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I tested DXD, not DSD

"DSD is a completely different kind of digital encoding. It needs a special kind of DAC."

I didn't test DSD as I don't have a DAC that includes the necessary proprietary decompression and copy protection. This proprietary technology is what I find objectionable. The other aspect of DSD is delta-sigma modulation. That is not something unique to DSD and is used in many DAC chips today, as it is relatively easy to implement in CMOS chips. These chips typically have internal digital signal processing that converts PCM into delta-sigma modulation before sending it to the actual DAC portion of the chip.

I tested DXD, which is 352.8 kHz 24 bit PCM used to edit music in DSD format.

DSD proponents argue that DSD sounds better than 24 bit PCM at 96 Khz and 192 Khz. However, this argument is not particularly applicable at the higher rate of DXD, due to the fact that DSD has to be converted to PCM before it can be mixed or otherwise edited and DXD was specifically designed for that purpose. There may be some SACD albums produced directly from delta-sigma analog to digital converters, but I wouldn't expect to see this except for recordings that are reissues of (already edited) analog master tapes.

Part of the DSD dogma was that the listener gets the same bit stream as produced by the original ADC. In addition to the editing problem there is another little glitch. It has been shown to be impossible to properly dither 1 bit delta-sigma modulation, and consequently the best equipment being used to produce SACDs is using multi-bit converters. The 2L test recordings came from an AX24 which has a 5 bit delta-sigma modulator.

http://www.digitalaudio.dk/ax24.htm

Tony Lauck

"Perception, inference and authority are the valid sources of knowledge" - P.R. Sarkar


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  • I tested DXD, not DSD - Tony Lauck 06/9/0810:33:25 06/9/08 (0)
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