I was on that same call and what I heard was that while there is plenty of headroom for this in the processing pipeline there is a choke point in the network interface which engineering is trying to find a workaround for. It sounded like WIP to me.
And in the Dual-AES interface which today tops out at 384K; theyâd need it to be 768K in order to carry DSD256 DoP.
From the sounds of it, theyâve got some ideas (dCS codes the AES interface themselves anyway, so Iâm sure theyâll overcome any challenges).
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If this is still a question, then âin a Varese-related postâ is the answer. I would have missed it myself, except that someone mentioned it to me in person. I believe the sessions were recorded - I attended the last one yesterday - and are likely to be well worth listening to especially for the Q&A at the ends, and for what the MD has to say about the future.
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The subject was referred to by either David or James in the session I was party to and I think I recall that the problem with adding those high rate DSD formats is with limitations in the streaming board i.e. components rather than coding and not, as you correctly say, with DAC. If my understanding is correct I suppose that adding these formats to older lines cannot be a Mosaic upgrade but might require instead a hardware upgrade and these are costly.
It was also put in context that the number of actual 256/512 DSD recordings currently is very limited. Most offered are not original but lower rate upsamples. Last month I had a look at software offered at DSD 256 and DSD 512. HDTT do have some transfers offered as such . Native DSD ( offering most DSD product from various labels) had a total of 128 album titles available. Almost all were upsamples from DSD 64 in any case.
All very niche presently.
The session i was on, the last one of the day, the dCS team noted that higher rate dsd wasnât a top priority and other things are in the pipeline first.
Facts are facts, the amount of true dsd 256 in the market is so low. With the exception of a handful of dsd direct recordings and archival stuff on Native DSD, virtually all dsd 256 captured material is transcoded to PCM for editing and back again to DSD for commercial release. Most of the dsd 512 releases iâve seen on NativeDSD are upsampled.
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They didnât go into detail, but I assume it would be to take eARC audio input to Varese. I highly doubt they would accept i2s, but you never know.
Canât argue with that. Iâm on the same page.
The funny thing about current DACs that support DSD256 is that, as far as I call, none of them have an internal architecture that would enable a DSD256 track to be significantly better sounding than DSD128. So, itâs all really a bit of a farce.
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I was trying to recall when I posted the question about the Streaming boardâs ability to support DSD256, turns out it was in 2020 
Thatâs correct.
Without the Master Clock in the system, the Core would perform the clocking duties.
Which leads to the question⌠is it the same in the Pro audio world? Most high end ADC interfaces appear to use off the shelf chips from AKM, ESS et al. Is it any different on the capture side with off the shelf chips? Are there any bespoke 1bit ADC interfaces employed in recording studios? Are there any true 1bit dsd end to end recordings? Does the emperor have any clothes? I donât have the answers, like many, I simply want to know!
Price in EU
VARĂSE Core, User interface, Remote Control, ACTUS Cable 112.900
Mono DAC Pair, incl. 2 ACTUS Cables 106.900
Master Clock, incl. 1 ACTUS Cable 38.900
CD/SACD Transport, incl. 1 ACTUS cable 41.900
I/O Module 13.700
Good question. Iâm not sure really.
There seems to be some anecdotal evidence that recording in DSD256 is better than in DXD. Itâs the mixing stage that has more controversy I think. IMHO, if itâs mixed in DXD, thereâs really no reason to transcode back to DSD256 for distribution, leave the final stage preference to the buyerâs system.
I respectfully disagree with this @PAR. If you go to catalog, and then to Pure DSD, you will find many more titles in DSD256, and these are not upsamples but natively recorded. In contrast, your statement would be true for DSD512, which is nearly 100% upsampled.
Of course it is true that relative to the entire body of music available, DSD is niche, but as has been discussed on prior threads, many of us view that as beside the point. Relative to the entire body of music playback equipment, dCS Rossini and Vivaldi are niche products, so IMHO it is exactly the point! ; )
Best,
R
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Yes, I am sure that you are correct. The method that you used does reveal more recordings than my manual count did. But the numbers are very small in the context of all available recordings. Using your method and the sub-filter to show all original DSD256 recordings the website finds a total of 163. Further these are all of limited interest (meaning in the overall recording market - there is no Taylor Swift or BeyoncĂŠ ).
Remember that the fundamental question is the adding of DSD256/512 to existing units. dCS have to gauge if the potential market is sizeable enough to warrant the cost of development. if possible they offer upgrades to software free to existing customers even though their costs may run to multiple thousands of pounds. However we have recently learned that doing such an upgrade may not simply involve software but may need a firmware upgrade replacing the streaming board. These would not be free to customers, involving return to the distributor and work then carried out on each unit.
So, given comparatively small numbers of recordings appealing to a limited market with potentially an attendant cost of several thousand pounds to customers for an upgrade, how urgent might this be in reality?
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Theyâre completely worthless. Send them to me and Iâll ensure they are properly, er, recycled.
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As Iâve mentioned before, this has to hurt dCS in pure specs comparison when a $96 Topping DAC at Amazon can handle DSD256 but their premium DACs, except for Varèse, cannot.
No, no one considering a dCS should be shopping by spec, but people do.
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Agreed. And in brand positioning. If you want to be the leader in high-end DACs then include all high-end music formats.
Hopefully this will be offered soon and we can close the topic!
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Not as a retrofit but in the next line.
Replacing the streaming board ( necessary) would be what, $6K +? In any case at this stage Vivaldi is due for replacement .
Hi Pete,
Have you heard directly from dCS that enabling DSD256 with V/R/B is only possible with a hardware update? I did not know that was trueâŚ
Thank you,
R
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