SQ pecking order: DSD, then MQA, then hi res, then cd quality. But it also depends on the mastering process.
DSD coming to Qobuz streaming?
It looks like DSD files will soon stream on Qobuz - this may take some of the wind out of the sails of HDTracks and MQA. Some DSD recordings are already available for download, such as this classic from Boston.
I checked with Qobuz directly and was told there will be "an official announcement soon."
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It is mostly smoke and mirrors. Your statement can’t be correct because it is impossible to master in DSD, so if it is recorded as DSD, and very little is, then it has to be converted to PCM for mastering, then back to DSD. Almost everything released as DSD was recorded as analog or PCM then converted to DSD. Even if recorded as DSD it was almost certainly DSD64 so anything released at a higher rate was converted. Most DACs then take these DSD files and convert them even further either to high rate PCM (Mola Tambaqui) or upsample them to higher DSD rates (EMM, PS Audio, DCS, and others) notice the pattern? These DSD files which so many covet are almost always converted from something else when produced and often multiple times, and then converted even further when you play them back, So the idea that DSD is somehow inherently superior is mostly smoke and mirrors since you are very rarely listening to something that hasn’t been processed and converted multiple times. And of course, the Boston DSD referenced by the OP, like most DSD available, had to be converted to DSD because DSD didn't exist back then. |
@herman I read that NativeDSD found a way without conversion in DSD 256. |
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