Consensus Forming on the Sound of DSD?

mep · Feb 10, 2013

I think that just maybe I'm starting to see a consensus form on the sound of DSD by those who listen to both analog and digital. The same words keep popping up with regards to how DSD sounds more like analog than sounding like digital. There is a level of ease and naturalness with DSD that escapes all other digital formats that I have listened to and is more reminiscent of how great analog sounds. *Normal* hi-rez digital up to 24/192 just doesn't sound like DSD-DSD in another league in my opinion. I can and have listened to DSD for hours and enjoyed every minute of it.

And having said all of that, putting on an LP of the quality of Miles Davis Four & More (MFSL) right after listening to DSD clearly shows there is more work to be done.

rbbert · Feb 10, 2013

Maybe here at this forum, but around the Web I haven't found such a consensus. It's not uncommon to read posts from LP supporters preferring 24/96 (or better) PCM to DSD.

mep · Feb 10, 2013

rbbert said:
Maybe here at this forum, but around the Web I haven't found such a consensus. It's not uncommon to read posts from LP supporters preferring 24/96 (or better) PCM to DSD.

Read the latest TAS.

rbbert · Feb 10, 2013

mep said:
Read the latest TAS.

Really not something that will steer me anywhere except to the opposite of their conclusions/recommendations. I've posted on a number of occasions that over the last year Harley and Valin have become completely disconnected from reality (for me). Remember, Valin has had 4 new "reference" speakers over the last 18 months, each "dramatically" better than the last. Harley vetted and published the totally bizarre series of articles on Computer Audio just about a year ago, and in a series of emails with me refused to repudiate its findings and recommendations (and I'll bet you don't agree with many of them either).

Strangely enough, I don't have the same problems with the rest of the staff.

Mike Lavigne · Feb 10, 2013

rbbert said:
Maybe here at this forum, but around the Web I haven't found such a consensus. It's not uncommon to read posts from LP supporters preferring 24/96 (or better) PCM to DSD.

if you had traveled to the Newport Show last June or the RMAF in October there was a panel discussion focused on dsd and dsd downloads (also about dsd sounding better than other digital) at both shows with lots of dsd desire discussed way beyond this forum. sure; there are doubters too, but doubting dsd is not the direction things are going among people i know over a wide spectrom of audiophiles.

by definition; this topic is highly subjective. i'm not here to tell anyone what to like. but the dsd wave is moving forward whether one likes it or not.

rbbert · Feb 10, 2013

I was at RAMF in October, even at the WBF dinner. I personally have no problem with DSD, I like it and I like hires PCM, and fervently hope that both continue to co-exist as consumer formats.

Oh, I forgot: prior to Valin's "revelation" about open-reel tape I heard him say (and I have recounted this here before) to Nick Doshi at RAMF that LP sounded better than reel. He had a bizarre rational for that (something about sympathetic vibrations of the stylus in the groove?)
I'm sorry, it's just not possible to take him seriously!

Mike Lavigne · Feb 10, 2013

rbbert said:
I was at RAMF in October, even at the WBF dinner. I personally have no problem with DSD, I like it and I like hires PCM, and fervently hope that both continue to co-exist as consumer formats.

Oh, I forgot: prior to Valin's "revelation" about open-reel tape I heard him say (and I have recounted this here before) to Nick Doshi at RAMF that LP sounded better than reel. He had a bizarre rational for that (something about sympathetic vibrations of the stylus in the groove?)
I'm sorry, it's just not possible to take him seriously!

i would not look to Valin for any RTR-vinyl ultimate truth in any case; OTOH he is entitled to his opinion. based on the RTR he describes he has heard (both frequency and quality) i'm not surprised by his perspectives. like any reviewer, their perspective is based on their context.

i'm not forgiving him the rational you mention, which sounds like nonsense.

rbbert · Feb 10, 2013

But why believe him on anything, when he is so inconsistent? Even more so if his experience is limited (a fact he is probably unwilling to acknowledge)?

Mike Lavigne · Feb 10, 2013

rbbert said:
But why believe him on anything, when he is so inconsistent? Even more so if his experience is limited (a fact he is probably unwilling to acknowledge)?

I like his perceptions, but don't buy into his conclusions. It's like he's trying to walk a tightrope he had erected for himself.

when Valin describes what he hears from particular gear i generally either agree (assuming i'm familiar with the gear) or respect it could be one valid take on that gear. but then he goes off on tangents and reaches conclusions which many times i don't agree with or feel there could be agendas. he seems to take things too far.

i'm not judging him personally as who knows what his thinking might actually be. i'm simply relating what it looks like to me.

rbbert · Feb 10, 2013

I think I understand what you mean, at least to a certain extent. He has described the sound of some systems in the same way as I would describe them, yet as you say his conclusions then seem to veer off course.

bmoura · May 24, 2015

rbbert said:
Maybe here at this forum, but around the Web I haven't found such a consensus. It's not uncommon to read posts from LP supporters preferring 24/96 (or better) PCM to DSD.

Of course some of the Vinyl LPs out there are made from DSD tapes....

Search

Search

Consensus Forming on the Sound of DSD?

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member

rbbert

Well-Known Member

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member

rbbert

Well-Known Member

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member

rbbert

Well-Known Member

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member

rbbert

Well-Known Member

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member

rbbert

Well-Known Member

bmoura

Well-Known Member

Similar threads

Members online