Search the Community

I have just read a positive review in July number of Italian magazine AudioReview about this new little DAC from Project http://www.box-designs.com/main.php?prod=preboxs2digital&cat=s2-line&lang=en A very reasonable entry level price for experimenting with MQA, but apparently not at all entry level performance. Main specs from Pro-Ject infosheet: • Dual mono construction • High end ESS Sabre ESS9038 dual DAC • Proprietary clock circuity design • Organic polymer capacitors and thin film miniMELF resistors • MQA hardware decoding • DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 & DSD512 (DSD over PCM) • Up to 24bit/192kHz for optical & coax inputs • 7 selectable digital filter characteristics • 1 proprietary optimum transient digital filter • Headphone output on the front (6.3mm) • Synchronization of all internal oscillators • Jitter as low as 100 Femtoseconds! • Gold plated four layer PCB • Full alu/metal sandwich casing in silver or black SRP: € 349,00

My good friend and fellow audiophile Gerald k and I have made a compilation of music files which we feel are perfect for testing new equipment. We wanted to use music that we not only enjoy listening to but which also has the abillity to reveal flaws in the signal chain. I listen mostly on Headphones (Sennheiser/ Audeze/ Audio Technica) while Gerald listen only on speakers (Tad, Kharma/Linn/Naim). We have spend many an evening and several bottles of Cotes de Rhone wines arguing and eventually agreeing on this list of audio equipment test music. This is what we came up with, please feel free to comment or post alternatives, if possible with a link as to where to purchase the music that you feel is ideal for this purpose. We also looked for reviews that we felt agreed with what we hear in the recordings. Sound stage and definition 1. Carmen Gomes inc; '' I'm on fire'' from Thousand Shades of Blue Sound Liaison Music Shop Placement is perfect on this young audiophile classic as well as the near perfect natural recording of the voice, but the real test for audio equipment when listening to this recording is it's ability to separate the kickdrum from the upright bass. The two instruments are playing the same pattern. On less than optimum equipment it might be difficult to separate the two, but with good setup you clearly hear the upright at 10.00 and the kick dead center with a nice decay that one generally do not hear on commercial recordings. There are lots of speakers and headphones with ''extended lows'' but low with definition is a whole different ballgame. Hifi; 2 Alban berg Quartet; Bartok String Quartet no.1 in a minor 1th movement. (LP,EMI) in the beginning of this movement the 4 instruments all play mainly in the same middle and upper register. Despite all that mid and high information the music should not sound harsh. This recording has the same perfect sound stage as the Carmen Gomes recording. We believe that this kind of sound stage with such a sense of depth and realistic placement is only attainable when you are recording the musicians in one room at the same time. Amazone Intelligible representation 3. Frank Sinatra; ''What's New'' from Only the Lonely. Frank is maybe a bit too prominent represented but one should still be able to notice all the different lines played by the various instruments in this incredible Nelson Riddle arrangement. 4. Me'Shell Ndegéocello; ''Levictus:Faggot'' from Peace beyond Passion. Here we have the opposite, the voice is a bit too soft in this optimum funk piece yet you should still be able to hear every word. easily optainable http://www.amazon.com Depth and Space When talking about depth and space we had to include a couple of Reference Recordings tracks. This label has allways done justice to it's name and consistently produced recordings of very high quality. 5. The Concord Chamber Music Society;''Danza del Soul'' from Brubeck and Gandolfi works. 6. Doug Macleod '' the Night of the Devils Road'' from There's a Time here you have two completely different pieces of music, one by The Concord Chamber Music Society and one by blues legend Doug Macleod accompanied only by guitar and kick drum. But the depth and the space of these two recordings is simply outstanding. Enjoy the music.com; Audiophilia; Reference Recordings Complete Audiophile Classical Music Orchestra and Jazz HDCD Catalog 7. Andre Heuvelman; ''Oblivion'' from After Silence 8. Joni Mitchell; ''Comes Love'' from Both Sides Now Andre Heuvelman's rendition of Astor Piazzolla's master piece have a great sense of depth. Every instrument sounds rich and full with a gorgeus natural decay. On lesser equipment the sound of each instrument can become a bit of a blur while on good equipment the sound of each instrument should be clearly defined with a clear sense of the room this recording have been recorded in. Same goes for Joni's wonderfull standards collection, it is a big hall you are listening to. Sound Stage on the Sound Liaison recordings; Sound Liaison Music Shop Both Sides Now won a Separation 9. Miles Davis; ''Stella by Starlight'' from the Complete 1964 Concert 10. John Scofield; ''Just Don't Wan't to be Lonely'' from Uberjam Deux we use these recordings to check for spill between left and right channel. The Miles recording was done on a 3 track tape machine and therefore there is this very wide sound stage and separation between the instruments; piano complete left, horns and bass dead center, drums completely right. drummer Tony Williams sometimes does not play at all and on those moments all one should hear on the right channel of the piano is a faint echo. All Music; John Scofiel's cover of the old Main Ingredient hit has a complete left right separation. The organ is audible on the left channel only and the rhythm guitar is on the right. The separation is so extreme that if you were to disconnect the right channel you would not hear any rhythm guitar at all, just like on the early Beatles stereo LP's. Jazztimes; Imaging 11. Trevor Pinnock; Mahler symphony no. 4 this delicate chamber orchestra arrangement of the great Mahler Symphony is a real beauty. the all music review said; Linn Records - Mahler: Symphonie No. 4 12. Iona Brown and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra;''the Spring'' from Grieg two Elegiac Melodies. the Grammaphone review puts it well; http://http://www.naimlabel.com/recording-grieg--tippett--beethoven.aspx Batik; '' The Bird'' from the Old Man and the Sea just about perfect imaging, left to right evenly laid out for your eyes and ears to see, piano, bass, drums, guitar and again a one room recording. Unbelieveable why sofew companies do this when it can yield so very satisfactory results. http://http://www.soundliaison.com/ Audio Stream; John Scofield;'' Never Turn Back'' from Piety Street the drum intro has a small imperfection, there is a soft ringing sound on the left channel probably coused by a sympathic resonance in the drum set or in the room. The moment the organ enters it kind of cover up the problem, although if you really listen for it you can hear it through out the track. Wonderful old fashioned sound stage. All Music;

