(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=243351) | An example is Shaun Colvin’s 1996 album A Few Small Repairs. Halfway through the first track “Sonny Came Home”, Shaun accompanies herself in a quiet background chorus. The chorus in the upsampled version is ethereal and floating rather than a flat L-Center-R presentation. |
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=243350) | Percussion and bells in the excellently recorded Planet Drum by Mickey Hart are sharp, clear, shimmer and hang in the air without any added harshness. The bass drum in the track “Temple Caves" rolls through the room with authority. A couple of friends came over for a listening session, everyone was quiet and focused on the music but when the bass drum hit one of the guys was so surprised that he exclaimed WOW. |
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=243348) | Albums that have actual dynamic range with low level information are enhanced the most. A poorly made studio recording remains horrible. Nothing can help Jeff Beck’s Blow by Blow, I think upsampling made it sound worse by exposing its flaws. The SACD of Blow by Blow sounds a lot better. DSD has a slightly different presentation; I would define it as mellower. |
I was beginning to wonder if I was the only person on AC using HQPlayer.
Very nice build Anand. I have been building my own computers since the stone age when the Cyrix processors were popular. I opted for a fanless design because my server is in a small living room so no updampled DSD512 for me.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics processor seems to be the preferred choice to do DSD512 using ASDM5ECv2, are you converting PCM to DSD?
With Windows 11, DSD 256 is highly stable and DSD 512 is mostly stable. My colleagues who have the same configuration running on a Linux platform seem to have less glitches on DSD 512. So I may switch to Linux in the near future.
I don’t really know how many fellas on AC understand how much digital has advanced to be honest. Many I feel are still in the stone ages, chasing disc spinners and such.
May I pick your brains with a few basic questions?
My iOS computers are ~8 to 10 years old. Can I achieve anything DSD256 with them, or is it time to purchase a new very powerful computer? Is the currently most powerful MacBook Pro with 32Gbs of RAM powerful enough? What about the fastest Mac Mini?
I have two SSDs of SACD files. Can I play them to a satisfying level using the Spring without using any of the above mentioned software? [My NOS DAC is unable to play them.]
Can I begin using HQPLAYER without also adding Roon?
A big thank you to both Wayne and Anand for chatting about your experiences with the Holo May KTE DAC, HQPlayer, etc.
Just 24 hours ago, I <finally > quit waffling :roll: over which DAC to try next, and ordered a spanking new Holo Spring 3 KTE w/volume control. Ostensibly, this will be placed in a secondary system in which a single box DAC powering a SS amp is desirable. [Of course, I’ll try the Spring in my main system with and without my D Sachs preamp.] I do not have HQPlayer, Roon, nor JRiver. [I’m still in the stone age.] I use aging iOS computers to play music from SSDs, discs on my CDT, and stream Tidal.
May I pick your brains with a few basic questions?
My iOS computers are ~8 to 10 years old. Can I achieve anything DSD256 with them, or is it time to purchase a new very powerful computer? Is the currently most powerful MacBook Pro with 32Gbs of RAM powerful enough? What about the fastest Mac Mini?
I have two SSDs of SACD files. Can I play them to a satisfying level using the Spring without using any of the above mentioned software? [My NOS DAC is unable to play them.]
Can I begin using HQPLAYER without also adding Roon?
I thank you in advance for any assistance you can offer.
Michael
My iOS computers are ~8 to 10 years old. Can I achieve anything DSD256 with them, or is it time to purchase a new very powerful computer? Is the currently most powerful MacBook Pro with 32Gbs of RAM powerful enough? What about the fastest Mac Mini?
I have two SSDs of SACD files. Can I play them to a satisfying level using the Spring without using any of the above mentioned software? [My NOS DAC is unable to play them.]
Can I begin using HQPLAYER without also adding Roon?
I agree that if it goes much further, however, it should be broken out into a separate thread so as to avoid detracting from WGH's excellent review.
The harder part is finding high quality, high resolution/bit-depth IR files capturing such [cathedral sized] acoustic spaces.
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=244965) | Innocense - Hoff Ensemble – Polarity album |
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=244966) | Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor - Christian Grøvlen - BACH – Inside Polyphony album |
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=244968) | Arnesen: MAGNIFICAT 4. Et misericordia - Nidarosdomens jentekor & TrondheimSolistene |
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=245148) | Bach Cello Suites - Zuill Bailey - vinyl, SACD and all formats from 44.1kHz to DSD256, volume 1 & 2 sold separately, I like volume 1 the best but get both. Recorded, Mixed and Mastered using Five/Four REVEAL SDM DSD Technology. https://www.psaudio.com/products/bach-cello-suites/ (https://www.psaudio.com/products/bach-cello-suites/) and at Amazon |
mresseguie - did your Spring come yet? I think you had talked about your SW1X vs the Spring 2 - I am eager to hear your feelings relative to the spring 3.
WGH - I have thought about that kit a lot. Good info on it - thanks.
I'll eventually sell my SW1X DAC III+ to free up funds for <more?!?> acquisitions in 2023.
This thread will probably scare away anyone still using a CD player. As we get older, so do the CD players and people are always surprised to find out how expensive new audiophile quality CD players can be. A music server is about the same price with much better sound, by leaps and bounds, than an equally priced player. Add a DAC to a server and it's not a fair comparison at all. Yes, a DAC can be used with a player too but sound is still 44.1 kHz (no hi-res) and limited to whatever cheap parts are inside the expensive player. I used a CD player until 10 years ago, even though I upgraded preamps, amps, and cables the sound quality of my system was always limited by how much I could spend on a CD player, which was $400. A music server revealed how much music the CD players left behind on the silver disks.