2. digital
  3. 123019-74445

Conversion to DSD: Does It Eliminate Digital Glare?

Hi All

  This question is for people that have gear capable of converting vanilla redbook pcm CD files in to DSD.
To my knowledge this would include the Sony HAP ES and certain DACs, such as one that I am interested in, the Mytec Manhatten.
   I currently have two highly resolving CD Players, the Oppo 105 and the Denon "Anniversary Edition" SACD/CD player.  I listen to Classical Music about 99.9% of the time.  Rest of the system is Parasound PreAmp JC-1 and Power Amp A-21 with B&W 803- Diamond speakers; Bluesound Vault-2 and Node-2;
and a MacBook Air via Thunderbolt/Firewire adapter into a 10 year old Apogee firewire dac.
  My complaint is that some CDs, particularly in full Orchestral passages, tend to harden, particularly the strings.  My SACDs (I have over 100) don't do that, and I tend to attribute this to the DSD used in SACDs.
I am therefore interested if converting vanilla rebook CDs to DSD tends to eliminate this problem.    
mahler123
erik_squires
16,430 posts
 
@mahler123 nails it. I have the Brooklyn. There’s no glare in any format. They all sound good.

What I did noticed with my previous dac is that a Remedy Reclocker improved the top octave resolution. The RR re-clocks everything to 96/24. After auditioning both DAC’s I’ve come to the conclusion that some DAC’s play high rez much better than low rez.

For a long time we have assumed that High rez music sounds better because of the data in the files. Now I wonder if it wasn’t really that DAC’s have underperformed with Redbook. It’s not quite the same thing. The new generation of DAC’s has really closed the gap between Redbook and High rez.
randy-11
1,913 posts
 
high rez files would require less interpolation

one would have to be certain the two discs or digital files are from the same program material, and then match SPLs very carefully
mahler123 OP
3,441 posts
 
I heartily agree with Eric's last paragraph.  The best DACs are now improving redbook to levels that we previously hadn't thought possible 
rgs92
974 posts
 
I’m reviving this thread just to say that I *always* mention that SACD is the cure for digital glare that can often be the downfall of regular CD, even Hi-Rez files.
SACD magically avoids it while at the same time enhancing resolution, especially in the bass (but really at all frequencies).
Long live SACD (a fantasy, I know...).

[Every time I hear someone say it's the mastering process that matters most and SACD goodness is just a placebo effect, I just want to scream. Hear SACD on a good player like EMM or Playback Designs and hear how stunning SACD is.]
erik_squires
16,430 posts
 
@rgs92

No, i don’t think it was ALL the mastering process, though there was proof that some first gen SACD’s were deliberately sweetened.

I also think the question of digital glare in PCM in modern reasonably priced DACs is largely gone. Except in some brands which seem to relish it.

E
More to discover