[Pieterv]

In order to solve a minor problem with another device I would appreciate confirmation of the source of the sample rate that is displayed on my Nuprime IDA-16. 44.1 / 96 / 192 / etc.

I had assumed it was a direct measurement of the sample rate of the audio stream the DAC is processing. It has been suggested that this reading is actually being derived from metadata and therefore even if 44.1 is being displayed, the actual stream can / could be 96 KHz. Judging from the zero reduction in sound quality when playing Hi-Rez files, I suspect the analysis is correct.  The files being played are PCM using SPDIF.

Thanks

[triumph]

Easy to confirm.

Use one file, say a 44.1.  Duplicate it. Change metadata of the copied one to say 96. Play both files one after the other.

Depending on material played, components used and the state of one's "golden ears", it is not always easy to discern between 44.1, 48, 96, ...

Like some people truly believe that up sampling any file they have to DSD rates will somehow magically make their music sound better.

I tried it, and on some songs, it really sounds awful.

[rustydoglim]

Agree. Don't anyhow up sample your music.

Back to answering the question.
There are two ways to determine the sampling rate:

1. Use meta data from the source music. If the meta data is wrong or the source does not contain any sampling rate data, then NuPrime device will not display the correct sampling rate.  Even if the display does not show the correct sampling rate, the decoding will not be affected. The actual sampling rate is detected during the decoding process. Products using this method are: IDA-16, DAC-10 and uDSD

2. Use SRC (sampling rate converter implemented in FPGA) to detect the clock of the source music to determine sampling rate. Products using this method are: IDA-8, IDA-6 and DAC-9.

[Pieterv]

Thank you very much. I'll have a look at altering / playing around with metadata over the weekend to see what happens. But I suspect you have answered my question.

And yes, I agree about hearing differences in sampling rates. Among the Hi-Rez test files I played was a sample from Dr Aix and being a beautifully recorded 24 bit file, 44.1 probably does sound as good as 96. I'm a relative newbie to the world of digital but Mark Waldrep's posts and a fascinating series from the people at Benchmark Audio really seem to confirm my ears. The device in question that I've added is a miniDSP DDRC-22D which has a fixed output of PCM at 96KHz. It is now down the chain (QNAP TS-451; Windows 10 ROON Server running on an ASUS VC60; Auralic Aries; Nuprine IDA-16; Vienna Beethoven Baby Grands; Cat 6 Ethernet and KLE interconnects) between the Aries and The IDA-16.

I had expected the correct sample rate to be displayed on the IDA-16 because I have a couple of DSD albums which I get ROON to down-sample to 24/192 and the IDA-16 correctly displays 192. BTW I'm really impressed with the difference made to an already very nice sounding system by the DDRC-22D. It really helps in a very awkward room with a couple of unpleasant peaks at around 40Hz

Thanks again

P