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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]

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

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.

[bob]

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.

Ah, that explains why the DAC's I've seen that support DSD generally don't go as high with DoP.

[tfchow]

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.

Hi, I failed to play a DSD256 file purchased from HDtracks using Brooklyn DAC+.  Can you advise the appropriate setting on JRiver to make that work. I am currently on version 26 installed on desktop PC running Win10.

Regards

TFChow

[Awesome Donkey]

Enable DSD bitstreaming.

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/DSD

[tfchow]

It was enabled. Here's the error message when attempting to play DSD256 via Brooklyn DAC+.

"Playback could not be started on the output WASAPI using the format DoP DSD256(4x) 2 ch.
The output format may not be supported by your hardware" .

No such problem exists when playing DSD128.

[Awesome Donkey]

Looks like it requires native DSD for DSD256 playback, not DoP which you're currently using (as your DAC doesn't support a PCM sample rate high enough to get DSD256 working with DoP). If I had to guess, you'll probably need to install the driver for the DAC which (hopefully) has an ASIO driver and then switch to ASIO from WASAPI within Media Center's Options > Audio > Audio Device. Also make sure the DSD bitstream in DoP format box isn't checked in Device Settings after switching to the ASIO output in Media Center.

[tfchow]

Yes it works. Thanks for your advice.