Chord DAVE not playing Native DSD above DSD128

[rjb301]

Hi all.  Apologies of this has been answered somewhere else on this site but I cannot seem to find it.  I have a Chord DAVE (since early 2016) and I have recently upgraded my music streamer from an Auralic Aries Mini to the Auralic G2.1.  I am running this into the DAVE via USB.  It says clearly on all the information on both devices that they play Native DSD up to DSD512.  I am only getting white noise through my speakers from DSD 256 and DSD 512.  I have checked my settings in the Lightning DS app (DoP marker set 0 x 05/FA) I also have the setting for convert DSD to PCM switched off.  I just purchased Tomba Sonora on the 2L label at DSD 512.  If anyone here has any insight it would be much appreciated.  Thanks

Rob.

[ray-dude]

With DAVE, if you have it set to PCM+ mode (which most of us do), it only accepts up to DSD256.  If your streamer is configured to upsample to DSD512, that could be an issue.  In PCM+ mode, DAVE should be able to accept DSD256 native, or DSD256 DoP

 

If you switch DAVE to DSD+ mode, it will accept up to DSD512 native, or DSD256 DoP

 

To help diagnose, you may want to switch your DAVE to DSD+ mode and see what happens

 

Also, I've found that DAVE sometimes gets "stuck" when switching sampling rates and I get noise.  When that happens, I usually switch away from USB input, switch back, and play some redbook or something to get things working, then I can go back to whatever was giving me trouble.  This is rare for me (less than once a  month) but sharing in case it is helpful to you.

 

 

[seeteeyou]

Native DSD support is fine with ASIO under Windows. However, Auralic streamers are Linux-based devices and therefore they have to modify the file quirks.c from the Linux kernel accordingly.

 

Obviously nothing about Chord could be found here since nobody could figure out how to get Native DSD to work for any DACs from Chord

 

https://github.com/auralic/Lightning-Linux/blob/linux-4.1.15/sound/usb/quirks.c

https://github.com/auralic/Lightning-Linux/blob/linux-4.1.18/sound/usb/quirks.c

 

I already linked to all the troubles below and the only way to go turned out to be DSD256 DoP under Linux

 

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/38154-chord-qutest/page/14/?tab=comments#comment-871414

https://chordelectronics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Dave-User-manual.pdf#page=24

Quote

***Native DSD playback is only available using ASIO driver on Windows.

 

[rjb301]

Thanks @seeteeyou and @ray-dude for your responses.  Much appreciated.  @ray-dude I have been using the DSD + setting on the DAVE for a while now for when I play my current DSD collection.  It just does not seem to work with DSD 256 and above.  Its a little frustrating when you spend the amount of money on both these machines (that say explicitly they play DSD files up to DSD512) and then you run into glitches where an operating system is not compatible with another.  So @seeteeyou you are essentially saying that playing DSD 512 through lightning DS into the DAVE is pointless?  Once again.  Thanks for your replies guys.

All the best.

Rob.

[seeteeyou]

Let's put it this way, just take a look at this PDF file again as I already posted above

 

https://chordelectronics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Dave-User-manual.pdf#page=24

 

I do hope that you understand the difference between Windows and Linux, otherwise there's no way for me to explain stuff like that.

 

Here's the deal, they're definitely installing Linux on their ARIES G2.1 as well as other products

 

https://us.auralic.com/blogs/news/aries-g2-g-force-hifi-world-review

 

Unfortunately, Chord never bothered to get Native DSD working under Linux for a fairly long time and most likely they just gave up. Now your choices are

1. Windows with DSD512 Native DSD (i.e. selling your ARIES G2.1)
2. Linux with DSD256 DoP (i.e. keeping your ARIES G2.1)
3. Selling Chord DAVE and then get something else

Chord ain't interested in getting DSD512 and Linux to work together, period.

[rjb301]

Appreciate the response @seeteeyou.  I do understand the difference between the two platforms.  It is strange that there is resistance from Chord to be flexible (kind of what Linux allows the user) .  DSD64 & 128 sound pretty decent on my system so going to DSD 512 is essentially a game of diminishing returns.  Thanks for straightening it out for me and I will have a think. Cheers

Rob.

[wklie]

On 9/20/2020 at 12:59 PM, seeteeyou said:

Linux-based devices and therefore they have to modify the file quirks.c from the Linux kernel accordingly.

 

I don't think this will work.  Chord does not support native DSD for Linux.

 

@rjb301 I specifically added DSD256 DoP for customers using Lumin USB output to Chord.  Linux DSD256 DoP output to Chord does work, although I don't know the capabilities of the streamer you use or why it does not work in your setup.