Thank you…I’ll stick with 20 bit LN15 
Because of historical and other reasons. In this case output to DAC is 1.4112 MHz PCM. For example FLAC doesn’t even support compressing such rate (maxes out at 384k).
But yeah, instead of 44.1/16 RedBook, we could be as well be delivering for example 352.8/8.
Well, DAC doesn’t actually know it, so we very well could. Results just wouldn’t be great from this type of conversion section and half rate of DSD64.
HQPlayer allows you to go down to 8-bit though. So you could try how that sounds with the different noise shapers at 32x rates.
Just out of curiosity, I tried NUC USB to holo spring 2, playing via hqplayer and upsampling to 1.536M, sinc M LNS15.
The clarity and air up top is improved, highs and vocals sound more crisp, but there is comparatively reduced bass and mid bass, with lack of weight and impact.
I prefer NUC to singxer su-6 and iis to Holo, pcm 384. Overall presentation sounds more balanced and enjoyable. 1.536M sounded quite fatiguing with emphasis on the upper registry.
Anyone else have the same experience with 1.536M pcm?
You could try some other filter such as poly-sinc-ext2 instead of sinc-M, if you don’t like the sound…
Overall, what is optimal delivery format for delivering music from producer to the consumer is different than what is optimal format for a particular D/A conversion section implementation. That is why we always (should) have bunch of DSP between the delivery format and the D/A conversion.
Discussion now is how to optimize that DSP for certain DACs so that the original analog waveform is reconstructed as accurately as possible from the delivery data.
yep I’ve since tried if with a few other filters. perhaps I’m not used to the 1.536m output. otherwise, either the singxer su-6 is making it better with i2s output to the dac, or my USB cable is the weak link.
Yes I was using this same setting with my Chord Dave based off recommendations that is sounded the closest to the mscaler. I found that setting very fatiguing vs the Chord Hugo mscaler is anything but.
I have not tried Jussi’s filter recommendation yet since the mscaler is seemless and has very little delay. But at some point I’ll do a comparison.
Just doing a PCM vs DSD to see if there are any differences and what I prefer through my DAC
The question I have is, do I have to put “DAC Bits” as “1” for DSD. I have been using “20” for PCM
Thanks
I have been using poly-sinc-xtr-mp-2s with ASDM7EC and upsampling everything to DSD256. AKM chip. Very very nice. Haven’t had hiccups.
As per my question above…have you changed “bits” to 1 or left it as default?
Thanks for this suggestion. Just got a RME ADI-2 fs dac and wanted to try dsd. Very nice!
Come on guys, dont be shy 
…whats best practise
Thanks
I believe for DSD you should use the DAC’s known bit depth, 24 or 32 bits usually, not 1
Or you can leave it at default (0) but you are taking the risk your specific DAC might not do a proper handshake with HQP providing the bit depth capabilities that’s why IMO it is better if you hardset the value.
From the manual:
Playback of DSDIFF and DSF files is supported. In case hardware and drivers support ASIO DSD -mode, or one of the “PCM packed” modes, these files can be played back in native format.
For devices capable of only PCM input, PDM (pulse density modulation) content of these files is converted to 176.4 (64fs), 352.8 (128fs) or 705.6 kHz (256fs) PCM (pulse code modulation) format for playback through PCM audio hardware.The playback rate of DSDIFF and DSF files can be further altered by using resampling to chosen rate. Thus, playback rates from 32 to 1536 kHz are possible. Used bit depth is always maximum supported by the playback hardware.
Interesting. DSD is only 1 bit so Im unclear why would it be any different? For PCM, I have been advised to use 20 bit (r2r DAC) so thought anything higer that 1 for DSD would be wrong
Small update:
After another week of intensive testing, I settled on 2x upsampling to get sonically closer to “best of both worlds” sound as far as NOS/OS dilemma is concerned.
Exactly 20 bits seems ideal for Onyx subjectively.
While poly-sinc-ext2 filter is a clear winner, the choice of dither/noise-shaper is not as obvious. For 2x rates, I seem to enjoy the simplicity of TPDF the most.
You guys have got me wondering about bit depth now!
I upscale to DSD 256 on a Topping D90 DAC. I understand its a 32 bit DAC but I have always left on the default. So, should I put it to 32 or leave at default?
lol…I dont think Im the best person to ask. My thinking is to put it as “1” for DSD but I could be very wrong.
For PCM, I have been advised its better to put bit depth as “20” instead of 24 (see post 551). All our DACs are different but I thought being that DSD as 1 Bit, 1 should be used
Not sure that helps lol
That doesnt seem to be the case for every DAC. See post 551 where lowering the bit depth actually helps.
Just been reading about your DAC and the insane rates it can hit. I myself have an r2r DAC but go nowhere near those heady heights.
I am quite interested in how it sounds in comparison to my Aqua. I dont think there are many companies that sell them so getting a demo maybe an issue