[Radiohead99]

Unless you have heard PCM upsampled to DSD 512 by a very good music server with HQP feeding into a DSD 512 capable dac, you dont know what you are missing out. I am doing this with my T+A dac. I have completely stopped using PCM section of the DAC for the past few years. I had Exasound E22 Mk2 and Lampizator L7 in the past. 
 
In my opinion, just having a powerful PC to upsample to DSD 512 is not enough. You need to feed it clean power, have dedicated USB card, etc to realize what a revelation it is. 

 

[kazcou]

  Thank you for your technical reply.  It helped me better understand how DACs work a little better.  I now see your point.  Perhaps a dumb question...even though R2R to decode DSD is inefficient could it sound better than using Delta Sigma?  A simple analogy is Class A amps versus Class A/B.  Class A amps are very inefficient but I do prefer them.

(like I said :"But you need to remember, the decoder is only doing a part of the work and the preamp section is far more important in the final sound reproduction").
 
A FPGA will decode a DSD file like a normal DSP will do, but it will cost you more time to process the data and also will be more difficulte to set in place, you need to reconfigure you FPGA.
 
 
 
 

  Unless you have heard PCM upsampled to DSD 512 by a very good music server with HQP feeding into a DSD 512 capable dac, you dont know what you are missing out. I am doing this with my T+A dac. I have completely stopped using PCM section of the DAC for the past few years. I had Exasound E22 Mk2 and Lampizator L7 in the past. 
 
In my opinion, just having a powerful PC to upsample to DSD 512 is not enough. You need to feed it clean power, have dedicated USB card, etc to realize what a revelation it is. 

Upsampling PCM to DSD ? It is two differents formats, so you can't do that. You have to do a transcoding, so some informations will be lost and you will also lost all benefits of a R2R DAC !

 

[Tboooe]

 
Upsampling PCM to DSD ? It is two differents formats, so you can't do that. You have to do a transcoding, so some informations will be lost and you will also lost all benefits of a R2R DAC !

I am not sure I understand this statement.  So when PCM is transcoded to DSD with something like HQ Player some information is lost?  How so?  Also, why would you lose the benefits of an R2R DAC if you send it a transcoded DSD signal?

 

[kazcou]

In PCM format for each frequency we have a depth encoded on 8bits or 16bits or 24bits or more
 
When it come to DSD, as it is using only 1bit, you need to use PDM : 1 = the pitch is moving up and 0 = is moving down.
For example in DSD 64 each frequency is sampled 64 times to determinated the depth.
DSD it is still using interpolation, so is not 100% accurate.
 
And for decoding a DSD file natively with a R2R DAC, the DAC is just reconfiguring the FPGA and make it works like a Delta Sigma DAC. It is  loosing all the interest of a multibits DAC, because it is using only 1bit and the depth is determinated by interpolation.

 

[bimmer100]

  any MQA or ROON compatibility in the near future for this DAC ? 

 
 
Actually we are currently looking into this right now! so it's seriously being considered.

 

[Peaceofmind]

On the kitsunehifi.com website, it states "Free shipping for USA customers" but if you look at a checkout for a Holo Spring DAC there is a $130 flat rate shipping charge. Can someone clarify. Will that $130 shipping charge disappear upon completing the transaction for USA customers?

 

[bimmer100]

On the kitsunehifi.com website, it states "Free shipping for USA customers" but if you look at a checkout for a Holo Spring DAC there is a $130 flat rate shipping charge. Can someone clarify. Will that $130 shipping charge disappear upon completing the transaction for USA customers?

its a glitch, it's fixed.
 
and yes, free shipping is ONLY for USA customers. most international customers have to pay 120-130usd. depending. (average)

 

[Peaceofmind]

Thanks!

 

[Pixelplay]

Actually we are currently looking into this right now! so it's seriously being considered.

Will this be implemented into existing new customers already received dac's?

Cheers
Greg

 

[yage]

  In PCM format for each frequency we have a depth encoded on 8bits or 16bits or 24bits or more
 
When it come to DSD, as it is using only 1bit, you need to use PDM : 1 = the pitch is moving up and 0 = is moving down.
For example in DSD 64 each frequency is sampled 64 times to determinated the depth.
DSD it is still using interpolation, so is not 100% accurate.
 
And for decoding a DSD file natively with a R2R DAC, the DAC is just reconfiguring the FPGA and make it works like a Delta Sigma DAC. It is  loosing all the interest of a multibits DAC, because it is using only 1bit and the depth is determinated by interpolation.

 
This post doesn't make any sense.
 
First, DSD64 has a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz * 64 = 2.8224 MHz.
 
Second, if you have any oversampling filter involved, even in an R-2R DAC, you'll always have errors in the interpolation because it's mathematically impossible to create a perfect low pass filter. The only time you'll guarantee that the samples being fed to the DAC are exactly the same as those stored in a lossless file format or disc is if you use a non-oversampling DAC. Even then, there is a tradeoff due to the aliased images affecting the response in the audible frequency range. And yet what does it mean if the samples are different? Basically, a decrease in signal to noise ratio and an increase in harmonic distortion - most likely inaudible if the engineer knows what he's doing.
 
I'm still interested in learning more about how DSD is decoded on the Spring DAC and whether or not there's any filtering of the ultrasonic noise.

 

[bimmer100]

Will this be implemented into existing new customers already received dac's?

Cheers
Greg

More than likely will be for the may DAC mainly. But while looking into this we are seeing if there may be an upgrade module option later down the road to integrate mqa. As of now, just looking into it further

 

[Pixelplay]

Thanks for the update Tim.
How was RMAF?

 

[bimmer100]

Thanks for the update Tim.
How was RMAF?

Rmaf went very well! Many positive impressions of our setup. And our DAC will be at the New York audio show in November too! With headamp again!!!

Out pricing will be changing slightly though. Some of our suppliers in parts have increased prices and we are doing our best to keep pricing low. But the level 3 has some very pricey components in it and after our new orders were placed the costs have gone up significantly. So we are still going to keep price as low as we can manage. Also we might offer the photo rendering of its inner bits as an optional thing to order. At rmaf we had the top chassis panel showing all its wonderful layout in full high resolution print. This may be offered but the pricing may be difficult as some may find the cost to be too much. But the crowd response was very positive! Our cost to print these are not cheap but totally cool! We never intended to offer them as an option but we had a half dozen people wanting to order the DAC with this sticker applied!

 

[oneguy]

How much of a price change are you estimating?

 

[ToroFiestaSol]

Very wise decision to go with Headamp, probably the most transparent headphone amps in the world along with Audio GD stuff. It will show perfectly how capable the DAC is.