Is DSD download already an extinct format?

TBG, I agree with your take. I'm sold on native DSD being better than PCM, and I am confident there is a large latent market waiting for the software to be released at a reasonable price. I am just afraid that there is a narrow window for capitalizing on that latent market, and I fear, with good reason, Sony is once again poised to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I'm a Cleveland Browns fan, so I am an expert in reading the signs!

Equipment like the new PS Audio DSD DAC and Sony's own HAPZ1, not to mention other similar devices, may make the difference in downloaded native DSD and DSD converted on the fly too small to justify buying the native DSD at a premium. Based on my listening with my ModWright Sony HAPZ1, I just don't see the price differential being worth it.

If my assessment of the difference between the DSD master of Ma's Appalachian Journey is typical, the DSD master is like 1.03 compared to 1.0 for the AIFF redbook up sampled to 2 x DSD by the MW Sony. The DSD is $25, the redbook CD was $7.00 shipped. I have a large budget for new music, but it is a budget, and I can buy a lot more music, with a very small sonic compromise. They are going to have to offer more music at a better price and do so quickly, or people are going to move on.

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+1 Brownsfan
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" I'm sold on native DSD being better than PCM"

Why is that again? Is there a concrete technical reason or reasons? I would think a quality implementation of each playing same resolution source material would be more alike than different.

What would be the technical reason for better apples/apples sound quality? THen how much is there really in practice and is there good value there or just another new technology and format to sell stuff with.

Thanks.

"I have listened to 192/24 PCM versus double DSD of the same material using SACDs as the source and double DSD wins hands down. "

Tbg always manages to determine what sounds better when comparing two very similar things. Can I assume he is unbiased in his judgements? Is anyone? I wish I had his ears and his unabiding trust in what I hear. I hear things that both sound really good in significantly different ways all the time and am still challenged to say which is conclusively "better".

On the other hand, I am pretty good I think at detecting noise and distortion when I hear it and have no doubt then that something is amiss, but still lots of reasons why still possible.

I think I've pretty much heard it all and have come to the conclusion that there is not always a clear winner when comparing two different things done well. Its more a matter of individual tastes and perspectives, which ALWAYS vary.

Mapman, you ask good questions and provide good counterarguments. DSD is not universally better than PCM in the sense that all DSD recordings are better than PCM recordings.

As for the technical reasons, I'm just a simple organic chemist, not an ee, computer scientist, or physicist. I'm smart enough to leave such discussions to those who know what they are talking about. I'd rather take an empirical approach here, allowing my ears and emotional response to music to trump technical considerations, although I don't want anyone selling me snake oil, either.

I have a limited sampling--one, which is somewhat short of being statistically significant. I'd like to have more samples, but I'm not going to blow my entire estate at $25 each to run the experiment.

My fascination with DSD is based on what I hear from people I trust, who are in a better position to make statistically significant judgments. Also, I have a general preference for the sound of cds that were produced from DSD masters. It's by no means a universal preference, but I don't have many bad recordings in my collection that were recorded in DSD, while I have more than a few bad recordings that came from PCM masters. In all fairness, I have a wall full of wonderful PCM master derived CDs. That observation is proof of nothing, but it is enough to keep me interested in native DSD files.

If Sony lets us down here (again), it is not the end of the world. As you have pointed out, PCM properly implemented can be extremely good. All I'm asking here is that Sony implement a marketing strategy that allows the musical cognoscenti an opportunity to determine the real value of hi rez in general, and DSD in particular.