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Issues with DSD256 and Brooklyn DAC+

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Zbig:
Hi
This is a weird one.
I just setup my new Brooklyn DAC+ (MacOS Catalina 10.15.6, latest MC26), DAC can play upto DSD256.
I have no issues playing everything including DSD128, the DAC shows correct values on the front display (e.g. DSDx128).
When I try to play DSD256 content I get MC error that my hardware is not capable to play DSD256.
As soon as I switch bit-streaming setting in MC from DSD to none I can play DSD256 content although my DAC shows incorrect values on the front display.
It shows 384khz and 32bit.
And now even DSD128 content shows as 384khz and 32bit.
But it sounds great so it's cosmetic but still very annoying.

Any tech gurus out there with suggestions?

thank you very much

bob:

--- Quote from: Zbig on August 03, 2020, 06:03:56 am ---Hi
This is a weird one.
I just setup my new Brooklyn DAC+ (MacOS Catalina 10.15.6, latest MC26), DAC can play upto DSD256.
I have no issues playing everything including DSD128, the DAC shows correct values on the front display (e.g. DSDx128).
When I try to play DSD256 content I get MC error that my hardware is not capable to play DSD256.
As soon as I switch bit-streaming setting in MC from DSD to none I can play DSD256 content although my DAC shows incorrect values on the front display.
It shows 384khz and 32bit.
And now even DSD128 content shows as 384khz and 32bit.
But it sounds great so it's cosmetic but still very annoying.

Any tech gurus out there with suggestions?

thank you very much

--- End quote ---
Are you sure that particular DAC plays DSD in Dop mode at DSD256? Often DoP DAC's will play at a higher resolution in native mode than DoP mode and the Mac doesn't support native mode.

Zbig:
Ahh
It looks like it could be my Mac.

The Brooklyn DAC has native support - "• Conversion: up to 384k, 32bit PCM, native DSD up to DSD256, DXD, 130dB Dynamic Range"

So the only way is to change from "bitstreaming" to "none" ?

Can anything be done with the Mac? Would you know if next MacOS will support native DSD256?

thanks very much Bob

Awesome Donkey:
macOS itself doesn't support native DSD and I have my doubts Apple would ever support it. Only DSD-over-PCM (DoP) and DSD-over-DLNA (DoPE) is possible on macOS unfortunately.

If you change bitstreaming to none, MC will convert DSD to PCM on-the-fly and you should be able to listen to your music, but keep in mind all DSD-to-PCM and PCM-to-DSD conversions are lossy but if that doesn't bother you, you should be fine.

Manfred:
To my knowledge:

DSD over DoP is the only possibility to play DSD on the macOS platform. Exception is if the DAC vendor provide special drivers. 

To package DSD128 in PCM, you need on the macOS platform 384 kHz PCM sampling rate. For DSD256 it would already be 768 kHz.

So your DAC must provide a pcm sample frequency of 768 kHz to play DSD256 on the macOS platform.

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