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Classic Standoff between PCM & DSD

Posted by DkB (A) on February 6, 2005 at 15:28:21

In Reply to: Re: results....... posted by DM68 on February 6, 2005 at 12:07:47:

Not to over simplify, but it was very interesting reading Mikel's and DM68's varying descriptions of the type of reproduction they find ideal, when talking about the Meitner vs. Esoteric.

It seems that Mikel is describing the Esoteric as lacking the classic virtues of DSD which cause SACD fans to hail it as the second coming! Mikel says about the Esoteric, "more texture and detail but not in a musically valuable way.....more detail but not a better sense of the reality of that object.....and not coherent in the musical whole. there were times when this 'ultra-detail' did seem to uncover additional musical truth.....but to my ears it was more a musical distraction....soundstage was reduced and much less dimentional.... lacked the smoothness and organic nature of how i imagine correctly recorded live acoustic music to be. the Esoteric lacked the weight and presence the Meitner delivers.....and the Esoteric lacked the drive and flow that is essential to my musical enjoyment.
....," all classic DSD virtues.

On the other hand DM68 seems to rave about the classic PCM qualities of precision, clear-cut soundstage definition and detail in the Esoteric that make PCM fans reject DSD: "The soundstage, the precision, the rythm, and the instruments timbers are in my opinion, for the first time, true.....I have the feeling this combo respects what is on the record without any added colorations."

I sometimes hear a good high-rez PCM recording and admire that razor-sharp definition, and how it seems to live in a different world than DSD. In the TAS review of the X-01, the reviewer also mentioned that many listeners will go for the type of high-definition sound produced by the DSD-PCM conversion. I don't think either the TAS X-01 nor Mikel's loan unit was not fully warmed up. Some listeners just go for the PCM sound and others for DSD.

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