I2s DSD

@aswill thank you for a great reply, looks like we're on the same mission. Seems that you confirmed my suspicions that the PS Audio SACD transport will not "handshake" with other DACs, and other high end DACs are not allowing it. Which really is a shame.

Is it the case that patent rights etc are still hindering development and employment of DSD? If so, very sad. We are soon in 2022.

@lordmelton,

I believe PS Audio PST is handshakable with some other DACs such as Holo May and, I believe, Denafrips, and PS Audio's DirectStream DAC.  There may be others I am not aware of yet.   I only contacted Mola-Mola, and my posting above reflects their position on this currently.  I think it is the case that other high end DAC manufacturers with I2S inputs would need to be individually contacted and/or tested with PST SACD for knowing their compatibility.

@o_holter,

DSD is not restricted and there are multiple sources where you can download DSD music and play through USB and depending on DAC and DSD resolution, through other digital transmission means, including I2S.  DSD layer contained within SACD though is different.   There have been prior SACD capable players in the past that could be "hacked" to transmit DSD from the SACD over non-restrictive digital means, and there are people who sell service to extract DSD from SACDs.   I have not pursued either of these.   My SACD collection is modest, with most being hybrid SACDs with both SACD layer and CD quality PCM layer.   Mola-Mola DAC is not a non-oversampling (NOS) DAC and instead  all incoming digital audio is upsampled to 3.125MHz/32 bits and converted to noise shaped PWM and from PWM to analog.  PS Audio DirectStream DAC upsamples as to several DAC manufacturers.

I have yet to come to my own opinion how much influence, if any, I can perceive for DSD source via high resolution PCM for playback from the Mola-Mola.  I believe I can perceive some difference in higher rate resolution PCM vs CD quality resolution with the Mola-Mola.   However, remastered past recordings to higher rate PCM does not guarantee a better recording.  

In the past, I have tried to download music at the resolution of the original recorded.  If DSD is edited in the studio, my understanding is it is converted to DXD for editing and then converted to DSD again.  Some DACs offer NOS as well as conversion upsampling.   Roon offerrs conversion sampling options as well as software like HQPlayer, for example.  

More and more I am less interested in the format than how it sounds to me and how much effort and expense for me to have different format and resolution and how much improvement, if any, to get there.  Audio evolves and through the years I have found myself boxed in at times with equipment and formats that do not endure.   

I have recorded my best LPs to DSD for many years, with the Tascam DA-3000 as the best recorder, so far. I mainly listen to these recordings on holiday, travel etc, played back by a little DAP (Fiio x3ii). I like it, with vinyl clicks and all, but maybe I am conditioned to ’vinyl’ sound. I do notice, over the years, that the gap between my DSD recordings and good quality streaming, is getting smaller. On the other  hand, DSD is not static, either - changing from single speed DSD (on Korg MR1) to double speed (Tascam) was a clear improvement.