Audirvana, currently for Mac but soon for Windows too offers on the fly PCM to DSD conversion.

This offers significant SQ upgrades. I am currently running the PS Audio Stellar DAC and S300 amp.

What exactly does this sound like, I can best describe as every element is more realistic with better space, impact, decay. You name it, it’s that much better. Why? (1) one reason may be that by converting to DSD, you simplify the processing inside the DAC (assuming you have a sigma delta modulator DAC). PCM gets converted into a pcm/DSD hybrid before the Analog stage anyway in most DACs. (2) As long as you use low slope upsampling you can introduce lower amounts of ringing than straight PCM offers and do less harm.

These are some of the reason behind PS audio designs g the Direcstream DAC. That DAC is currently out of my range but using Audirvana (Roon also does this) can get you partway to major improvements.

My new Triton 3+s sounds amazing with this setup. I recommend anyone with a standard sigma/delta DAC that is DSD compatible to give a try and see. I can help with settings if anyone is interested.

Hi CXP and welcome here!
That is an interesting post.
Got me to looking and reading. I researched it because I really love DSD files.
Not that it applies to me, but you did say that in the future Audirvana would also be able to be used by Windows machines.
Well, in the future I MIGHT have a DAC to feed it to, ha ha.
BUT I searched the site and was surprised that it says it can play DSD files, but does not specify which ones, up to what speed? ALL DSD files?
And nothing at all is mentioned about multi-channel. So is this just POS files, poor old stereo??????
I am guessing so.
In which case, thanks anyway.
God Bless,
Wayne

Hi Cxp. Welcome to the forum.

I'm happy for you that you're getting the excellent results (to your ears and overall perception). No doubt you have nice gear and can get quality sound.

Personally, I've never heard anything DSD that "blows away PCM".

I do realize DSD is theoretically preferable. As you know, there is a minuscule amount of DSD in comparison to PCM. The only DSD I have available to play on my system is a Sony Music Super Audio CD Sampler www.amazon.com/Music-Super-Audio-Sampler-Players/dp/B003UQ4CXC , but I have heard perhaps as much as 50 hours of various DSD recordings on a handful of different systems.

In my case, I specifically purchased a DAC that does not handle DSD but instead focuses solely on PCM - Schiit Yggdrasil. So to your point that "PCM gets converted into a pcm/DSD hybrid before the Analog stage anyway in most DACs", this is not the case with my particular DAC.

Before buying the Yggy I had considered a sony hap z1es, but when I came to learn it "converted" the PCM I decided against it.

The aforementioned said, there is nothing wrong with your suggestion/recommendation that those with a standard sigma/delta DAC that is DSD compatible can try the conversion, hear for themselves and decide.

They keep posting on Facebook that It is close so hopefully in the next month.

I’m not sure about multichannel, this may just be for stereo.

Audirvana can do 1-4x DSD rates. They have about 15 DSD filters so it’s much more robust than Roon.

Another huge bonus with Audirvana is you can annotate track by track songs that have inverted polarity. I have found about half of what I listen to is inverted.

Most certainly this is a DAC by DAC basis, but also the slope has to be tuned properly.

If the system uses aggressive filtering, benefits will be minimized. For instance if you use brick wall filtering during the upsample at 200db/ocatave, there goes the benefit:

I am a strong believer in linear phase filters only (my opinion is that it’s the most natural), others may have different opinions or possibly different sensitivity to the phase anomalies min phase introduces.

As you adjust the slope down you clearly hear the decay of notes increasing sometimes by 2-3 times.

Also the DSD filtering works best at double rate DSD or more and it depends on your filter. There are 15 options in the program, all pushing out the ultrasonic noise out to different amounts.

There is a lot to DSD.

GDHAL wrote:
In my case, I specifically purchased a DAC that does not handle DSD but instead focuses solely on PCM - Schiit Yggdrasil. So to your point that "PCM gets converted into a pcm/DSD hybrid before the Analog stage anyway in most DACs", this is not the case with my particular DAC.

Thanks for the welcome GDHAL, you were certainly wise for picking a PCM centric DAC. Way too many DACS out there use the hybrid approach and so there are huge compromises. I believe what I am descriping is not a salt and peppering but rather a do-no harm approach for those with ESS Sabres, AKM, and typical off-the shelf chip DACS.

I am also lucky that my DAC was voiced for both PCM and DSD. By voiced I mean the power supply and the class A preamp output stage. PS audio also had a great reference, their own Direcstream DAC, which may be the best DSD DAC in the world.