I must say I find this download very impressive. This really sounds as if being there. The label has a very good track record. Their previous releases has all been 96 pcm, and very very good indeed but this DXD takes it all up a notch. If this is exemplary for DXD recordings then that is what I will be searching for. DXD recommendations please! Sound Liaison; Carmen Gomes sings the Blues.

I just received this new unit, ordered via Amazon.com yesterday. So far, I have been listening to DSD64 files (DSF's) purchased online - plus those ripped via PS3 from my SACD collection. Headphone listening only thusfar - with my Schiit Valhalla/Senn 650 combo and my Grado RS-1/Grado RA-1 amp. Very good sound; better than my Schiit Loki, for sure. I haven't placed it in my big system as yet since my wired network is in a different spot, and still have a lot of files to move over. Speaking of which - the Sony "HAP Music Transfer" application leaves a lot to be desired, in my opinion. You can only sync a folder - rather than select subfolders (i.e.: albums) to transfer. And since there is a 100 subfolder limit on each sync - and I have over 300 albums each in it's own folder, it has turned into as bit of a pain. Any other HAP-Z1ES owners out there with suggestions, tweaks or other relevant comments? Would love to compare notes. Thanks. Merko

I recently purchased a Topping NX4 DSD DAC that was DOA. I exchanged it for a new one and now the replacement seems to be misbehaving, as well. That said, do Topping have a QA problem? The NX4 DSD appears to be unable to switch modes from DSD to PCM and will erroneously decimate DSD to PCM. The rear light is constantly blue, never red which will indicate DSD processing. Is this normal? So it now appears time to make a decision. Do I try for yet another NX4 or look higher up the food chain at the DX3 Pro or the DX7S? Will these be better behaved?

Sound Liaison has released a handy sampler to test your DAC's preference. http://www.soundliaison.com/all-categories/6-compare-formats Test your DAC! Format Comparison sampler Which format is best for your DAC? Every DAC has it's own character, some sounds better using PCM files and some sounds better using DSD files...... Some people find the convenience of FLAC files more important. Here on this page is a list containing 2 minutes of a song in 11 different formats. The song is called 'A Fool For You' and is performed by Carmen Gomes Inc. It’s taken from the album 'Carmen Sings The Blues'. http://www.soundliaison.com/studio-showcase-series/276-carmen-gomes-sings-the-blues All the different formats have the same source file, DXD 352kHz (Studio Master). We used the AUL ConverteR 48x44 for the conversion to DSD and Wavelab for the conversion to the other PCM formats and FLAC. When you compare different sample rates always start with the lowest resolution. During listening don't focus too much, hearing is as individual as taste but hearing is also something which can be acquired, like the taste of good wine. You can choose from the following formats: 1. DXD 352kHz 2. PCM 192kHz 3. PCM 176kHz 4. PCM 96kHz 5. PCM 44kHz 6. DSD 256 7. DSD 128 8. DSD 64 9 . FLAC 352kHz 10. FLAC 192kHz 11. FLAC 96kHz

