[trez0r]

I have a question. I’m not deeply versed in audiophile tech so please help me learn. I was listening to an Apple lossless jazz recording over wifi through the Apple service on my Sp3000 and A18t iems. The sound was harsh at times and I tapped on the DAR button and suddenly, the sound lost all of the harshness and was beautiful in the treble regions. Why?

SP3k with DAR turn on, lossy (?) converts PCM to DSD, by default. U can change to typical upsampling in settings. Those 'smoothness' comes the way DSD works in short - 1bit probe vs 'uniform' intervals...

 

[LukeW]

SP3k with DAR turn on, lossy (?) converts PCM to DSD, by default. U can change to typical upsampling in settings. Those 'smoothness' comes the way DSD works in short - 1bit probe vs 'uniform' intervals...

Thank you for responding. i was trying to get some understanding by going back in this thread and trying to understand the posts that referenced DAR. In the settings it has on/off for DAR and then a PCM choice and a DAR choice. What is the effect of choosing Max PCM vs. Max DSD?

 

[trez0r]

Thank you for responding. i was trying to get some understanding by going back in this thread and trying to understand the posts that referenced DAR. In the settings it has on/off for DAR and then a PCM choice and a DAR choice. What is the effect of choosing Max PCM vs. Max DSD?

Are you curious at the technical level? For 'casual listeners' both methods improve quality of sound - upsampling vs converting. Sonically its depends In short, lossless, hi-res track I choose 'Max PCM', for compressed tracks I prefer 'Max DSD'.

 

[LukeW]

Are you curious at the technical level? For 'casual listeners' both methods improve quality of sound - upsampling vs converting. Sonically its depends In short, lossless, hi-res track I choose 'Max PCM', for compressed tracks I prefer 'Max DSD'.

Would you include FLAC and ALAC in the compressed category or lossless?

 

[trez0r]

Would you include FLAC and ALAC in the compressed category or lossless?

Both should be lossless compressed I mean e.g mp3, mp4, aac...

 

[JasonNYC]

FYI, next firmware update is expected to be released tomorrow, January 24th sometime in the afternoon Korea time (will be around 11 pm tonight here in the US).

If there is a delay for any reason, I will let everyone know.

 

[LukeW]

This is in response to trez0r:

I decided to get a bit more understanding of the tech and so read about PCM. Now I at least know what is meant by uniform interval vs 1 bit, I think. Thank you for being so patient with my lack of knowledge. I can at least see why you’d boost PCM to max with lossless recordings.

 

[corentin]

Just out of curiosity, how would you say a summit-if dap like the sp3000, the cayin n30le or the Hiby rs8 fare against a Hugo 2 to drive a full-sized pair of headphones like the utopia 2022, Diana mr, dca e3, d8000 pro le, caldera, etc?

 

[phiemon]

Just out of curiosity, how would you say a summit-if dap like the sp3000, the cayin n30le or the Hiby rs8 fare against a Hugo 2 to drive a full-sized pair of headphones like the utopia 2022, Diana mr, dca e3, d8000 pro le, caldera, etc?

You will read here that the SP3000 can operate them. Whether it does it "well" or "badly" is up to you. You won't find a better, satisfactory answer. Some think the SP3000 is sufficient, others (like me) think the SP3000 doesn't have a strong AMP. The volume is not the problem, it is the power of the AMP.
My Apple USB-C audio dongle has a higher volume on the PC than the SP3000 (yep, you read that right: the volume is higher with the dongle: with the HD800S I have 10/100 on the pc and 90/150 on the SP3000), but that doesn't mean that it also has a better AMP, just for orientation.

 

[CharlyBrown]

Just out of curiosity, how would you say a summit-if dap like the sp3000, the cayin n30le or the Hiby rs8 fare against a Hugo 2 to drive a full-sized pair of headphones like the utopia 2022, Diana mr, dca e3, d8000 pro le, caldera, etc?

I don’t know the others you mentioned but the Utopia 2022 is known to be a perfect match with the SP3000 and that matches my experience. I’m also interested in the Diana MR, this one should also run off the SP3000 perfectly.

As long as you don’t want to use very low sensitivity headphones like the Susvara and some others, you should be fine.

 

[unclepaulie]

Just out of curiosity, how would you say a summit-if dap like the sp3000, the cayin n30le or the Hiby rs8 fare against a Hugo 2 to drive a full-sized pair of headphones like the utopia 2022, Diana mr, dca e3, d8000 pro le, caldera, etc?

Chiming in. I can drive Stellia no problem on SP3000 as well. Using an aftermarket balanced cable because I feel like that helps give more power compared to single ended. I tried utopia once with the stock single ended cable, I feel like volume not a problem as mentioned before but probably needs the extra power of the balanced out to shine - I don’t have one to try.

edit: based on prior DCA experience, specifically the Ether 2 and Aeon 2, the DAP won’t sound good. They need a proper amp. I’m guessing E3 is the same way.

 

[digger1914]

I have downloaded the update to 1.35CM and Tidal is playing FLAC files instead of the MQA on one of my playlists

 

[npatrix]

I have downloaded the update to 1.35CM and Tidal is playing FLAC files instead of the MQA on one of my playlists

That is on Tidal (they are migrating MQAs into FLACs), I think the update as nothing to do with it.

 

[phiemon]

That is on Tidal (they are migrating MQAs into FLACs), I think the update as nothing to do with it.

Correct, and Tidal is currently still not bit perfect with the SP3000.

 

[Progisus]

Correct, and Tidal is currently still not bit perfect with the SP3000.

It is bit perfect if you don't mind using the embedded app. It would be nice if they communicated with us the limitations of the side loaded app.