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[ferrarabrainpan]

I got a new DAC and tried playing PCM and DSD files of various resolutions from a folder of test tracks. I run into an issue with DSD files greater than DSD128. I'm sending the digital stream from my Windows 10 desktop PC out via USB to both DACs from separate USB ports on the back panel of my PC. My OPPO UDP-205 supports DSD files as high as DSD256. My new Holo Audio Spring 3 DAC supports up to DSD512 (DOP) and DSD1024 (Native).

Yet when I play a file that is DSD256, it is both my OPPO and HOLO DACs are only reading the file as DSD128. What is strange also is that JRiver shows that the file is indeed DSD256 - see below the track title at top where it shows all the file details in the format:

time elapsed/track time :: 2-ch / dsf / 1-bit / DSD256 (4x) / 11289 kbps :: 3 of 4 [DSD files] :: DSD [playback zone]

BUT if I hover the mouse over the blue gear icon (which suggests no changes are being made to the file output), it shows that the input file is DSSD128 and the output file is DSD128. But the input file is actually DSD256, as proven in the file info just cited.

I've attached two screenshots of the MC31 interface taken during playback of this DSD256 file.

Could this be a setting within the DSD zone I configured where it is downsampling the DSD256 file to DSD128? But if that were the case, then it would be shown when I hover over the gear icon to see what changes are being made during playback, and it claims that the source file is DSD128, which is wrong.

Could this be something in Windows, or a limitation of the USB output from my PC? Of course, I have Windows set to allow JRiver exclusive control of the audio, so it isn't going thru the Windows soundcard anyway.

Please help me troubleshoot this. Seems to be a thing within JRiver. I can't really try it with a different player. In fact I did try playing the same file with Audirvana 3.5 and that program seems to be converting DSD files to PCM because in that program any DSD file of any sampling rate is being converted to PCM 352.8 according to the readout on my DAC. JRiver seems to be the only way I can play DSD files without converting them on the fly. I have my DSD zone set to allow bitstreaming, because this is the preferred setting for native DSD, am I right?

[ferrarabrainpan]

Aha! Never mind. I had the bitstreaming settings to limit output to DSD128. When I increased the setting to DSD512, it now delivers the stream to my DAC at the correct rate of DSD256. Problem solved.

I forgot that when I configured the DSD zone I had set that limit because with my old DAC it was producing audible artifacts when playing files above PCM192 or DSD128 (that was an issue with my OPPO I never managed to fix... my new DAC plays those higher resolution files without the artifacts, so it turns out it was something in the OPPO DAC).