires PCM and DSD with the Merging NADAC (DSD256) and the Accuphase DC-37 ( DSD 128)

 

2) DAVE does PCM better than DSD

 

3) T+A DAC 8 DSD. Two quite separate DAC's.

 

On the PCM side, 4 x BB/TI 1795's. Sound is comparable to the best of the SABRE DAC's

 

On the DSD side, an in house designed, mostly discrete components 1 bit moving average converter. When delivered DSD 512 from the 7th order modulating HQ Player, the SQ is at another level from any other DAC. DAVE PCM is close, even more high frequency detail than the T+A DSD, but the T+A's mid range detail / texture, and the sense of space where the recording was made gives our unanimous vote to the T+A

 

Today, the DSD 512 DAC benefits from,

- fewer processing steps

- lower parts count

- higher frequency low pass filters

negative is you need a high power PC to feed it

 

Whilst PCM DAC chips have a mass production cost advantage, it seems in the mid price range PCM is going to have a hard time catching DSD 512

Sound Test, Monaco

Consultant to Sound Galleries Monaco, and Taiko Audio Holland

e-mail [email protected]

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Depends on the producer and recording engineer. As Ted noted, Jared Sacks uses a custom Analog Mixing Board for his DSD sessions. Cookie Marenco does the same - she has a full analog mixing desk at Blue Coast Studios for DSD.

 

So DSD without DXD is indeed possible. :)

 

Thanks, Brian. For Blue Coast Records, we record live to DSD256. We treat working with the DSD recordings as if we were recording to tape. We do any processing going through an analog mixing console then mix back to DSD 256. We're careful to adjust volume levels between songs at the mix stage so that we avoid another mastering stage.

 

I'm a recording engineer/producer for other labels as well. Those projects are less rigid than Blue Coast Records about sound and place more value editing small mistakes. In those cases, we convert to DXD for editing and render back to DSD when the edits are complete. Our blindfold tests have told us that going to DXD is very noticeable.

 

We look forward to the day when we can edit in DSD 256.

 

Thanks, as always, for supporting any of us creating music in high resolution audio,

Cookie Marenco

 

Blue Coast Records | Exceptional Acoustic Recordings

Cookie Marenco[br]founder and producer[br]Blue Coast Records[br]http://www.bluecoastrecords.com/

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Hi Ed:

 

John hypothesized to me the other night that part of the reason the T+A DAC sounds so much better at 512 is that is run at the frequency of the clock. The act of dividing down the master clock itself produces additional jitter.

 

Oh that's right! That would actually make sense as to why its so disproportionally better. Dsd64 to dsd128 to dsd256, based on noise profiles, sure. But the big step up to dsd512? I think you may have hit the nail on the head here!

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Today, the DSD 512 DAC benefits from ... negative is you need a high power PC to feed it

 

Can you please define what 'high power PC' is required in your experience? I guess you tried some configurations which were compromised before reaching the threshold of adequate performance, so could you please share this?

 

Thanks

🎸🎶🏔️🐺

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Hmm, regarding the Horus I remember asking Tom whether Horus actually recorded 1 bit DSD 256 natively, and his response was "no but close".I think he mentioned 5 bits?

I think that with HORUS everything is captured internally as DXD but can be output as DSD as well.

If so ,it isn't really native DSD right?

 

Horus is a native delta-sigma A/D running at 256FS, that is the native DSD256 sampling rate. Whether it uses a 1-bit or 5-bit delta sigma modulator is a secondary issue, as both such modulators can output DSD data at the converter's native sampling rate. And that's what matters most in DSD, the sampling rate, not whether a DSD DAC is 1-bit or 5-bit.

 

And no, Horus doesn't capture anything as DXD, "DXD" is simply a downsampled and decimated output from delta sigma modulator. Horus is not a PCM ADC but an SDM ADC, it uses Delta Sigma Modulation to convert analog into digital.

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Nope, they can also process in the analogue domain.

 

Yes, I said "almost invariably". For most, I am talking about editing, not mixing. Jared mixes in analog (as I said), as do some others...but eq and trimming (as I stated) is not normally done in analog (unless you are now saying Sonoma's 8 wide DSD is true analog) to a DSD signal. It is sent to DXD (at least for almost all our labels that do eq).

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Horus is a native delta-sigma A/D running at 256FS, that is the native DSD256 sampling rate. Whether it uses a 1-bit or 5-bit delta sigma modulator is a secondary issue, as both such modulators can output DSD data at the converter's native sampling rate. And that's what matters most in DSD, the sampling rate, not whether a DSD DAC is 1-bit or 5-bit.

 

And no, Horus doesn't capture anything as DXD, "DXD" is simply a downsampled and decimated output from delta sigma modulator. Horus is not a PCM ADC but an SDM ADC, it uses Delta Sigma Modulation to convert analog into digital.

 

I did not state what I said as facts.

I quoted what Tom told me, maybe incorrectly.

