DSD over USB

[Vincent Kars]

A couple of companies are working on an open standard to play DSD over USB.
Aesthetix Jim White
Audirvana Damien Plisson
Channel D Rob Robinson
dCS Andy McHarg, David J Steven
JRiver, Inc. Matt Ashland
Merging Technologies Dominique Brulhart
Playback Designs Andreas Koch
Sonic Solutions Jon Reichbach
Wavelength Audio Gordon Rankin
XMOS Ali Dixon
Independent Dustin Forman

Michael Lavorgna has more

 

[Bruce B]

I guess one could only hope that this will be accepted by the AES standards.

 

[docvale]

This "position paper" has been published on PFO too.
If my understanding is correct, would the successful creation of a standardized DSD streaming through USB2 allow every modern DAC to accept/convert native DSD files?

Up to now, the only companies (that I know) that produce DSD-capable DACs (through USB) are Mytek, Playback Designs and dCS (the latter has not released the firmware update yet, if I'm not wrong).
dCS proposed to "distribute" to third parties the USB input technology to accept native DSD files, as, apparently, because of their delta-sigma architecture most of the currently designed DACs could accept native DSD files.

Is this multi-company approach just removing the need to use Pure Music and other similar players to stream DSD natively to one of the DACs from the companies I mentioned above, or it will give DSD "to everyone"?

 

[ted_b]

Mytek (Michal Jurewicz) is surprisingly missing from Andreas's list. I have been using the dCS DSD over USB protocol for several months now, and the Mytek folks have been instrumental in getting this to work on Pure Music (Rob) and Audirvana Plus (Damien). I'm also currently beta testing it (new DSD firmware updates, etc) with a very hi-end DAC and PM plays beautifully. Stay tuned.

Docvale, it is not "removing" the need at all; in fact it requires a player to be compatible with the protocol, so Pure Music, Audirvana, HQplayer Signalyst and JRiver are leading the pack. Native DSD (as Bruce knows) is quite something.

 

[Vincent Kars]

Looking at this page https://www.xcore.com/projects/dsd-audio-over-usb it will be a firmware upgrade to the XMOS receiver (but you need a DAC with this receiver)

You also need a media player supporting DSD like JRiver: http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/DSD_Format

 

[docvale]

Mytek (Michal Jurewicz) is surprisingly missing from Andreas's list. I have been using the dCS DSD over USB protocol for several months now, and the Mytek folks have been instrumental in getting this to work on Pure Music (Rob) and Audirvana Plus (Damien). I'm also currently beta testing it (new DSD firmware updates, etc) with a very hi-end DAC and PM plays beautifully. Stay tuned.

Docvale, it is not "removing" the need at all; in fact it requires a player to be compatible with the protocol, so Pure Music, Audirvana, HQplayer Signalyst and JRiver are leading the pack. Native DSD (as Bruce knows) is quite something.

Sorry, I don't get it.
There's softwares that are already able to play DSD, either natively or converted to PCM. The native vs not-native streaming is defined by the capabilities of the DAC.
What would change if this DSD streaming approach became a new standard?

 

[ted_b]

Without this standard (using 24/176k PCM vehicle to get DSD over USB or firewire) it would require a proprietary connector (SDIF, etc) and proprietary players to get DSD from computer to DAC, With this standard it "universalizes" the transport vehicle to standard 24/176k "bus" allowing normal USB and firewire interfaces, standard Mac and Windows players, and 24/176k+ DACs (assuming the DAC has a DSD-capable chip architecture that can be modified, as many are) to enter this world with little effort. Purists have called this scheme poorly engineered but in the MAC and Linux world there is no real DSD signal path architecture. Yes, in Windows the ASIO approach is cleaner (I guess).

 

[jtinn]

Mytek (Michal Jurewicz) is surprisingly missing from Andreas's list. I have been using the dCS DSD over USB protocol for several months now, and the Mytek folks have been instrumental in getting this to work on Pure Music (Rob) and Audirvana Plus (Damien). I'm also currently beta testing it (new DSD firmware updates, etc) with a very hi-end DAC and PM plays beautifully. Stay tuned.

Docvale, it is not "removing" the need at all; in fact it requires a player to be compatible with the protocol, so Pure Music, Audirvana, HQplayer Signalyst and JRiver are leading the pack. Native DSD (as Bruce knows) is quite something.

Sorry ted_b, but nothing surprising about Mytek missing from the list. Mytek has had no involvement in this standard yet. While they do produce a DAC capable of playing DSD files, that is a totally different subject.

Also wrong is the fact that PureMusic, Audirvana and JRiver and others all did this first through our contact (Playback Designs) way before any contact was made by Mytek.

Just as clarification.

 

[ted_b]

Two things Jonathan. One, Mytek was a very early user...yes after you guys! I'm not saying he is on the "committee" I'm saying he is strangely missing from lists that reference the DACs using this protocol successfully early on! (My wife is in politics, so I understand it ) Second, you misunderstood my sentence regarding Mytek helping ME a lot with PM and Audirvana, not you. I apologize for writing it vaguely (I'm a longtime beta user for Rob at PM; I realize you guys did the early work). Both Rob and Damien worked with my DSD files to get this working on Mytek (and now one other).

 

[jtinn]

Two things Jonathan. One, Mytek was a very early user...yes after you guys! I'm not saying he is on the "committee" I'm saying he is strangely missing from lists that reference the DACs using this protocol successfully early on! (My wife is in politics, so I understand it ) Second, you misunderstood my sentence regarding Mytek helping ME a lot with PM and Audirvana, not you. I apologize for writing it vaguely (I'm a longtime beta user for Rob at PM; I realize you guys did the early work). Both Rob and Damien worked with my DSD files to get this working on Mytek (and now one other).

Got it Ted!!! I totally understand now. No apology necessary.

The funny thing is Andreas wrote an an article called "DSD - The New Addiction" and he listed Mytek as well as others that offer DSD playback from a computer. We are trying to get the word out and the more the merrier.

 

[Esprit]

The funny thing is Andreas wrote an an article called "DSD - The New Addiction" and he listed Mytek as well as others that offer DSD playback from a computer.

The funny thing was that I had to send some mails to Andreas to convince him to add Mytek...
I'm just a European customer, not a competitor or Mytek