@audioisnobiggie The N200 sounds fine. Thanks for your thoughts on WAV over FLAC. I am re-ripping my CD library in WAV files and using dBpoweramp to do so.
I ordered the inexpensive DSD sampler from Native DSD and give it a try.
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!
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@sandthemall - lossless IS lossless. Bit to bit. Decompressed file is exactly the same as it was before compression. Think about zip compression. Your word document is exactly the same after decompression, nothing is lost. Similarly, you can zip Wav files and then unzip it and it will come out exactly the same. There is strong math behind lossless compression. It does not drop any bits. |
The theory is that the act of decompressing a file somehow affects the sound by creating temporal delays resulting in jitter. It a few years ago but someone claimed blind listening tests showed thar WAV files were superior in sound. I don’t know from any listening tests I’ve participated in so I went with WAV just in case there is something to this (storage is cheap). The manufacturer of my server—Naim—recommends WAV files, another reason to go in that direction for me. |
@mikhailark @larryi OK, thanks, I am riding the WAV! |
Also want to point out that at least in the early days, DSD promoters were caught cheating by juicing up DSD releases via significant added EQ.
Also, while talking about DSD, please check out the small but mighty Blue Coast Records. |
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