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Question about DSD DACs

Apologies if this has been asked before (it probably has), but I'm a little confused about how DSD is decoded in the newer DSD capable DACs. My current disc spinner is a Cambridge Audio 751BD universal player which, according to the owner's manual, can output native DSD only through its HDMI output. Since my DAC (Bryston BDA1) has no HDMI input, playing SACDs can only be done through an analog (RCA) connection to my integrated. With this connection, as I understand it, the signal is output as PCM, though what its resolution is I can't quite tell. What I CAN tell is that the resulting sound is rather shrill.

At some point I'm thinking that I'll want to upgrade my DAC to a DSD capable one, but I'm not sure how these newer DACs process SACDs. Will I hear the signal decoded as DSD without conversion to PCM? Some DACs (like the PS Audio PWD MK II or Bryston's BDA3) boast HDMI inputs but I couldn't tell from their literature whether it's even possible to use this connection to a disc spinner to play SACDs in 2-channel, or how the signal is processed through such a connection.

Thanks for your help with this--it will assist greatly in making choices when I decide to do this upgrade.
cooper52
milpai's avatar
milpai
2,377 posts
 
Of the 2 DACs you mention, only the Bryston BDA-3 can accept DSD via HDMI. The PS DAC has I2S and not HDMI, which is a totally different PIN configuration.
So if you use HDMI or a HDMI to I2S, you will actually be hearing DSD without PCM conversion. As a fyi, there is also the new Holo DAC that has I2S port instead of HDMI and can do DSD. They also have a converter for HDMI (from a blu-ray player) to I2S.
mb1audio
151 posts
 
The new Audio Alchemy has I2S as well.
erik_squires
16,056 posts
 
I do all my DSD via USB. :)

I have a dozen or less DSD albums and 10 of them are downloads.

Best,

Erik
yage
400 posts
 
Normally HDMI is needed to output DSD from a transport to an outboard DAC since it has copy protection built into the protocol. If you use other means (such as coaxial SPDIF or Toslink), then DSD is usually downsampled to PCM. Unfortunately, I think your player outputs DSD data according to the HDMI spec whereas most DAC makers seem to favor the I2S protocol over the HDMI connection. So your choices for an outboard converter will be severely limited.

One thing to keep in mind is that with the analog outputs the player should be reading the SACD layer of a hybrid disc if you have SACD Priority set to Multichannel or Stereo in your setup menu. That may already be the case in your system.
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