My first encounter with T+A's home grown DSD implementation was last year with their PDP-3000HV, and it did not go well due to driver problems
6 weeks ago I bought a DAC 8 DSD and was stunned by the quality of the play back at DSD 512, with the bit stream supplied by HQ Player, running on a tricked out PC, converting from 16/44 PCM and DSD 64. Good DSD 64 recordings achieve a level of realism I have not heard from any other source, vinyl, or tape, only live sounds better IMHO.
I was expecting a sonic improvement to be about half the difference that we were hearing between DSD 128 and DSD 256. Completely unexpected, DSD 512 is so much better than DSD 256. It's hard to say how much of this is due to HQ Player doing a more precise job of creating a bit stream that converts nicely, and how much because the ultrasonic noise is at a higher frequency than with DSD 256.
Here is Lothar Wiemann, head of Resarch at T+A talking about the DAC 8 DSD on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guXH_D4HXMw
I am bringing a European DAC 8 DSD to NYC tomorrow and will get together with some Computer Audiophile inmates to listen and discuss about the unit's sonic merits converting DSD 512
Looking forward to WBF members experiences with this unit
I have to confess, that the tricked out PC was a pre production model of the Sound Galleries Music Server
6 weeks ago I bought a DAC 8 DSD and was stunned by the quality of the play back at DSD 512, with the bit stream supplied by HQ Player, running on a tricked out PC, converting from 16/44 PCM and DSD 64. Good DSD 64 recordings achieve a level of realism I have not heard from any other source, vinyl, or tape, only live sounds better IMHO.
I was expecting a sonic improvement to be about half the difference that we were hearing between DSD 128 and DSD 256. Completely unexpected, DSD 512 is so much better than DSD 256. It's hard to say how much of this is due to HQ Player doing a more precise job of creating a bit stream that converts nicely, and how much because the ultrasonic noise is at a higher frequency than with DSD 256.
Here is Lothar Wiemann, head of Resarch at T+A talking about the DAC 8 DSD on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guXH_D4HXMw
I am bringing a European DAC 8 DSD to NYC tomorrow and will get together with some Computer Audiophile inmates to listen and discuss about the unit's sonic merits converting DSD 512
Looking forward to WBF members experiences with this unit
I have to confess, that the tricked out PC was a pre production model of the Sound Galleries Music Server