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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
mb1audio
151 posts
 
" I've had SACDs in the collection for quite a few years now, and though what I hear is (to agree with the above post) perhaps a slight improvement over good old 44.1 (well, 96 now with my reclocker), I wonder if an average listener could hear the difference in a blind test? That's why I was so curious about hearing unconverted DSD."

Hopefully, we don't fall into the category of average listeners. But I think I should clarify the comments in my last post. I didn't mean to suggest that the difference between SACD and CD was very small. Its not. I think many people expected the difference to be like vinyl and CD. Some things a record can do fairly easily that it takes a very good CD player to equal. The difference SACD makes isn't that big, but the format is still clearly better than CD. If you were to get a universal player like the Ayre 5 U2, you can easily hear the differences between formats.

cooper52 OP
178 posts
 
I flatter myself that I too am not an average listener, but really all (or at least the vast majority) of us who indulge in this hobby are not average listeners. Just an unsupported-by-any-facts opinion...
mb1audio
151 posts
 
" I flatter myself that I too am not an average listener, but really all (or at least the vast majority) of us who indulge in this hobby are not average listeners. Just an unsupported-by-any-facts opinion..."

My advice would be to keep those "other types" away from your system. Every time they get near a pair of speakers, they just can't help themselves and start pushing in all the centers on the drivers. Its a travesty. I get nauseous every time I go into Best Buy and witness the damage on a mass scale. Maybe Trump will finally do something about the problem, but until then, lock your listening room door.
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