Upsampling to DXD/DSD and the signal path

[Ermos (Erno)]

Very good questions!

For starters, you might want to read this post:

Upsampling and specifically DXD?

PCM is Pulse Code Modulation and it means that the analog signal is measured at some fixed rate – the sample frequency (e.g. 192,000 samples per second) – and each measurement has some bit depth (usually 16 or 24 bits). CDs are 16bit / 44,100 Hz so the analog signal level was measured (or reproduced) based on 16 bit samples that were taken every 1/44,100th of a second. DXD is a shorthand for high-rate / high-depth PCM and it corresponds to either 24 / 352,800 or 24 / 384,000. The reason for tw…