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Author Topic: Audio settings for MC 23(64 bit) & Marantz SA 10 DAC SACD/CD player(DAC section)  (Read 1963 times)

whataboutbob1

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Audio settings for MC 23(64 bit) & Marantz SA 10 DAC SACD/CD player(DAC section)
« on: January 26, 2019, 04:38:38 pm »
OK. This may be too specific of a question as it relates to settings and a particular piece of equipment. I recently purchased a Marantz SA-10 which is a CD and SACD player with a DAC section. The DAC section is capable of playing files up to the DSD level. The question I have is about what occurs when I am trying to play files that are at the DSD level. When I use the driver for the Marantz (Marantz XM ASIO Device) through media center 23 and play a DSD file it seems to convert it to a 352.8k file. What I change the DSP Studio settings in MC 23 to "1xDSD in native format" the file plays as a DSD file. But at this setting it appears that all files play as a DSD file. Is there a way to have the files play as the exact files they are? Example DSD files play as DSD files and those that are at a 44.1/24 play at that frequency?
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Awesome Donkey

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Re: Audio settings for MC 23(64 bit) & Marantz SA 10 DAC SACD/CD player(DAC section)
« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2019, 04:41:41 pm »
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whataboutbob1

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Re: Audio settings for MC 23(64 bit) & Marantz SA 10 DAC SACD/CD player(DAC section)
« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2019, 04:52:20 pm »
Perfect! That worked. Thank you much!

Playing around with that setting did lead me to a question about the 1xDSD setting. Does that setting somehow enhance/upsample all signals to a DSD level? And, if so, is that improving the sound? And if you have a 5.6 DSD file would it be down sample it to the single (2.8) DSD frequency?
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kr4

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Re: Audio settings for MC 23(64 bit) & Marantz SA 10 DAC SACD/CD player(DAC section)
« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2019, 04:59:34 pm »
Disable the 1xDSD setting.  That way every file will play at its native format.
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Kal Rubinson
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whataboutbob1

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Re: Audio settings for MC 23(64 bit) & Marantz SA 10 DAC SACD/CD player(DAC section)
« Reply #4 on: January 26, 2019, 05:20:24 pm »
I did that. Thanks. I am still curious as to the up sampling feature of the DSD setting I mentioned in my earlier comment. Does anyone know about that?
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Awesome Donkey

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Re: Audio settings for MC 23(64 bit) & Marantz SA 10 DAC SACD/CD player(DAC section)
« Reply #5 on: January 26, 2019, 05:24:44 pm »
It's subjective and a personal preference whether or not it sounds better. I've tried converting PCM to DSD (and DSD to PCM) and I don't hear a difference at all. So your results may vary, but do know converting PCM to DSD or PCM to DSD or even DSD to DSD goes through a PCM conversion in the middle (e.g. 2xDSD > PCM > 1xDSD). In addition, PCM to DSD or DSD to PCM or DSD to DSD conversions are always a lossy conversion.

Personally? I wouldn't bother converting any of it, and would do what kr4 recommended and let it play at its native format. And that's exactly what I do. :)
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whataboutbob1

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Re: Audio settings for MC 23(64 bit) & Marantz SA 10 DAC SACD/CD player(DAC section)
« Reply #6 on: January 26, 2019, 06:04:30 pm »
Thank you all for your help! If any others have any experience with this I would love to heat about your experiences as well. I have a feeling I'm going to go with the "naked" setting.
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kr4

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Re: Audio settings for MC 23(64 bit) & Marantz SA 10 DAC SACD/CD player(DAC section)
« Reply #7 on: January 26, 2019, 06:07:53 pm »
Quote from: whataboutbob1 on January 26, 2019, 06:04:30 pm
Thank you all for your help! If any others have any experience with this I would love to heat about your experiences as well. I have a feeling I'm going to go with the "naked" setting.
Since this setup is new to you, I think you should listen "naked" for a few weeks before experimenting with upsampling/conversions.
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Kal Rubinson
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Manfred

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Re: Audio settings for MC 23(64 bit) & Marantz SA 10 DAC SACD/CD player(DAC section)
« Reply #8 on: January 27, 2019, 06:50:04 am »
Quote
It's subjective and a personal preference whether or not it sounds better. I've tried converting PCM to DSD (and DSD to PCM) and I don't hear a difference at all. So your results may vary, but do know converting PCM to DSD or PCM to DSD or even DSD to DSD goes through a PCM conversion in the middle (e.g. 2xDSD > PCM > 1xDSD). In addition, PCM to DSD or DSD to PCM or DSD to DSD conversions are always a lossy conversion.

It also depends on the DAC. My Devialet does the following:
"MATŪ DSD Core technology converts the DSD format into Expert internal native PCM 40 bits / 384 kHz format thanks to an optimized algorithm" (taken from "firmware-v8-white-paper"). PCM is all converted to 192kHz by my Devialet and it "sounds" a little bit better to my ears to let this done by the Devialet DAC instead of doing this inside MC.

My experience is to leave the output settings  in DSP Studio to "none" in my Devialet based environment.

Marantz will/could be different.
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dtc

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Re: Audio settings for MC 23(64 bit) & Marantz SA 10 DAC SACD/CD player(DAC section)
« Reply #9 on: January 27, 2019, 07:12:49 am »
It seems like an old trite saying, but only you can determine what sounds best for you. Everyone has different equipment, different acoustic, different ears and different preferences. You need to try the different options and see what sounds best to you.

There is an old debate in the audiophile word - the objectivist versus the subjectivist. The objectivist approach is to due a full scientific analysis and reach a conclusion. In this case the conclusion would be whether DSD sounds better than PCM based on analyst of wave forms, noise, etc. And any listening test would need to be done in a complete double blind experiment. The subjectivist approach would be to listen for yourself and decide which you prefer, if either. Even though I am a trained scientist, I am definitely a subjectivist when it comes to listening to music. Our hearing and our tastes are all personal and the purpose of listening is for our own enjoyment.

Enjoy the music.
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