My Lumin T3 has the option to upscale everything to DSD 64, 128 or 256. While I haven’t upscaled hi-res sources (e,g. > 24-96) to DSD I have done so with redbook and 24-48. To be honest, while the effect was a "smoothing" of the sound, it seemed that the highs (especially the rides and cymbal decay) were dulled and rolled off a touch, and I preferred the native bit depth and rate. If one has a bright and/or strident system this might be a good option, but after listening I leave everything native. On my system it is a pretty subtle difference between native and upscaling to DSD256 though. Of course YMMV.
DSD Remastering Software Experience
My Sony TA-ZH1ES DAC has a feature called DSD Remastering that works with any type of file you send it. The effect is it noticeably smooths out the music making it sound closer to analog. Last night I did a comparison with an actual SACD (Bob James-Feel Like Making Live) with DSD Remastering turned off and a streamed version of the same tracks from Tidal with DSD Remastering turned on. The differences were so minute I had to listen very carefully to tell the difference. The SACD was about 10% closer to sounding like a live performance in that you could notice the acoustics of the studio they used and the decay of piano notes, bass strings, cymbal brushes hung in the air just a tiny bit longer. I was using a Paradigm Link as a streamer in this comparison. With a different streamer the differences might even be closer to the actual SACD.
DSD sounds better than any other digital format I have listened to. Has anyone else used a DSD Remastering/upmixer and care to share their experience? I know both Marantz and Onkyo have their own proprietary products that do something similar.
I was not expecting the comparison to be this close and am a bit surprised that streaming can sound almost as good as an actual SACD (which are limited in availability and expensive).
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@lalitk I fail to see ‘obvious reasons’ to avoid upsampling.’ My DAC (Schiit Yggdrasil) upscales automatically, and my Internet Radio AAC, and 320 kps data streams sound better than many of my CDs or albums. I am highly satisfied with the quality of the upscaled audio for most casual listening. I don’t listen to streams quite so critically as I do sources in my possession, and I forgive the occasional long pause as the price of music for free over the Internet. Jeremiah
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@lalitk +1 — I’m now using an R2R DAC that can upsample or I can use in NOS mode and I prefer the latter. The differences aren’t huge, but they’re there so to my ears less is sometimes more. I do recognize that in audio there’s almost always more than one way to effectively do things, so if a delta-sigma DAC upsamples and works for you, more power to ya. Just enjoy the music however it sounds good to you is what I say. |
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