I did not read all the comments on this matter, so my question is: does anyone know whether or not the current dCS hardware prevents handling high rate DSD ?
Apparently, it is not a hardware limitation, as confirmed by a dCS employee (not sure current or former employee) well over four years ago now.
Furthermore, quoting the whitepaper Understanding the dCS Ring DAC âas FPGAs can be reprogrammed and updated remotely, new features, functions and enhancements can be added over time via software updates, increasing the lifespan of a product and ensuring it remains at the forefront in terms of both features and performance.â
The paper goes on to state âThere are further developments into DSD audio, whereby higher and higher rates are used. The original rate, referred to as DSD/64 or Single Speed DSD, runs at 64x the rate of CD audio. DSD/128 or Double Speed DSD runs at 128x CD audio rates, and so on for DSD/256 and DSD/512.â
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I agree with Andre (@aublumberg). In fact, at this point, the fact that we are still discussing this feature request is bordering on the absurd.
Every competitor to dCS now offers DSD256 and the speed in which dCS implemented MQAâa known lossy technology, whose inclusion should have made dCS engineers consider resigningâshows what dCS can do technically when it desires.
Hopefully, soon, we can close this thread! (@James)
; )
For posterity, I include TASâs 2014 description of MQA:
"Tonight, Bob Stuart, founder of Meridian Audio, launched MQA (Master Quality Authenticated), a revolutionary British technology poised to change the way people enjoy music all over the world. The launch, hosted in The Shard, was attended by key music industry executives, artists, and commentators.
Developed by Meridian, MQA is a breakthrough technology to reverse the trend, in which sound quality has been continually sacrificed for convenience. Vital elements of our music have been thrown away to fit thousands of songs into a pocket or millions in a cloud. With MQA there is no sacrifice; it brings us right back to the enthralling sound of live music. MQA captures and preserves nuances and vital information that current music files obscure or discard, but in a file that is small and convenient to download or stream.
MQA allows listeners to experience every intricate detail the microphone heard, offering music fans the purest ever sound. And itâs based firmly in science. For the first time in history, music fans will be able to hear at home what the artist created and approved in the recording studio, and MQA confirms its exact delivery.
The sound of MQA, reproduced through a pair of Meridian DSP7200 loudspeakers, was simply stunning in every way. I heard a wide range of music, from full-scale orchestral to voices to a very quiet piece by the Modern Jazz Quartet from the 1950s. I can still vividly recall the delicacy, ease, and resolution of the cymbals in the MJQ piece. I was also struck by the precision of their placement and how they appeared to float in the air against a completely silent background. The treble was totally unlike any other digital Iâd heard, completely free from the metallic hardness and artifacts we assume are part-and-parcel of digital audio. Instrumental timbres were so naturally rendered to be almost eerie in their realism. Voices had a stunning palpability and immediacy that were all the more realistic for their compact image size and the sense that they were surrounded by a natural acoustic. Itâs interesting that, as I recall the experience, my sonic impressions were so striking that they are still vivid nearly a year laterâyet I canât remember any other demo I heard at the show."
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