[JaZZ]

 

   
Hi Paul
 
I have the same issue with the Hugo, but not with DAVE... or so I thought! But it turns out that also with DAVE I don't reliably get native DSD from .dff files, whereas .dsf files are o.k. Sometimes foobar takes the selected DFF decoder frequency for playing back PCM.
 
You may want to have a look at the recent posts in the Hugo thread addressing DSD problems with foobar and Chord drivers.

 
Thanks.  I went through that (and 3 other similar 'how toos') to no avail.  I, like you, can't double click on the ASIO drivers.  Also, if I select foo_dsd_asio I get "Unrecoverable playback error: The process receiving or sending data has terminated" when trying to play anything.  I did download a file from that thread and now it seems I can play DSF files if I select "ASIO: ASIO Chord 1.05", not the suggested foobar device. 
 
Oddly enough, my DAVE says 352.8kHz with a DSD64 file on a dark blue background - should it not be pinky/purple? 

 
That means it has been converted to PCM with a sampling rate of 352.8 kHz according to your SACD settings. You have to select «DSD» as ASIO driver mode there.
 
In your profile I see you don't have any other Chord DAC, so the possibility that there's another device selected in the now foo_dsd_asio settings (ASIO proxy 0.8.3) doesn't exist. Are you sure you have your DAVE attached to your computer while trying to acces the foo_dsd_asio component per double-cklick? That's essential in my case: The selected DAC has to be connected. What if you remove the file and reinstall it (may also be per drag & drop)?

 

[bigfatpaulie]

   
That means it has been converted to PCM with a sampling rate of 352.8 kHz according to your SACD settings. You have to select «DSD» as ASIO driver mode there.
 
In your profile I see you don't have any other Chord DAC, so the possibility that there's another device selected in the now foo_dsd_asio settings (ASIO proxy 0.8.3) doesn't exist. Are you sure you have your DAVE attached to your computer while trying to acces the foo_dsd_asio component per double-cklick? That's essential in my case: The selected DAC has to be connected. What if you remove the file and reinstall it (may also be per drag & drop)?

 
 
Thanks for your help.  Yes, the DAVE is, for sure, 100%, connected to my computer.  No, I currently do not have any other DAC connected.
 
If I switch to DSD in the SACD menu I can still play normal FLAC etc and I can 'play' DSD files in the that the slider moves left to right and the timer counts as if it is playing but I get no sound the DAVE shows red and 44.1.
 
As well, switching to DSD in the SACD menu greys out all the options. 
 
Which file are you referring to as far as un/reinstalling?

 

[JaZZ]

  Which file are you referring to as far as un/reinstalling?

 
foo_dsd_asio
 
The solution is quite simple: You just have to get access to the «ASIO proxy 0.8.3»...
 

 
...by double-clicking foo_dsd_asio to select the Chord DAVE driver there.
 
Since according to my experience the selected device has to be connected to get access to the ASIO Proxy, I thought maybe it would allow access without any entry, freshly installed. After all I must have managed to get access to it somehow in the beginning, although I remember that it wasn't a smooth process.

 

[AndrewOld]

I use parametric EQ in JRiver and JRiver is set to TPDF dithering so JRiver always dithers with TPDF. But I believe if you're playing a 16/44 file without DSP and you set your JRiver audio driver output bit depth to 24-bit or 32-bit, JRiver will automatically apply the dither you chose as the dithering method at 24/32-bit. In fact, now I wonder if I should change my output bit depth from 24-bit to 32-bit to see if it works and if there's a sonic difference.

What makes you think that JRiver will dither if you don't use DSP or the JRiver volume control?

I reckon your output bit depth should be 32 because the Chord ASIO driver takes 32 bits,

By all means check this out on the JRiver forum.

 

[bigfatpaulie]

   
foo_dsd_asio
 
The solution is quite simple: You just have to get access to the «ASIO proxy 0.8.3»...
 

 
...by double-clicking foo_dsd_asio to select the Chord DAVE driver there.
 
Since according to my experience the selected device has to be connected to get access to the ASIO Proxy, I thought maybe it would allow access without any entry, freshly installed. After all I must have managed to get access to it somehow in the beginning, although I remember that it wasn't a smooth process.

 
 
I appreciate your help, but no dice...  
 
In components -> playback -> output - ASIO it has a list of three ASIO drivers:
 
ASIO Chord 1.05
foo_dsd_asio
TUSBAudio ASIO Driver
 
(the last one was for my last 2 DAC's).  If I double click on any of them that window does not pop up.  I might as well be clicking on nothing, despite it saying "Doulbe-click an entry to activate the driver's control panel".

