First off, I agree that DSD doesn't have a big future. Most of the music being recorded in DSD today is classical. If you like classical you can even get quite a decent library as downloads. Otherwise, there isn't much to get.
I think a lot of the excitement about DSD is coming from audiophiles who have a large or reasonably large investment in SACD. For them the DSD DACs are quite a boon, now that they have a way to rip the SACD/DSD to HD. IMO, these rips sound better than the SACD they came from. Plus it adds the convenience of computer audio for the owners of these discs. There are enough of these people around to make it useful for high end audio companies to add DSD capabilities to DACs. These expensive DACs sell in small absolute numbers anyway, so adding the buyers who are interested in DSD is worthwhile for these companies. In other words, I think it is a logical business decision on their part, not just cynical "check box marketing". And don't forget, the companies that don't jump on board with DSD now risk losing customers to companies who do, so that's another incentive for them. As far as sound quality, I think native DSD recordings sound fantastic when well done. Some of my classical recordings are probably the most natural, best sounding recordings of any type I have - including other hi-res (example: the Mahler symphonies from Blue Coast in DSD). I also have some analog>DSD conversions that sound wonderful. To my ears, DSD is better for this than PCM - the result just sounds more natural and analog-like. So purely in terms of SQ, I think there is a legitimate place for DSD. Yes, a lot of SACDs are made from upsampled Redbook or analogue. Deriving them from upsampled PCM is a rip-off. But as I stated, I think DSD derived from analog is a very legitimate use, and from my reckoning, of about 8000 SACDs in existence, about 1500 are recorded in native DSD. Many of these SACDs still aren't available in any other hi-res format. So I don't see the problem with either the native DSD ones or the SACD/DSD derived from analog. All that said, I do think the future of hi-res is in 24/96 and 24/192. And I certainly have no problem with that. I just wish there was more new and archive material available in properly done hi-res. GIK Acoustics Room Treatments. Tranquil PC fanless server running Windows 7; SB Touch slaved to Empirical Audio Pace Car; Mytek 192 DSD DAC;Custom Desinged Class AB control amp; Devore Gibbon 9 Speakers; Dual 506 + Ortofon M20 (occasional use); sometimes use PC with M-Audio 192 as digital source. SB Boom in second room. Arcam CD82 which I don't use anymore, even though it's a very good player. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ firedog's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=11550 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=98482 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
