D2P / DoP: D2P stands for DSD to PCM, i.e. converting DSD to PCM before exporting through the S/PDIF digital output, which is the old option available. DoP stands for DSD over PCM. This basically means that the output stream is nominally a PCM stream of e.g. 24bit/176.4kHz, but that the actual data being sent is in DSD format. Sort of like modems sending computer data over a telephone line (if anybody still remembers that), the S/PDIF connection designed for PCM (like the telephone line) is being repurposed to carry a different signal (DSD). If a non-DoP aware device picks up the DoP stream it would output digital rubbish much like what picking up the phone to a fax / modem transmission sounds like, and for much the same reasons. A DoP aware device picking up the DoP stream (that's almost all DSD-capable DACs out there) would receive, decode and play back DSD music data exactly as if the transmission were in DSD format. DoP output should be considered equivalent to native DSD digital output and is indeed the predominant method of natively transmitting DSD data between devices.
If they haven't already done so, I hope FiiO puts up this information somewhere prominently. Otherwise they're letting hard coding effort go to waste... :rolleyes:
