Best native DSD DACs for use with HQPlayer?

Audio Gear Talk HQ Player
365

Good point ! Well spotted.

I trust the SMSL website saying per channel

I’ll open the thing if I end up keeping it

I’ll keep you posted. Should arrive next week

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366

I expect to see 4 AKM chips here but only see 2 :thinking: I’ll email SMSL

It doesn’t bother me if measurements are great

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367

Good pickup - SMSL will be revising their website

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I guess a dual setup would have been quite surprising at this price point.
Still very much looking forward to how this will measure. :slight_smile:

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369

No different from the AH90 minus the renderer.

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Technical performance could be vastly different between the 2 though

Or maybe both great or maybe both bad

We’ll find out eventually

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Agreed. AH90 team needs to hurry up with this firmware update for DSD direct!

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Topping flagship DX9 will be getting a firmware update soon enabling DSD Direct mode. They are testing it now.

AKM 4499EX

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373

Does the SMSL D400 Pro have a DSD Direct mode?

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Yes you can always see in the user manual:

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Goldensound has measured T+A DAC200 a few days ago:

DSD seems to clearly outperform PCM in this design.

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For the DSD testing there is no mention of what DSD rate. It is kind of important - @GoldenSound ?

At least in the audio band it doesn’t look to measure better than SMSL D-6 running in AKM’s DSD Direct mode. Which is surprising giving the price difference

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I want to know if all akm 4499ex will make crackling sounds when playing 48k family in true dsd direct mode.

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@jussi_laako Thank you for confirming that the A26 does indeed work in DSD direct mode with DSD128 and DSD256. I’ve been thinking about purchasing this DAC but been waiting for them to fix this issue first.

I’m a bit torn, though as I’m somehow a bit sceptical if it would really sound that much different from my Gustard X26 Pro with its ESS chips. As I’ve detailed elsewhere, I can hear a huge difference between playing PCM and DSD on my DAC and also between individual DSD modulators, so it’s definitely very receptive to what signal it’s fed. Surely DSD Direct would remove the last few obstacles from the signal path, but I’m wondering if that’s really that important given that the main “issue” (chip-based PCM to DSD conversion) is bypassed already. From what I’ve found online, ESS’s processing seems to effectively form an array of 1-bit DACs which allows for efficient volume control (without losing too much dynamic range). If this is the case, then perhaps this internal processing, whilst not ideal (as in - can be surpassed by HQPlayer) doesn’t really do that much harm to the final signal (in DSD mode, not PCM)? And gives me hardware-based volume control too (which is needed in my case due to my amp working in by-pass mode).

I am also able to play DSD512 on my DAC which I wouldn’t be able to do on Gus A26 in DSD Direct mode. I’m fully aware that this is not an apples-to-apples comparison, by in a way it’s DSD256 in Direct Mode (A26) vs DSD512 (X26 Pro).

EDIT My curiosity will probably sooner or later get the better of me and I’ll try to get my hands on this unit. HQPlayer has been such a major part of my audio journey that it’s hard to resist wanting to experience (close to) its full potential.
It’s likely that whilst deciding which one to keep I’ll be able to do an A-B comparison between the A26 and X26 Pro, feeding them both HQP-upsampled DSD. I’ll post my findings here. Can’t wait.

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Except for the iFi ZEN One Signature DAC that supports Native DSD. Max input DSD 256. This DAC sounds fabulous with HQPlayer.

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I use the V2 version of this DAC with the Zen Stream and HQPLAYER (as well as Roon) and I have been extremely happy with it after it was recommended in these thread’s

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381

Hi folks,

I have the following setup:

Qobuz → Roon ROCK (NUC10 i3 with local music) → HQPlayer embedded (i7 gen 6, no GPU)-> RopieeeXL → Topping E30 (DAC mode) → Topping L30 → Hifiman Sundara

HQPlayer setting:
crossfeed and matrix pipeline enabled
filter: poly-sinc-gauss-long
shaper: ASDM7EC-light
Output: 11289600 (DSD256/44.1)

It has been my best headphone listening experience. Thank you, @jussi_laako

Here are a few things I’d like to ask here:

  1. I can run ASDM7EC reliably up to PCM 96kHz 24 bit. For PCM 192, I have to back off to ASDM7EC-light. Is there any tip to further optimize to use ASDM7EC @PCM 192 with my current hardware?

  2. Topping E30 has 2 DSD filters (39kHz and 76kHz). Which one should I use? I am using 39kHz right now.

  3. I want to try my Topping D70s with Singxer SU-6 DDC (through I2S) at my speaker setup. Any tips there?

  4. as a never ending hobby, it seems that I need (not want :slight_smile: ) to try Holo Audio Spring 3, after reading some postings here. Any comments?

Thanks

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382

Only for point 4! I’m very happy with my Holo Spring 3 KTE. I play with it daily!

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Have you tried yet?

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Still waiting to receive it first.

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