I forgot to mention why I brought up De-emphasis. If you found a SQ improvement by upsampling, one of the reasons might be wrongly enabling De-emphasis because it only works (usually decreasing SQ) at 44.1kHz - were you having it enabled?
Bitstream.
For coaxial input to McIntosh DA1 in C52, use PCM.
Yes I had De-emphasis enabled. I disabled yesterday lol.
Thanks Peter.
Hey Peter and all forum members. Happy Thanksgiving !
Got a question about upsampling. What would you recommend and what sound the best?
I usually set the lumin app to use 176.4khz, and when comparing to 88.2khz, sometimes I find 88.2khz sound more clean and has more clarity compare to 176.4khz. not sure if I have hearing problem or confused LOL. I would like to hear others feedback and your option. Logically i think the higher the number, the better sound but for streaming I don’t think it is true.
This is always taste and setup dependent.
I’m digging up this topic because I experienced the same thing, but on Lumin T2. Strangely enough, I have the same connection, i.e. Lumin T2 connected to a tube amplifier using RCA interconnects. I was using Tidal in conjunction with the Lumin app the whole time. Everything was set as native. Only the depth was set to 24 bit. But something tempted me after a few months and I decided to check what this resampling to DSD is. I turned it on and my jaw dropped to the floor. The music became very open, holographic, much more detailed, dynamic, and at the same time mega clean. As if it had gone from 2.5D to full, holographic 3D. The microdynamics jumped to some super ultra level. As if only now the tube amplifier was playing at 100% of its capabilities. Its tube openness filling the entire room. Previously, it was as if something was blocking it. I would like to know what could be the cause. Where did all this “magic” come from all of a sudden. As if I had been listening to some poor mp3 files earlier, and now there was a jump to some gramophone level. I am in deep shock.
Some users like DSD upsampling, some don’t.
If you are using Roon, you may also try Roon DSD upsampling instead of Lumin DSD upsampling - turn Lumin Custom Resampling to Off, then Roon DSP Engine to upsample everything to DSD512 (for Lumin T2 and newer models, not D2). See which DSD upsampling algorithm sounds better to you.
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I don’t use Roon. My connection is the simplest possible. Lumin T2 with internal DAC + tube amplifier + speakers. Everything is controlled via the Lumin app. The thread creator claims that everything is more open and detailed when he turns on resampling at 88.2khz. In my case, the case looks identical. As if resampling itself was enabling the full potential of the system. However, with the Native setting, as if the system’s potential was blocked in some strange way. I wonder where such a drastic difference comes from. Can this be explained somehow?
There are some hypothesis related to DSD ultrasonic noise and how they may interact with tube amp. No matter what, since you like what you hear, it means you should stick with Lumin DSD upsampling.