Understanding DAC's


Hey,

So I am trying to understand something about DAC's and once again it is probably due to being a novice.

Now, I understand the basic duty of a DAC, convert digital audio/signal to an analog one. I get that part, that's easy.

Initially when I first discovered DAC's (or I should say, starting paying more attention to them), my impression was besides converting to an analog signal, a DAC should be able to playback high res music. That's why I got one and I was specifically after DSD playback after I discovered there was such a thing.

So, in my mind I figured all DAC's will have this feature, to be able to decode DSD.

But as I started researching them, I discovered many high end DAC's do not do DSD duty and to me, it just doesn't make sense. They are probably already decoding upto 24/192 or higher for PCM, so why not DSD?

And secondly, these higher end DAC's that only do PCM, are they making that PCM file sound that much better then say a $1000 or lower Dac?

Here is just one random DAC, Mojo Mystique v3, it's about $7555 and as far as I can tell, no DSD capability.

Maybe it's just me. I don't see the sense in getting an expensive DAC and not having DSD Capability.

I have DSD on mine and have purchased a few DSD albums and they sound so much better then CD quality or 24/192 even.

I get that some might not care to listen to DSD but on the manufacturer side, I wonder some do not include those features.
128x128jay73
Maybe it's just me. I don't see the sense in getting an expensive DAC and not having DSD Capability.
I would disagree with this assessment since there are lot more things gone into a good DAC than just recording format - DSD, SACD, or redbook.  There are ground noise, power supplies, output amplification stage ... and so on.


For comparison purpose :

How high resolution is a DSD recording? There’s no exact way of striking
equivalence between PCM and DSD but it’s around the same as 24-bit/88.2kHz PCM.

In terms of dynamic range, DSD is claimed to be around 120dB in the audible frequency range. In comparison, CD measures around 96dB, and 24-bit/192kHz recordings have a theoretical maximum of around 144dB.


I would also disagree because the number of recordings available in DSD is pitifully small. I have a small number of DSD recordings, but it's probably less than 0.1% of my collection. The SQ of the DAC playing Redbook is BY FAR the most important criteria for me in choosing a DAC since this is what I'm using it for 99.99% of the time. If the DAC that I decide sounds the best for my budget playing Redbook also happens to play higher resolution and DSD formats (and sounds good doing it), that's a nice bonus, but really plays no part in my purchase decision. 
FYI ...

Most recording studios probably still using PCM for recording albeit at higher resolution and higher sampling rate and only at the last step that they would convert the PCM format to DSD and store to compact disc.

For example, a studio may record the original audio using PCM format at 24bit/192KHz and store that on the master tap.  They then may choose to convert the original PCM either to vinyl or DSD on the last step, or at redbook format at 16bit/44.1KHz.
Some of the DACs will convert the PCM to DSD or if you have Roon or other software you can do it there and the DAC would need to be capable of playing DSD. I've tried that and to me the DSD conversion seemed to "sound better". I think it's because DSD is louder. When you compare the high resolution PCM to DSD and level match the volume the " sounds better" evaporates. If you like down loads in DSD then it makes sense to get  a DAC that can handle it but like others have said there are not a lot of DSD recordings. A lot of these high priced DACs you're looking at like the Mystique use R2R which if done right is expensive to implement and adds to the cost.