Opinions on DSD Please

Hi Danny

Can you name a few albums that you are sure they went directly from tape to DSD and therefore sound great?
Thanks in advance :+1:

Hard for me to remember offhand, but the most obvious examples are the 60’s Rolling Stones albums on the ABKCO label. The master tapes were converted directly to DSD and remastered by Bob Ludwig for release as SACD. They basically all sound fantastic. But even the hi-res PCM versions and CD versions made from those SACD’s also sound really good.

Classical vendors often list the source as tape on DSD download pages. Some of the specialist audiophile labels also make DSD from tape, but you need to be interested in classical music or other less popular types of music for that to help you.

Sony basically converted all its old tapes to DSD for archival purposes, so there is lots of legacy material from Sony and the labels it owns that sounds really good. That includes Columbia and other famous labels. Usually if you see one of these albums sold as DSD, and it was previously released as an SACD it is from that source. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” is an example. So is the second "Blood Sweat and Tears’ album (album title is the band name).

Generally a little checking and you can find out, if you go to the trouble.

sa-cd.net or http://www.hraudio.net/ is a pretty good source for info.

Vendors will often tell you the source if you ask. AcousticSounds is very good about this. They either list the source info on their download page, or they will tell you if you ask.

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Take a look at Blue Coast or Stockfisch Records for starters - both have DSD and other formats. Generally regarded having great sound.

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Thanks danny and dan
Will have a look :+1:

If you like classical, check out the Channel Classics stuff. They’re sublime.

https://www.channelclassics.com/catalogue/

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If you have a local library that have SA-CDs lying around, this might be interesting for you, to try out the DSD sound before acquiring and files:

as discussed in this thread here:

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Has anyone seen whether 1) the SACD ripping works on Oppos 203/205; or 2) whether the process has been codified? I’ve seen command line descriptions and such; nothing else to it? J

NativeDSD.com is full of (mostly classical) music recorded in DSD or recorded to tape and converted to DSD. You can search there.

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might check this comment in the thread:

they mention an Oppo 103 there, so you could at least try with your model, to see if it works.
There is an instruction, too.

I purchased Tea for the Tillerman in DSD from AcousticSounds and it is amazing! I don’t have the CD but compared to the Tidal streams (both HiFi and MQA) it is much better. The format itself is not the magic…but it does seem to allow a good engineer do some impressive mastering to digital from analog. So, it’s going to be hit or miss depending on how the music was transferred/mastered. I don’t think the music genre/period matters…though I find classical, jazz, and blues get the best treatment.

Erich, Well, your “hit and miss” experience isn’t unexpected at least. If there had been any systematic technical flaws, they would have been forced out of business by now.

My girlfriend (now wife of 45 years) and I wore Tea for the Tillerman LP out. Fond memories… Perhaps I can rekindle those memories with a little DSD magic :wink:

Does not work with 203/205. I used a borrowed 105 sometime last year to rip my SACDs (~30) to ISO without much effort or trouble. Alas, my new 205 cannot play ISO directly so I found another utility ISO2DSF that creates the original DSF files.

Yeah, you are right there: If you want to use your music within Roon this step is inevitable, since Roon can’t handle ISOs natively.

As others have said, the mastering is by far the most important aspect of sound quality. I have many 44/16s that sound outstanding and DSD512s or DXDs that sound flat. That said, I can say that DSDs tend to sound better on my system (Teac 503-NT -> Hypex Monos -> Harbeth SHL5+).

Native DSD is a great source of DSDs and they are super helpful. Channel and 2L are awesome labels for classical, and the Bill Evans titles from 2xHD are stunning. Of course I have lost my mind and started purchasing DSD512s whenever I can (hey, disks are cheap now).

I agree that DSD seems to work best either as the original format or transfer from a high quality analog tape. If PCM is in the mix I tend to stay with PCM (though DXDs sound a bit harsh to me).

Choice for best DSD of the last few weeks: Arvo Pärt, Creator Spiritus

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Thanks to all for their opinions and expertise. An amazing website, this.

Now THAT sounds like a great investment. Cheers! :clap:

Well, I don’t think I’ll do the DSD thing. It looks like a rebranding effort by Sony for SACD. Not that I blame them. All companies try to monetize old inventory.

uh, whaaaat?
DSD downloads are SACDs without the physical disc. Not sure at all what you mean about it being a ‘rebranding’ or why, even if it was, that would be a reason not to use that file format? DSD and SACDs themselves sound great. There’s no reason to avoid them.

By rebranding, I meant that this was a way to re-sell the SACD technology, which was killed off in 2007. It seems like millions of people avoided it, not just me. Not everybody agrees with the value proposition.

BTW, your incredulity, albeit impolite, was noted.

As to your question:

The DSD download of “Tea for the Tillerman” is the best audio version of the album, vinyl included (obviously imho). But, individual tastes/ears vary. You should listen to DSD and make your own decisions.

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