My Korg DC-DAC-100 arrived...it took me longer than necessary to install because I was using the printed manual. There is a much simpler manual in the
installer downloads bundle.
Some quick notes for them that bought... feel free to ignore:
If you unzip the archive then go to the "Manual" Folder, then DS 10_100_100m, then choose Advanced Guide and pick your language. Who'd of thought the advanced guide was actually the simple guide in proper English. I installed lots more than I had to and had to uninstall. As the Advanced Guide Says...just install the DS-DAC driver (for windows in my case), then plug in the DAC. It should work perfectly as a windows DAC at this point. Then install Audiogate 4 for the Hi-Def DSD functionality.
The KORG USB driver has a control panel where you can switch from PCM to DSD...and the DSD only works within Audiogate...so when you close Audiogate be sure to switch the driver back to PCM mode or you get no sound in windows.
Ist Sound Impressions: Within Audiogate you can upsample and convert all sorts of audio files on the fly, either in PCM or DSD. It appears you can also export them in the new format. On my preliminary listening to my small library of FLAC files...the DSD sound different, and most of the time better. Perhaps a little more detailed and more musical..warmer less strident. I do not think they should sound different when I switch from lossless to lossless formats, so I can't explain it. The built in headphone amp will not handle really tough phones, but sounds very nice on my new Monoprice M1060s.
The Korg will be fun to play with..the software seems easy and flexible. The Dac is all aluminum and feels/looks nice. I will let others with better ears breakdown the DSD vs PCM sound. You can switch between playback modes very quickly to compare.