Hey, guys! Just sold my NAD M51 and looking for a new amazingly sounding DAC with maybe a streaming option. Would be nice also if that was capable of DSD 512 and maybe PCM 768kHz, just in case Must have XLR balanced outputs and Toslink input. The budget is around $6000 US. Can go higher if needed. My other components are: Foobar2000/HQplayer MacBook Pro (late 2017), USB digital interface: "Gustard U16", Integrated amplifier: Musical Fidelity - "Nu-Vista 600", loudspeakers: "ProAc D48R". Would be super grateful for all suggestions! Thanks!

I'm new to computer audio and need help with the following. I have a trial version of Audirvana Plus 3.0. I'm using a Benchmark DAC3 that can receive DSD in DoP1 format. The problem I have is that the Forced Upsampling to DSD option in Audirvana is greyed-out and Audirvana does not recognize the DAC's DSD capability. Otherwise, and in PCM format, Audirvana and the DAC play well together. What am I not doing correctly?

A number of DAC manufacturer's are limitng the output for DSD with -6dB, compared to output for PCM. I have personal experience with Holo Audio Spring DAC and iFi micto DAC's. Other models from these manufacturers do the same, as specified in their manuals. I understand that theoretically DSD can go up to 0dB, and even uo to +3dB for short peaks. But in practice, this turns out to be counterproductive, at least when upsampling both PCM and DSD (DSF) to DSD256/DSD512. From the same SACD album, upsampling the SACD layer (DSF file) to DSD256 results in (+/-) 6dB lower output level, compared with the redbook layer (AIFF file) . This means I have to crank up the volume by 6dB (on my preamp) to keep same sound level. Using a DAC from one of the forementioned brands, the output level is pushed down another 6dB, as the DAC receives DSD data. As a result, I am receiving a -12dB level with DSD, compared with PCM. So, why are these (and probably other) DAC manufacturer's do this? I find this rather annoying to say the least (one of the reasons why I have sold my Holo Audio Spring dac) Dirk

What is a good approach to listening to DSD files (.dsf mainly) with a Chord DAVE? Edited: (my error in setting things up).

Hello, first of all, I'd like to say i'm not fluent with english so please, try be comprehensive with me ? I have 2 questions. Both of them are related to my configuration which is based on : A Raspberry PI 3 B+ (1 board) An Isolator v1.2 card (1 board) A KATANA V1.2 DAC (3 board) That makes a 5 boards stacked in the selled by Allo acrylic Case. This config is powered by 2 external power (both 5V 3A : coming from Allo's website and bought with the Katana) : 1st one directly on the Isolator card (USB-C connector) 2nd one using USB-C connector on the card on top of the set-up (SparkOS Micro Controller) There is a 8GB sd Card on which I've installed Volumio. Volumio is reading audio files from a NFS share located on a NAS. I don't have issues to read FLAC files but I can't read AAC, SACD tracks inside ISO file, DSD tracks inside ISO file, DFF files. 1- Can you explain me how can I do that please ? I also realised that when I don't play any track, it's like if there were some "wind" in the room. I mean I can hear a noise which I don't hear if I switch my amplifier on another source (like CD player, turntable or TV). 2- Do I have to check or change anything to make it work normally ? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks a lot.

My top 3 music for December 2017; Linn has a 3 for the price of 2 offer through out December :Linn Sound Liaison has released a magnificent follow up to the 1st Enghave Barok download, with a sublime recording of one of Bach very best cantatas the Bwv 39. Sound Liaison The download is on special offer for $/€ 10 this month. That is steal for that kind of recording quality.