But if I am not wrong again, why is the DXD filesize bigger than the DSD 256 if the DXD is as you say, a downconversion from DSD 256?

Or is the DSD 256 file bigger than the DXD?

And if so is one reason most labels record in DXD with their Horus that DXD can be edited and DSD256 can't?

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Chrille, somehow you misquoted Tom (assuming you mean Caulfield aka tailspn). I talked with him this morning. He might jump in here, but Hiro's take is pretty accurate I think.

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...why is the DXD filesize bigger than the DSD 256 if the DXD is as you say, a downconversion from DSD 256?

 

Hi Chris,

 

Here's a link to the ARDA AT1201 A/D converter data sheet, four of which are used in the Horus 8 channel input card:

 

http://www.profusionplc.com/images/data%20sheets/at1201-ds.pdf

 

This is in pdf form, so you'll have to download it to view it.

 

The block diagram shows that the actual A/D function is performed by a separate 6 bit Sigma-Delta modulator for each channel, outputting six mathematically related Pulse Density Modulated data streams at the chosen bit rate. These streams can then be reformatted, or converted to respectively DSD or PCM (DXD if 352.8KHz sampling rate is chosen). As an aside, regardless that there are on chip data reformatters and/or converters, Merging chose to do that processing using their own algorithms in a neighboring gate array processor. Horus does not natively A/D convert to DXD, but to multi-bit DSD like bit streams at the chosen bit rate, later reformatted or converted to the desired format.

 

The file size of DXD is larger than DSD due to the nature of the formats. DSD is a continuous bit stream whose bit density is proportional to the analog level modulating the bit clock. There's no redundancy, but neither is there a digital (processible in a digital computer) value represented. DXD (PCM) is like motion picture film, where each frame (sample) is a complete stand alone digital word (2's compliment binary word of X bits depth/resolution) measuring the analog value at that sample time. One of its characteristics is 90+% of the value (the bits making the digital word) of the binary word data is redundant to its neighboring samples. PCM is an EXTREMELY inefficient coding process, but it does yield data that is processible in a digital computer.

 

Most labels, save one diehard, do not record in DXD, if they can avoid it. It makes no sense to do the conversion with the limited processing power on the card, when it can be done later using all the resources and flexibility of the host computer if required for post processing. The advantage of recording in DXD is a greater number of analog channels can be accommodated in the record process. You'd be amazed of the number of recordings made with 100 channels, or more.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Tom

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How does your DAVE play 2L's 5.1 channel DXD content? You know, 2L is all about multichannel audio. I'm playing it all fine upsampled to DSD256 through my exaSound e28 DAC. ;)

 

So my objective is to make cheaper DACs less compromised by providing uncompromised upsampling and delta-sigma modulators. And in addition allowing cheaper no-compromise DACs because DAC doesn't need to perform any digital processing, just convert digital input to analog at highest possible quality - which is actually the connection to T+A DAC8 DSD in this thread!

 

Yes, and when it comes to playing Multichannel DSD 256 files, or Multichannel DXD files, the exaSound e28 is a very attractively priced DAC. Worth checking out by 2L fans. :)

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Hi Chris,

 

Here's a link to the ARDA AT1201 A/D converter data sheet, four of which are used in the Horus 8 channel input card:

 

http://www.profusionplc.com/images/data%20sheets/at1201-ds.pdf

 

 

Too bad the engineers at ARDA got swallowed into Google, never to be heard from again. They never really had a chance to finish their AT1401 24-bit/384KHz/125dB R2R DAC chip. I know the samples had some problems, but at least they tried.

Kind of surprised the AT1201 is even still available. I guess Profusion bought up all the stock from the foundry and Merging, Ayre, and others buy from them for their ADC units.

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Can you please define what 'high power PC' is required in your experience? I guess you tried some configurations which were compromised before reaching the threshold of adequate performance, so could you please share this?

 

Thanks

 

 

Here is Miska's configuration

Upgrade GPU for more CUDA processing power - Blogs - Computer Audiophile

 

We have only being doing DSD512 for 8 weeks, so we don't know how many of our earlier PC configurations could actually handle DSD512

 

but as a general rule, pick the most powerful processor you think you can reliably cool

Sound Test, Monaco

Consultant to Sound Galleries Monaco, and Taiko Audio Holland

e-mail [email protected]

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Edward, I am 24 hours away from heading to my Microcenter to pick up most of the build list for Jussi's build (except I'm going i7 6700k). It will not exactly be a silent streacom-housed kind of thing; it will be a minitower with possibly a almost-silent Noctua case fan, etc. Why do I mention this? Cuz it then requires an NAA (as it will be sequestered to my home office due to possible noise). I know you mentioned a few times that you guys have found the single pc to have better sq, when done right. I am not sure I can build a multichannel-upsample-ready power pc and keep it silent enough to be my single pc, but the NAA approach (which I currently do except my HQP i7 3770S machine died) works perfectly. But..I am still all ears if you have info I should know. :)

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