[Lucus]

In fact when dealing DSD and HQPlayer, we have the possibility to send native DSD (and the DAC must be able to deal with it = A26 with latest firmware) or to send DSD256 via DoP
What is the best solution soundwise ?

 

[camrector]

In fact when dealing DSD and HQPlayer, we have the possibility to send native DSD (and the DAC must be able to deal with it = A26 with latest firmware) or to send DSD256 via DoP
What is the best solution soundwise ?

I say native always. DoP requires double the rate to create the package. So for DoP your sending DSD512 to play DSD256. For DSD512 you have to send Dsd1024 which your dac might not be capable.

 

[Lucus]

Apparently A26 accept DSD512 on USB. On Spdif/AES it will be DSD256 via my streamer in DoP
Or native if I connect the A26 directly to the network via RJ45...
Is it correct ?
But I also see that the A26 is NOT Roonready, so difficult to use it with Roon...Only with HQ Player ?

 

[taxman2]

You did not answer my question. Have you ever tried JPlay?

 

[camrector]

Apparently A26 accept DSD512 on USB. On Spdif/AES it will be DSD256 via my streamer in DoP
Or native if I connect the A26 directly to the network via RJ45...
Is it correct ?

Sort of.
The AKM chip in the A26 only processes DSD128 and DSD256 natively. DSD64 and DSD512 is either unconverted/downcoverted to these rates.
So send the A26 max DSD256.

Spdif/AES maxes out at DSD64. But with DoP you have to send DSD64 masked as DSD128.

 

[camrector]

You did not answer my question. Have you ever tried JPlay?

Yes with the R26. We found it to be more stable than Mconnect and other upnp player software, but still had lots of drop outs compared to Roon.

 

[Lucus]

I am using presently JPlay only for one reason: It has 2 sorting criterias for my library, MConnect has only one
Soundwise I could not detect any difference....and both have "drop out" (the song suddenly stop, and skip to the next one)

 

[camrector]

I am using presently JPlay only for one reason: It has 2 sorting criterias for my library, MConnect has only one
Soundwise I could not detect any difference....and both have "drop out" (the song suddenly stop, and skip to the next one)

And this goes back to the A26/R26/AH90 having a very weak processor and only 128MB RAM.
Roon doesn’t have the drops

 

[camrector]

I honestly can’t recommend Roon enough. I was a huge hater and thought it was useless before I actually gave it a shot.
It turned Qobuz into a completely better streaming service. 1000s new of amazing tracks that I didn’t know existed, and Qobuz never played were suddenly being played. Roon made Qobuz that much better, I wrote Qobuz an email complaining.
When Roon added ARC for free (allowing you to access your home library from anywhere in the world) I cancelled my Spotify account the next day lol.
It’s beyond worth it.

 

[Libran]

But I also see that the A26 is NOT Roonready, so difficult to use it with Roon...Only with HQ Player ?

No, not only HQ Player - A26/R26 work as Roon Bridge endpoint and uses RAAT protocol like other Roon Ready devices.

 

[camrector]

But I also see that the A26 is NOT Roonready, so difficult to use it with Roon...Only with HQ Player ?

Yeah not true. The R26/A26/Ah90 is optimized to work the best with Roon.

 

[taxman2]

I thought the whole idea was to make computer audio to sound or get close to analogue sound. With oversampling and upscaling you are doing the opposite - getting away from the analogue sound. That is why I choose the hard and more expensive way. I intended to use A26 as a DAC only but its performance is very disappointing comparing to its ancestor the X20.

 

[camrector]

I thought the whole idea was to make computer audio to sound or get close to analogue sound. With oversampling and upscaling you are doing the opposite - getting away from the analogue sound. That is why I choose the hard and more expensive way. I intended to use A26 as a DAC only but its performance is very disappointing comparing to its ancestor the X20.

You are mistaken. Converting to pcm gets the furtherest away from analog sound. Once you convert to pcm then upsampling and applying less steep filters is how you can increase SQ.

Please look at the graph again.
What do you think is closer to analog sound?

 

[camrector]

I thought the whole idea was to make computer audio to sound or get close to analogue sound. With oversampling and upscaling you are doing the opposite - getting away from the analogue sound. That is why I choose the hard and more expensive way. I intended to use A26 as a DAC only but its performance is very disappointing comparing to its ancestor the X20.

Secondly your X20 with its ESSES9028PRO chips internally upsamples at a fixed 211 kHz sample rate.
About 5x the 44.1khz rate of a CD.
You unfortunatly cant bypass this upsampling on your dac.
Your dac is applying a ton of digital processing in its attempt to recreate an analog signal.

 

[kennyb123]

Please look at the graph again.

What is your source for that?