The preamp Rotel RC-1590 has a built-in DAC based on chip AKM 4495. I am not sure at 100% about the model. Anybody knows how could native DSD be played from a USB attached Linux box (native Linux, DietPi, RoPieee, etc).? I am not sure about this, but this AKM chip can be the same that use the Teac UD-503 unit.s

I use a Rotel RC-1590 preamplifier with an embedded DAC. The DAC uses an AKM Premium 32 bits 768 kHz DAC, probably an AK4495. I play music from Audirvana+ 3.0.7 from a MacBook Pro with macOS Sierra 10.12.6. When I play PCM music, everything seems to work fine, but when I play DSD audio, a click sound can be heard at the beginning and at the end of the playing. The same happens when I play music from the MacBook with Roon as an output. In both cases I use DoP 1.0. I also have attached a Roon Core over Linux using DoP 1.0 and the same happens there. I don't know if it is quite common this click sounds when playing DSD audio or, on the other hand, it is something related with DoP, Rotel or AK4495 chip. I have not tested the system from a Windows box with native DSD.

Ever since abandoning the Apple iTunes/iPod world for a FiiO X5 and Roon life has been a heckuva lot better. I use a MacMini as a media server with Plex and Roon. The only hole is this nirvana is managing the files that I'd like to copy to my FiiO when I travel. In short... is there a Mac OS app that will catalog my music directories or (even better) read my Roon database and allow me to do iTunes-ish things when copying music to my FiiO? How do I come close to the iPod/iTunes experience with Roon (or a directory of FLAC, WAV, DSF files) and my FiiO? Thanks, Adam

Hi, I'm trying t get the best from my configuration JRiver Media Center 24 (on a fanless i3, Windows 10) Audiolab M-DAC+ (using the provided IUSBAudio Driver ASIO) Since the M-DAC+ supports up to DSD256, I give it a try, using the options provided by JRiver Media Center 24, and, since then I'm converting on the fly my material from PCM to DSD128 (it seems that my i3 is unable to do more than that without stuttering). SQ is heavily modified with the standard material, in a way identically described all over the world. I asked to my my guitar teacher to compare the different versions, without telling him what to expect, and, when I asked to listen a 16/48 converted to DSD128 he jumped on the seat, saying: "Uh!?!". Me, I'm using DSP Studio to do the conversion. Let me guess that I'm bypassing the Windows Audio engine, since with this configuration I can disable the JRiver Media Center 24 and Windows 10 volume). Is it the better choice? By the way I tried also HQPlayer with identical results. Now it hangs, and I don't know the reason. Perhaps I have modified the wrong parameter among the 100's available (HQPlayer reminds me a Caterpillar, full of leverages. On the opposite there are cars with the automatic gear. Me, I like better my Alfa Romeo with a manual gear, and so my JRiver Media Center 24). Thanks

Hi, I'm trying t get the best from my configuration JRiver Media Center 24 (on a fanless i3, Windows 10) Audiolab M-DAC+ (using the provided IUSBAudio Driver ASIO) Since the M-DAC+ supports up to DSD256, I give it a try, using the options provided by JRiver Media Center 24, and, since then I'm converting on the fly my material from PCM to DSD128 (it seems that my i3 is unable to do more than that without stuttering). SQ is heavily modified with the standard material, in a way identically described all over the world. I asked to my my guitar teacher to compare the different versions, without telling him what to expect, and, when I asked to listen a 16/48 converted to DSD128 he jumped on the seat, saying: "Uh!?!". Me, I'm using DSP Studio to do the conversion. Let me guess that I'm bypassing the Windows Audio engine, since with this configuration I can disable the JRiver Media Center 24 and Windows 10 volume). Is it the better choice? By the way I tried also HQPlayer with identical results. Now it hangs, and I don't know the reason. Perhaps I have modified the wrong parameter among the 100's available (HQPlayer reminds me a Caterpillar, full of leverages. On the opposite there are cars with the automatic gear. Me, I like better my Alfa Romeo with a manual gear, and so my JRiver Media Center 24). Thanks

I asked a version of this question some weeks back but got no response. I'm interested in a DSD "NODAC" purpose-built to be used with a PC doing the upsampling, filtering etc. I'm not interested in DIY, but this is I think along the lines of what I mean: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/273474-best-dac-no-dac.html My imagined "NODAC" would thus be USB board>simple chipless conversion>SOTA S/S output stage c/w SOTA power supply My question though, is where do I get one as a finished product? Given the popularity of HQP, the references I've seen from its users as to the advantage of them being able to use a "simple" DAC, plus the need to differentiate product in a crowded DAC market, I'm surprised that this doesn't seem readily available. Perhaps it's too single-minded to be commercially viable or maybe just not a good idea?

