One week ago I talked to a T+A representative at the “High End” fair in Munich about the problem that the Amanero USB chip in the DAC8DSD limits DSD to DSD128 when the source is a Linux system (I am using a Nucleus+). He advised me not to update the Amanero firmware, because this will likely cause dropouts. He suggested to replace the Amanero chip with the Thesycon one which is also used in the T+A DAC 200. He was certain that this can be done, and told me to just send in the DAC8DSD to the T+A service. I was very happy to hear of this possibility.
He had suggested that I call the T+A service if I want to find out the price for doing so. But when I did so, the T+A service told me that such an exchange is impossible. So now I don’t know whom to believe.
Has anyone else been in touch with T+A about this problem of the DAC8DSD? What did they tell you?
Maybe @Larry_HV can help you out here.
From personal experience,I can tell you that the Amanero firmware of the DAC8DSD can be updated to play up to DSD512 without issues.
However, the firmware version I updated the DAC8DSD with, only supported Linux, so no Windows support anymore.
I believe there a later version version has become available that supported both Winwos and Linux, but I did not performed that update anymore, as I needed Linux only and was very happy with it.
The main reasons I replaced mine with the DAC 200, are support for video, and builtin preamp.
And yes, the DAC200 is slightly better than the DAC8DSD.
Dirk
Yes, it is true, the DAC8DSD as it comes from the factory is supported by Linux sources only in DSD DoP mode and this limits DSD to DSD128. From Windows sources native DSD is supported and data rates up to DSD512 are possible.
There is an unofficial way to bring DSD512 with Linux sources to the DAC8DSD.
The USB receiver software needs to be updated with the latest Amanero firmware (available from Amanero). This is what Dirk (and otrhers) have done in the past.
In principle this new Amanero firmware also works with Windows sources, but I always found some glitches with this new firmware and Windows. (This by the way is the reason why T+A never used this new firmware in their DACs.) So if you have a Windows source, please don’t update and stay with the original firmware. If you want to use a Linux source you can try the upgrade.
The Amanero firmware is supported by the newer Linux kernel versions and afaik it works well with Linux sources in native DSD mode up to DSD 512. It should be used with a not too old kernel vesion >=5.0.
As I don’t know which kernel the Nucleus uses, I can not tell, if the upgraded firmware will work with Nucleus in native DSD mode. This needs to be verified…
If you update the USB receiver firmware to the Amanero version, please note that the original T+A Windows driver will not work any more. The Windows driver from Amanero is required instead.
Hardware Upgrade to the new Thesycon USB receiver
In newer devices T+A uses a new USB receiver (the Thesycon USB receiver). This USB receiver supports both Windows and Linux sources (with kernel versions from 5.0 onwards) in native DSD mode up to DSD1028.
Some of the older T+A devices like MP3000HV, MP2000/2500R 1st generation have the USB receiver mounted on a separate small module. This module can easily be upgraded to a new version with the Thesycon receiver.
In case of the DAC8DSD the receiver is mounted on the main PCB and there is no way to upgrade.
1 Like
Thank you so much for your detailed explanations! I think I will rather live with the limit to DSD128 than updating the Amanero firmware with its limitations and problems under Windows, even though I do not really plan to use Windows instead of or together with my Linux-based Roon Nucleus.
If you have the right tools (cable), it is not so difficult to install the Amanero firmware update.
And it possible to to re-install the T+A official firmware later as well.
When I sold my T+A 8 DSD dac (should never have done that 
) I have done it (with guidance of @Larry_HV ) and it was a piece of cake.
Dirk