2. digital
  3. 189850-145382

Sound Quality

First off, I am pleading ignorance here, so my apologies up front, but I need some help on figuring out what this digital stuff is all about. It was simple, just to pull out a CD and play it, but with streaming and such, it seems to be a whole different ball of wax.

After finally finishing the remodel on my home, I've have had a bit of time to sit down and listen to my system. My Aurender N200 came with an SD card loaded with music. Most of it is ripped from hybrid SACDs or at 16bit- 44.1kHz "Original Mastering Recording" CDs, (some are DSF files some WAV files, but all sound the same to me). The music sounds flat and dull but when I play the equivalent song on Tidal in 16bit-44.1 kHz it sounds much better.

I have a second SD card  with some HD Tracks CDs at 24 bit-96 kHz that I which sound really good through the N200. Maybe understandable being hi-res, but some say they can't hear a big difference between the two, but I sure can in this instance.

I understand that up sampling, DSD and HQ Player can even bring better sound to the table, but I'm having enough trouble with just the basics here, that stuff is way over my head. 

I'd like to rip a couple of my own CDs to a new SD card and try it to compare with the SD card that came with the N200. What is the best method to do this?

As always, your thought & comments are much appreciated!

128x128navyachts
mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
651 posts
 

there really isn't the need to rip CDs, I guess. That is unless you have something rare that can't be found online. Any other benefits you can muster?

@navyachts that is pretty much my philosophy.

The onboard hardrive is not just for ripped CD's but for music bought online you want files for. For example I can stream Patricia Barber's Clique in hi-res through Qobuz anytime, but since I wanted the highest fidelity possible I bought the DSD512 version online. I have some a few dozen Native DSD albums in .dsf format but my current DAC doesn't yield a sonic advantage to these over regular redbook or hi-res versions streamed, and using an AES cable from my streamer I cannot play them anyway, so they sit on the hard drive unused. If one has a DAC that favours DSD files like T+A gear they may want plenty of .dsf files for critical listening sessions. 

 

navyachts's avatar
navyachts OP
654 posts
 

@mclinnguy so you can buy DSD files and play them as is, you don't need software to do so, just a capable DAC

@audphile1 will the M1 play DSD files? They will sound better, right?

mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
651 posts
 

@navyachts I’ll let @audphile1 answer the question as to whether DSD sounds better on the Bricasti or not, but looking at the specs these are your options:

Digital Inputs XLR: AES/EBU 24 bit Single Wire, BNC: SPDIF, RCA: SPDIF, Optical: Toslink 44.1- 96k, USB 2
Sample Rates AES, SPDIF, AUX in 44.1 kHz, to, 192khz
Sample Rates USB 44.1 kHz, to, 384kHz, DSD 64fs 128Fs 256Fs Native or DoP
Sample Rates Ethernet 44.1 kHz to 384kHz PCM, 64x 128x Native and DoP

https://www.bricasti.com/en/consumer/m1s2_specs.php

so yes, using USB (which you will) you can play up to 256DSD

edit: he already did answer this question: 

Few things based on my experience…it depends on the recording. Not all DSD files are by default better sounding than redbook or hi-res streaming. It also depends on the DAC. You will be able to feed the M1S2 a native DSD signal and take full advantage of the Bricasti DSD DAC.

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,433 posts
 

Agree with @ghdprentice If the files on the drive categorically sound clearly worse than streamed equivalent at CD res, most likely the file contents is  “compromised” in some way. Pretty much anything is possible when producing digital music files FBOFW. Even if they are stored at cd resolution that does not necessarily mean something was not lost or changed significantly somewhere in their history.

navyachts's avatar
navyachts OP
654 posts
 

@mclinnguy Cool, thanks for checking that for me! I have a few 192 & 96 kHz - 24 bit files that I purchased from HD Tracks but no DSD files, so I will have to source some out and give them a try. Where did you buy your Patricia Barber's Clique DSD 512 from?

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