Upsampling in Roon if you have a DirectStream DAC?

I’ve got a DS Jr. And I was wondering if it many any sense - if there were any benefit - of upsampling in Roon before it gets to the DAC.

Since both the DS and the DSJ upsample everything they get in firmware, it would seem redundant. Or possibly degrading the sound, as I’ve heard it’s always better to upsample in hardware (DS) vs. software (Roon).

Anyone have an insight into this?

Thanks. :slight_smile:

The guys at PS Audio say to let the DAC do the work. I have a DS Sr and I don’t use any DSP upsampling in Roon. Just one man’s opinion. YMMV.

Thanks John. That’s what I thought. But you never know what sort of keen insight some contrarian might have until you ask the question.

Like yourself, I do no DSP. I just let it fly as is. But maybe someone has a differing opinion, and a rationale to back it up. Or better yet, experience to back it up…

The only reason to do it is if you feel the computer filters and/or modulator can do a better job than the DAC. Most cases with very specialized FPGA implementations the DAC should do an amerable job as it’s the main selling point.

Easy enough to test.

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You mean like an A:B? Or a blind A:B?

Naa… I’m so sick of A:B testing stuff. For me it takes the fun out of the hobby. I like listening.

So if I hear about something that sounds like it’ll make things sound better (and I can afford it, and it passes the spousal filter), I just do it. But that’s just me. And I do make exceptions for important stuff.

For this I’m happy to go with informed recommendations. And I think I’ve gotten that. Thanks. :slight_smile:

Oh!! You wanted someone to respond that has actual experience. That’s won’t stop people here that don’t have a PS Audio DAC from responding. I see it may have already happened. Lol.

I have the DS Jr. and I have gone back and forth with software DSP upsampling and just straight native to the source 44, 48, 96, 176, 192… and to my ears and setup, native sounds best by a mile/km, and as a side effect, the load on the computer is almost nothing, and that’s a good thing. In other words, I no longer upsample on the PS DS Jr.
On my second system, I do upsample by X2 and sometimes up to DSD256, but that’s on a exaSound E22, different ball game, entirely.

David - Thanks for the reply. But I’m confused…

No longer upsampling “ON” the DSJ would mean that you are upsampling first in software, so the DSJ does not do it. I think you mean that you are not upsampling “FOR” the DSJ.

Is that correct? Thanks.

No I meant just turn it on for an short to extended period.

If you can’t tell the difference turn it off. If it sounds worst turn it off. If it sounds better…

You get the idea.

Having someone else make the decision for you isn’t an educated decision.

I’m asking for other peoples knowledge and experience. You’re implying that not deciding based on my own listening is a bad - or “uneducated” - decision. So be it. That’s my prerogative. I prefer getting other people’s insight and experience to A:B testing.

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scolley, I’m no longer upsampling before the DS Jr , I send only native raw data to the DS Jr, and let the DS Jr do all the upsampling, as that’s what the DS Jr does best.
My bad, sorry!

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Awesome!

It’s what I assumed, but having confirmation is nice. Thanks! :slight_smile:

Only your ears can provide you with this answer. If you like it better, do it. If you don’t like it better, don’t do it.

I read somewhere on this forum that one of the benefits of up-sampling upstream of the DAC is to allow the DAC to do less work internally (generating less noise internally?) and perhaps the computer software uses better algorithms.

And if you can up-sample to the DAC’s max supported rate, then the DAC essentially turns into a non oversampling DAC. Eg, I hear a massive improvement when I let Roon up-sample to 32/384 with my HiFiberry Dac+ Pro.

My DS up-samples to 20x the DSD rate now though (with Huron) which Roon can’t do, plus the inputs are limited to double DSD anyway, so I turn Roon DSP off with my DS since the DS will be upsampling regardless of what is done before.

All personal preference though but unless I’m able to upsample to the Dac’s max rate (like I can with the Dac+ Pro) I like to turn upsampling off.

Upsampling before the PS DS (jr or sr) really doesn’t make much sense - at least in my mind. You paid PS Audio for their DAC algorithm which is suppose to do that very function as cleanly and efficiently as possible. If you didn’t believe in their product’s ability to do what is a significant marketing point of their DACs then why buy it in the first place? You could have saved considerable money by buying a DAC on a chip that relies on higher sample sources for input.

I’m a DS jr owner. I believe in letting PS Audio do what I’ve paid them a lot of money to do.

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Yes good point. If you want to leverage the best software up-sampling can offer, best to buy a DAC designed specifically to utilize software based up-sampling. Otherwise you end up passing the audio through 2 modulators as well as a plethora of other detrimental processes not necessary if the DAC was designed from the ground up to utilize software based SRC/SDM.