TidalWave
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- Joined
- Jun 7, 2014
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I really apologize if this is a dead horse I'm picking at, but I've read this article recently:
https://www.mojo-audio.com/blog/dsd-vs-pcm-myth-vs-truth/
and have been trying to find more information about the type of DAC that will be suitable for me. I actually did not know much about DSD before reading that page (searching for DSD is how I found it), and it might well be a biased article, since it is after all advertising their own product at the end. But anyway, I did take away a point the article made--I think, unless I misunderstood:
DACs that use native DSD decoding are best with DSD encoded source files. Such DACs process PCM encoded files in some inferior way due to conversions. At least that's what I've gathered--is that right? Now the question is, which DACs have good enough processors that have the more common nowadays native PCM encoding in high quality and are budget-friendly.
I actually have never looked at my music collection to see if PCM or DSD encoding is prevalent, and a lot of my library is mp3s shared by friends over the years, which is sub-optimal quality already. Based on what the article says, I gather that the percent of properly encoded DSD source material I have is about zero. If I do have some CDs that either have reasonable quality DSD encoding or can be converted to DSD, it still will be a small percent of my collection.
Should I then basically stay away from good budget DAC/amps such as Topping NX4 DSD which has native DSD decoding chip (XMOS XU208)?
http://www.tpdz.net/en/products/nx4dsd/index.htm
There's a non-DSD older version of this DAC/amp, but no word on what DAC processor is used, whether it's also a native DSD decoder.
Thanks in advance for any explanations and advice.
https://www.mojo-audio.com/blog/dsd-vs-pcm-myth-vs-truth/
and have been trying to find more information about the type of DAC that will be suitable for me. I actually did not know much about DSD before reading that page (searching for DSD is how I found it), and it might well be a biased article, since it is after all advertising their own product at the end. But anyway, I did take away a point the article made--I think, unless I misunderstood:
DACs that use native DSD decoding are best with DSD encoded source files. Such DACs process PCM encoded files in some inferior way due to conversions. At least that's what I've gathered--is that right? Now the question is, which DACs have good enough processors that have the more common nowadays native PCM encoding in high quality and are budget-friendly.
I actually have never looked at my music collection to see if PCM or DSD encoding is prevalent, and a lot of my library is mp3s shared by friends over the years, which is sub-optimal quality already. Based on what the article says, I gather that the percent of properly encoded DSD source material I have is about zero. If I do have some CDs that either have reasonable quality DSD encoding or can be converted to DSD, it still will be a small percent of my collection.
Should I then basically stay away from good budget DAC/amps such as Topping NX4 DSD which has native DSD decoding chip (XMOS XU208)?
http://www.tpdz.net/en/products/nx4dsd/index.htm
There's a non-DSD older version of this DAC/amp, but no word on what DAC processor is used, whether it's also a native DSD decoder.
Thanks in advance for any explanations and advice.