RSVP for a DSD Listening Party with Jared Sacks from Channel Classics and NativeDSD Music on October 20th in New York City. https://mailchi.mp/channel/dsd-session-nyc-oct-2018

I am a little confused by the positioning of the new M12 Source Controller from Bricasti. I do not own a Bricasti, but was about to pull the trigger on one to replace my current DAC when I learned of the new M12 – which left me a little confused and believing that Bricasti’s best DAC is now not actually their DAC, but rather their new “source controller.” The new M12 would seem to be far superior for D-to-A conversion for DSD files and also features some new tech in the form of a network adapter to use the device as a streamer (something I presume will ultimately trickle down to the M1 – hopefully with support for the same range of file resolutions offered in their USB interface). I saw a video with Bricasti’s president (Brian) saying they created the M12 to meet a need in the market, specifically, the person who enjoys both analog and digital and wants a minimum number of discrete components. Hence, with the M12, no separate pre-amp needed. Certainly understandable, I imagine there is a real need for this in the marketplace. HOWEVER, in my view this leaves behind the person who chooses to operate a multi-component system as the M12 would not appear to be a reasonable choice to use strictly as a DAC. In my case, I have a sophisticated high-end tube preamp which I want to continue to use as my source and volume control. It appears there is no “line level/unity” out on the M12 which would be suitable for connecting to an input source on my pre-amp. This doesn’t really make sense to me from a product positioning perspective. A company offering a stand-alone DAC should reserve their best DAC technology for that unit and offer similar or lesser capabilities in their all-in-one integrated products. After all, is not the buyer for separates likely to be the most demanding of functionality? Buyers for integrated units are willing to trade a little bit of capability for convenience. I am interested in thoughts or opinions. Am I missing something? Are there others thinking about using the M12 with a pre-amp? Or pre-amp users who don’t care about the missing higher quality DSD and Ethernet connectivity?

This was my post in the SACD Ripping thread (via Oppo/Pioneer). I didn't want to derail that thread so I created this one about the value of SACD. Thanks Do you love SACD / DSD sound? I do and always have. Why is there so much negativity about it on the other sites? Whenever it is mentioned, people say it's just remastering, or DSD is fundamentally flawed, or it's a placebo affect. To me it's night and day with transparency, bass clarity, speed, far better defined images, lack-of-fatigue in the highs, no digital shrillness, analog-like-advantages, and on and on. But there is real, almost hostile pushback, and I just don't understand it. Yep, PCM processing has come a long way, and I love what my Chord DAVE does with PCM (and it also does a fine job with native DSD, thankfully), but there is nothing like DSD to these ears. I sure hope the format stays alive in some capacity. This new method of turning SACDs into files is a Godsend, and I would hope it revives DSD to some degree. Hope springs eternal you know. But it won't happen if there is all this criticism of it. I just don't get how the audiophile community could be so critical of something that just sounds so great. I guess there is no accounting for taste, but do others in this thread hear what I have always heard from DSD? Thanks for any comments. Here is the other thread about SACD ripping with Oppo/Pioneer.

Two new ways to save money on music downloads: NativeDSD's "Buy A Record Label" program and Blue Coast Prime. https://positive-feedback.com/audio-discourse/blue-coast-prime/

Oppo has announced a few more details on their upcoming UDP-205 disc player.... Lossless High-resolution Audio Audio format support has been expanded to multi-channel DSD64/128, as well as 192kHz/24-bit PCM used in high-resolution lossless formats such AIFF, ALAC, APE, FLAC and WAV. (DSD64 is played back in native mode or converted to PCM, DSD128 converted to PCM.) http://oppodigital.com/blu-ray-udp-205/

I was wondering about DACs that are especially good with DSD. Does anyone happen to use a separate DAC just for DSD files for performance reasons? Thanks.

I am looking for DSD download sites available in Europe, that have a arge offering in different music categories (rock, blues, classical, ...) The most well-known - Acoustic Sounds (superhirez.com) - does not allow me to purchase digital downloads : See following error message : We currently cannot allow customers outside of the United States to purchase Digital Products. Please remove all Digital Products from your cart to continue. Please review the form below and make sure to complete any items in red. Thanks!