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[Waynefi]

So, when I originally set this all up, I dug around and asked a few questions. This lead to info about DSD to PCM conversions. In my case my DAC will do DSD, and my future DAC also does DSD. In the end it made sense to me to just play DSD as DSD.

So currently I am using WASAPI, and have the Output Encoding set as DSD in DOP format. This shows up as DSD on my DAC, when playing a DSD File. When looking at MC21, this also encodes all output to DSD, and they appear on my DAC as DSD, even redbook CD downloaded files. Yet they appear to sound just fine. Bitstreaming is off.

What's wrong with this setup, any suggestions ?

Thanks in advance.

[blgentry]

Output Encoding converts *to* DSD.  As you've observed, MC is now converting all of your PCM tracks to DSD on the fly before sending them to your DAC.  There's nothing "wrong" with this per se.  It's just a somewhat unnecessary conversion step.

I'm not 100% sure about this but, I *think* this also means that your DSD files are being processed from DSD into PCM, and then right back to DSD via the Output Format option.  This sort of makes the benefit of DSD not so great because you're converting it to PCM in the middle.

Presumably, what you really want is for your DAC to get PCM as PCM and DSD as pure un-altered DSD.  What you'd do in that case is turn OFF output encoding and set bitstreaming to DSD.  DSD will then be sent to the DAC with NO processing.  PCM will be passed through the DSP with whatever options you have set and then sent to the DAC as PCM.

Brian.

[RD James]

Bitstreaming bypasses JRiver's processing and leaves DSD audio untouched.
Output Encoding is the process of converting PCM to DSD.
 
If you do not have bitstreaming enabled, DSD will be converted to PCM for processing, and back to DSD for output. This has to be done because you cannot apply processing to a 1-bit audio stream.
 
The reason you might want to do this is because it allows you to use features like volume leveling and room correction - which are essential in my opinion.
 
Output Encoding and Bitstreaming can be combined so that all PCM tracks output as DSD, and DSD tracks are output directly, bypassing JRiver's processing.
 
In my opinion though, outputting PCM - as long as you set dither to TPDF in the options - sounds better than outputting DSD anyway...

[dtc]

Setting Output Encoding to DSD converts everything to DSD. If you want your PCM files to be sent as PCM, set Output Encoding to None.

To send DSD as DoP, in Audio Options set Bitstreaming to  DSD. If you are using WASAPI, it will automatically use DoP. If using ASIO you need to check the DoP option in the ASIO setup.

That will send PCM as unaltered PCM and DSD as DSD in DoP format.