 

[JaZZ]

Sorry to hear that. I don't know if that helps, but someone who seems to be the author of the foo_asio_dsd component recommends deleting a registry entry for resetting the ASIO Proxy:
 

Run regedit and remove HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ASIO\foo_dsd_asio key.

 
At least for a user in that forum it has brought access to the ASIO Proxy back.

 

[bigfatpaulie]

  Sorry to hear that. I don't know if that helps, but someone who seems to be the author of the foo_asio_dsd component recommends deleting a registry entry for resetting the ASIO Proxy:
 
 
At least for a user in that forum it has brought access to the ASIO Proxy back.

 
BINGO!  White background, DSD64.
 
You are an absolute legend!  
 
Thank you, Sir!!

 

[JaZZ]

Well made! Glad to hear.

 

[ecwl]

What makes you think that JRiver will dither if you don't use DSP or the JRiver volume control?

I reckon your output bit depth should be 32 because the Chord ASIO driver takes 32 bits,

By all means check this out on the JRiver forum.

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=100095.0

Because Hendrik the administrator says so on his reply to #44.

 

[MacedonianHero]

  That's good to know - thank you.
 
It's official, I hate DSD.  The DAVE is the second DAC I've had a nearly impossible time getting to work consistently.  I'm I alone in my issues with it?  For the record I'm using Foobar2000.

Weird? I'm using the Hugo TT and have zero issues with Tidal, Amarra, or Audirvana with DSD through my iMac. 

 

[Torq]

  Weird? I'm using the Hugo TT and have zero issues with Tidal, Amarra, or Audirvana with DSD through my iMac. 

Can I ask what version of OS X are you using?
 
And what level of DSD are you playing?
 
I cannot, on any of my hardware (all more than powerful enough) get the Chord stuff to play above DSD64 (single rate) without drop-outs.

 

[rkt31]

j river pads the bit output to the maximum supported by the device which is 32bit, even if the flac is only 16bit or 24bit. I don't know if j river adds dither too or plain padding but I have felt that this process of padding changes the sound. the sound is slightly more open and dynamic but with slight extra energy while bit perfect foobar streaming with out any padding or changes sound a bit smoother. I think in j river maximum bits can be manually fixed. foobar is more direct imho and it does not interfere with the bits. dsd is typicality difficult to dream with foobar but once set it is better than j river. with foobar dac need to be connected for dsd playback. may be while installing the chord dac driver it's better to connect the dac. I used sacd decoder plugin for foobar from CNET. it has an executable file which installs the sacd plugin. also a foobar asio component to be installed. after that foobar-dsd-asio to be selected as output and after double clicking select the chord asio driver within that and set the streaming method as native or dop.

 

[AndrewOld]

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=100095.0

Because Hendrik the administrator says so on his reply to #44.

 
Ah, OK I see where you're coming from! But ... the same Hendrik says on Post 8 here: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=89112.0
 
Quote:

  Its important to note that proper dithering doesn't modify the audio signal if it doesn't need to. If you play a 24-bit file with 24-bit output at 100% volume and without any processing, then the dithering does not modify the audio at all, and you achieve bit-perfect playback.

 
 
hence my original question. But your link applies to the more recently introduced  TPDF dithering which it does seem will potentially modify the original signal even if there was no processing. As you point out, Hendrik says:
 

 If you want to be able to output absolutely bitexact at 100% volume, you should use the old "JRiver Bit-exact Dithering" option, which is tuned in such a way that even if its applied, it will not change a signal if its output without *any* changes (same input/output bitdepth, no volume changes or any other DSPs) - hence the Bit-exact in the name.
TPDF is a stronger dithering, and does not have this characteristic.

 
I don't really understand why you would want to add dither to an unmodified signal.
 
Lets say you start with a 24 bit file. JRiver converts this internally to 64 bits and then performs and DSP and volume control using 64 bit arithmetic. But if you don't do any processing those top 48 bits will stay all zeroes. With JRiver TPDF dithering you  have the option of dithering down to 24 bits or to 32. If you dither down to 24 aiui you will be changing the least significant 2 bits of the original 24 bit signal. Why would you want to do that? To add noise? There hasn't been any processing so there's nothing to mask.

 

[Sunya]

Exactly, why would anyone want to add dither to an unchanged file? No more bit perfect playback? The purpose of dither (noise) is to randomize the quantization errors resulted from the truncation of a 24 bit file to 16 bit one. A 16 bit file already has dither in it. 
 
A good dither material:
 
http://downloads.izotope.com/guides/izotope-dithering-with-ozone.pdf

 

[goobicii]

hey,do anybody remember what is that magazine called where Dave was reviewed & measured? i saw it about two months ago but since then I forgot how was it called so I cant find it