Is it really useless Upscaling 16/44.1 music to 24

May not exactly be relevant but I'm using JRiver to convert everything to DSD and output to a Schiit Loki and, honestly, I have no major complaints, though one minor one. If I'm using the PC to browse the web while I'm listening, I occasionally get a click/pop in the music. In these cases it's not like I'm listening critically so I just look past it. When it's showtime though, it really works a treat, $150 entry fee notwithstanding (not counting JRiver license, of course).

Using Jriver to convert from PCM to DSD takes a lot of computer power, so even on a pretty powerful computer occasional glitches are to be expected if running anything else. The Loki is a steal for DSD playback.

Got it - that's what I figured and it's not that big of a deal really. When I am listening critically, I don't mess with the computer anyway :)

Trcns,

You've gotten very good feedback. I certainly agree with Dtc, and also adding this as another example.

My PC audio goes from a highly optimized PC running Windows Server 2012 in core mode, with Audio Optimizer, JRiver, into Audiophilleo with PurePower, into Metrum Octave. The Metrum is non-oversampling so any upconversion needs to be done at the computer. In this setup I like it better to keep things native. So no upconversion.

Recently I tried Acourate (software for digital room correction, amongst other things) and to convolute it needs to turn everything to 24 bit within JRiver. The combo of convolution/correction plus upconversion I like better than the above.

A few months ago I purchased an exaSound e22 which gets rave comments from the femto clocks and its ability to play DSD256 natively, and all the fuss about DSD. This unit retails for 3.5k, while my AP+Metrum retailed for combined 2k two years ago.

- Feeding the DAC at the native rates I liked the AP+Metrum combo better.
- Upconverting to DSD in JRiver and feeding that to the e22 vs natively feeding into the Metrum, I like the Metrum better.
- Upconverting at the PC with HQPlayer (instead of JRiver) to DSD and feeding the e22 sounded as good as the Metrum. Maybe...maybe a touch better. But not enough to justify the price difference. So I sold the e22.

Goes to show that implementation is the key. Not ditching exaSound. I think it's a very good product, targeted for people who don't have such an optimized PC, not running WS2012 with Optimizer, etc.

And regarding my preference to keep things native with the Metrum, I often wonder if my speakers aren't the bottleneck to hearing the difference (B&W 804S). Another example of implementation being the key!

I would much rather have the hard wear upsample and not the softwear. JRiver (SOFTWARE) upsampling added noise and distortion, in my rig. I upsample 44.1 TO 196K with an esoteric G25 U and it sounds much better than anything Jriver could upsample in my system. I cannot use JRiver for upampling or dsp. i feel the dsp just tries to compensate for other issues further down the audio chain.