I've been playing around with my ModWright LLC Pioneer Elite DV-59AVi settings for the past several days. It uses three Burr Brown 1738E DACs which feed into two AD8620 operational amplifiers. I have the option of using the proprietary Pioneer HiBit and Legato PRO features which convert 16-20bit word lengths to 24bit and 44.1-48kHz sampling frequencies up to 352.8kHz (after which the Shannon-Nyquist thereom takes into effect).
With regard to Red Book CDs only, I have conclusively found that native 44.1kHz/16bit sounds more natural with greater precision in terms extracting low-level information, clarity, and immediacy. The music sounds so life-like and natural. In my humble opinion, it exceeds the CARY Audio Design 303/200 and is on par with the Meridian G08 that I have auditioned it against at my local Hi-Fi shops. Even the owners of the shop had to agree with me and they asked me more about my particular source component. What strikes me is that nothing in particular stands out: the whole musical communication is so transparant, detailed, nuanced, and alive that I am still dumbstruck by its ability to seduce me into the musical experience itself without effort.
When I do turn on the HiBit and Legato PRO features, the sound changes radically. To my ears, I can not tell the difference between 192kHz/24bit Red Book CD and my AIX Records 192kHz/24bit DVD-Audio discs that were recorded and mastered at that native resolution. Music becomes much more holographic and three dimensional with a greater sense of spaciousness and fewer aliasing jaggies throughout the audible frequency spectrum allowed by my Ue-10 PRO. Trebles are far more extended and airy with a greater capture of ambience cues such as the recording venue's dimensions. Midrange extends futher in terms of front to back imaging depth and there are fewer compression folds so to speak. Bass extension goes down further with greater low level retrieval and there is a far lower noise floor inherent in the music.
It is my opinion that either 44.1kHz/16bit or 192kHz/24bit sounds far more precise and musical than 2.822MHz/1bit DSD. Transients do not suffer from gloss, dynamic shading and micro-dynamics come through more freely, and there is a nearly inaudible noise floor. To my ears, DSD can not seem to overcome these limitations in sound due to its architecture. For the record, my ModWright LLC Pioneer Elite DV-59AVi does not perform DSD->PCM conversion nor does it employ steep filters whatsoever. It uses purely discrete signal lanes and the triple TI Burr Brown 1738E DAC can discriminate and process the SONY DSD generation II DAC signal independently of PCM.
In conclusion, I can see where preferences become very important in determining whether 44.1kHz/16bit or 192kHz/24bit is "superior or inferior," but there leaves little doubt in my mind that 2.822MHz/1bit DSD sounds "incorrect" for the above stated reasons.
With regard to Red Book CDs only, I have conclusively found that native 44.1kHz/16bit sounds more natural with greater precision in terms extracting low-level information, clarity, and immediacy. The music sounds so life-like and natural. In my humble opinion, it exceeds the CARY Audio Design 303/200 and is on par with the Meridian G08 that I have auditioned it against at my local Hi-Fi shops. Even the owners of the shop had to agree with me and they asked me more about my particular source component. What strikes me is that nothing in particular stands out: the whole musical communication is so transparant, detailed, nuanced, and alive that I am still dumbstruck by its ability to seduce me into the musical experience itself without effort.
When I do turn on the HiBit and Legato PRO features, the sound changes radically. To my ears, I can not tell the difference between 192kHz/24bit Red Book CD and my AIX Records 192kHz/24bit DVD-Audio discs that were recorded and mastered at that native resolution. Music becomes much more holographic and three dimensional with a greater sense of spaciousness and fewer aliasing jaggies throughout the audible frequency spectrum allowed by my Ue-10 PRO. Trebles are far more extended and airy with a greater capture of ambience cues such as the recording venue's dimensions. Midrange extends futher in terms of front to back imaging depth and there are fewer compression folds so to speak. Bass extension goes down further with greater low level retrieval and there is a far lower noise floor inherent in the music.
It is my opinion that either 44.1kHz/16bit or 192kHz/24bit sounds far more precise and musical than 2.822MHz/1bit DSD. Transients do not suffer from gloss, dynamic shading and micro-dynamics come through more freely, and there is a nearly inaudible noise floor. To my ears, DSD can not seem to overcome these limitations in sound due to its architecture. For the record, my ModWright LLC Pioneer Elite DV-59AVi does not perform DSD->PCM conversion nor does it employ steep filters whatsoever. It uses purely discrete signal lanes and the triple TI Burr Brown 1738E DAC can discriminate and process the SONY DSD generation II DAC signal independently of PCM.
In conclusion, I can see where preferences become very important in determining whether 44.1kHz/16bit or 192kHz/24bit is "superior or inferior," but there leaves little doubt in my mind that 2.822MHz/1bit DSD sounds "incorrect" for the above stated reasons.
It is invented by Phillips and why in the world would they invent something worse twenty years later?
