Playback Designs MPD3 Audition

Hi Zugisland

Yes indeed the MPD 3 does internal up-sampling and when I said I was up-sampling it I meant the software player (in this case Audirvana) was doing the up-sampling. Why would it sound different than its internal up-sampling? - different up-sampling algorithms perhaps and I have also read jitter is improved if you feed a DAC at a higher sampling rate. Exactly why it sounds better I don't think anyone knows for sure but sound better it does - it has been verified by quite a few people that heard it.

Like I said when reading these comparisons you will find different results depending on preferences and system synergies - all such things mean is if a DAC that comes out on top it might be worthwhile seeking it out and listening to it. But of course auditioning has to stop somewhere and if you feel you have done enough then by all means stop your search and get the DAC you like best.

Thanks
Bill

I am trying to stay out of this discussion as much as possible as opinions are very personal.

However, the mistake is to let anything other than a good DAC do the upsampling. No computer software program can do as good a job as a good DAC.

Bill, you might want to try it again having our DAC handle every part of the conversion.

Jonathan Tinn
Playback Designs
info@playbackdesigns.com

Jon

I think that some software like JPlay can do an offline conversion that's supposed to be very good. It's not done in real time however and the resulting file is pretty large but some have reported better results with such software conversion.

This was covered in Absolute Sound magazine from a couple of issues back.

The Absolute Sound was wrong.

Hi Johnathan

I have used up-sampling on many DAC's and fully appreciate its effects. In every case I can recall software upsampling sounded better - some benefiting more than others. For some reason the PD is one of the DAC's it made a big difference with.

I am not the only one to hear it with your DAC eg here is what one person posted:

'And yep, it changes a lot with upsampling. I took it all the way to 352.8kHz (8 x 44.1) with both CoreAudio and Izotope SRCs in Audirvana Plus 1.3.5. The top end gained in clarity and sparkle, the bottom end in stomp and bite. Sounded pretty decent.'

Is your view based on listening tests or a theoretical analysis?

Thanks
Bill