[Steve Guppy]

Are you talking about revonext Q5?

No, FiiO Q5 DAC & headphone amp

 

[Seazer]

As @WitzyZed correctly mentioned, there may be license DRM issues with that if Neutron implements some kind of PCM routing, it may be prohibited. If there would be some kind of server software on PC which would declare itself as audio card and provided some streaming address over http then you could connect Neutron to it via Streaming -> [+] category.

@Seazer, Replay Gain is normalization by loudness (RMS), Peak is normalization by audio sample max peak (e.g. audio data will not be overloaded and will use full dynamic range, RMS normalization will not use full dynamic range).

So for max sound quality I should use the peak normalization? Should I keep the LUFS at the default -14? And should oversampling be on or off for all to DSD?

 

[WitzyZed]

So for max sound quality I should use the peak normalization? Should I keep the LUFS at the default -14? And should oversampling be on or off for all to DSD?

OverSampling setting doesn’t make an appreciable or detrimental difference on the output for all to DSD (to my ears). I leave it on, 2x.

 

[bobbooo]

As @WitzyZed correctly mentioned, there may be license DRM issues with that if Neutron implements some kind of PCM routing, it may be prohibited. If there would be some kind of server software on PC which would declare itself as audio card and provided some streaming address over http then you could connect Neutron to it via Streaming -> [+] category.

Thanks, but I've tried this with several programs (Scream, via an IP address and port, see here: https://github.com/duncanthrax/scream, and BroadWave, see here: https://www.nch.com.au/streaming/index.html) and it doesn't work - it just says 'Failed' in Neutron. Any ideas how to get this to work?

 

[Steve Guppy]

I really like the Normalisation feature, but also like to EQ. I use a range of IEM'S and devices and like to change the EQ for the different sound signatures. Is there any way of implementing this feature, and still changing the EQ for different devices while still listening to the same album? Im guessing not? @dmitrykos, or anyone, feel free to reply

 

[Seazer]

If my dac already is doing 2x oversampling, and I set oversampling in Neutron to 2x, does that essentially mean it's doing 4x oversampling?

 

[buonassi]

it depends, but typically, yes. What DAC do you have? Normally delta sigma DACs oversample 8x for all PCM streams up to 192khz. Which means even 192 is oversampled 8x (4 rounds of interpolation). If fed higher than 192, then only 1 round of interpolation takes place. This is of course a generalization based on a typical DAC chip as implemented 4 years ago. DACs have 'evolved' since then.

But an ear studio set to 2x oversampling (hardware), being fed 2x oversampled (software) stream, will essentially yield a waveform that looks like the original sample rate that went through 4x oversampling (3 rounds of interpolation).

 

[buonassi]

I'm having great sound with the new 'all to DSD' function. I've always liked the sound of bypassing the chips 'PCM to DSD conversion' process and sending the stream direct to the modulator. Just sounds smoother and less "digital". Hard to describe.

I'm curious though how taxing this is on the CPU of my DX150. Man does it get hot!

 

[Seazer]

it depends, but typically, yes. What DAC do you have? Normally delta sigma DACs oversample 8x for all PCM streams up to 192khz. Which means even 192 is oversampled 8x (4 rounds of interpolation). If fed higher than 192, then only 1 round of interpolation takes place. This is of course a generalization based on a typical DAC chip as implemented 4 years ago. DACs have 'evolved' since then.

But an ear studio set to 2x oversampling (hardware), being fed 2x oversampled (software) stream, will essentially yield a waveform that looks like the original sample rate that went through 4x oversampling (3 rounds of interpolation).

What combination of oversampling do you think is ideal? I have the option of 2x to 16x in Neutron, and 2x to 4x on my ES100

 

[buonassi]

I have to think that the software oversampling (interpolation) in neutron will be superior to that of the ES100. If I were to guess. I'd probably just set it to 4x oversampling, and let ES100 to 1x oversampling (or NOS if that's an option).

All DACs are a little different. And the changes are often so subtle it's not really worth all the effort for the return.

I do think there is an appreciable difference when converting to DSD in software if you're sending it to a typical DAC chip. Is it better? Dunno, I think so. It's certainly a bit different and has very pleasing transients.

 

[superuser1]

I tried attaching the iDSD BL to my OP3T and Honor 8 Pro but the All to DSD function didn't show up. Still scratching my head!!

 

[Seazer]

I have to think that the software oversampling (interpolation) in neutron will be superior to that of the ES100. If I were to guess. I'd probably just set it to 4x oversampling, and let ES100 to 1x oversampling (or NOS if that's an option).

All DACs are a little different. And the changes are often so subtle it's not really worth all the effort for the return.

I do think there is an appreciable difference when converting to DSD in software if you're sending it to a typical DAC chip. Is it better? Dunno, I think so. It's certainly a bit different and has very pleasing transients.

It is my understanding that dithering is for when you are downsampling something like from 24bit to 16 bit. In that case it should be turned off in Neutron because you aren't downsampling? It will just raise the noise floor? Am I correct?

 

[dmitrykos]

I really like the Normalisation feature, but also like to EQ. I use a range of IEM'S and devices and like to change the EQ for the different sound signatures. Is there any way of implementing this feature, and still changing the EQ for different devices while still listening to the same album? Im guessing not? @dmitrykos, or anyone, feel free to reply

If you normalize by Peak then not possible because obviously different EQ preset changes the volume of the sound. But if you normalize by Replay Gain to have equally loud tracks then Neutron allows changing EQ because Replay Gain normalization has -14 dB gap for that (+-, you can adjust it).

 

[dmitrykos]

So for max sound quality I should use the peak normalization? Should I keep the LUFS at the default -14? And should oversampling be on or off for all to DSD?

LUFS is for Replay Gain normalization only. Oversampling will be noop in case of All To DSD because Neutron will do oversampling anyway (to 176.4 kHz) before PCM goes for conversion to DSD.

 

[dmitrykos]

It is my understanding that dithering is for when you are downsampling something like from 24bit to 16 bit. In that case it should be turned off in Neutron because you aren't downsampling? It will just raise the noise floor? Am I correct?

Neutron will not apply Dithering if it is not required, e.g. no bit truncation happens for the PCM output. It is desirable (lowers SNR) still to apply dithering when gong from floating point PCM to integer representation due to specifics of conversion. Since the next update though Dithering will affect All To DSD because there it applies additional noise which helps to avoid noise modulation from the input data, so it is a bit different story in comparison with PCM but still it is Dithering.