I've thought I'd found the solution(s) to my intermittent issue, but obviously I didn't because this illusive 'thing' surfaced once again. To spare everyone the details, I can only determine that somewhere in my audio stack, I must have a hairline crack in a PCB trace, or other physical abnormality that exhibits itself if pressure on it (the audio PCB stack) is just so. This may have always been lurking there, but when rebuilding the stack (for V3) I may have put just the right amount of pressure on a PCB that would make it work, and other times I would assemble it in a manner(unwittingly) that would cause the fault to present itself. I even went so far as to exchange the FifoPi from another DAC I built and the results were the same. So that kind of ruled out the FiFoPi Q3. I can only hope when I get this completely done and button up in it's new enclosure, it will all work. I've never had any issue with Ian's board, if indeed that is what it is, and there's no guarantee I'm not responsible for this anomaly in something I did.
I guess i am one of them. DSD was a reasonable solution for archival of analog tapes back in the 90s considering the limitations in processing power at the time. The problem with DSD is that it can't be processed/EQ'd/mixed without being converted to PCM and back. We should also remember that the 1-bit format only has a signal-to noise ratio of only 6 dB, but thanks to the noise shaping the noise gets pushed up to inaudible frequencies.
Always interested in seeing any verified evidence that anyone can hear a difference.
I believe I can tell the difference, but it is very small in my case. I have taken really good hires and down sampled to 44.1. Playing back-to-back the difference is so slight I don't value it.
99% of my collection is red book so I optimized the system to play that. If I buy music the 44.1 version is dirt cheap and 10% of the size. So, I seek well produced recorded 44.1. Someone with a better system and better ears may see it completely differently.
99% of my collection is red book so I optimized the system to play that. If I buy music the 44.1 version is dirt cheap and 10% of the size. So, I seek well produced recorded 44.1. Someone with a better system and better ears may see it completely differently.
Appreciated. Just in general, there are a lot of people who believe they can tell a difference, but so far (having done a lot of tests with many different listeners) they won't be able to replicate it in a properly conducted double blind test.
I'm not under any delusion that DSD brings out a huge amount of sonic quality that is readily noticeable by the typical listener. In most cases, the nuances of DSD will easily be masked by the overall playback chain makeup. I would agree the vast majority of audio enthusiasts will not notice. To my ears(old) and my son's ears(young) what we hear is a slight improvement in the overall presentation of the music. To us the sound is tighten up (not soundstage) with a high degree of articulation of each and every note. The dynamics seem a bit more pronounced and noise floor vanishes. Now some of this may very well be 'expectation bias' creeping in. It always does, and it's not easily dismissed by our brains. Just to be clear, the vast majority of my library is 44.1 FLAC files ripped from CDs at the highest quality. I have very few tracks that are at some level of DSD quality(64, 128, etc.). I have no equipment that can measure the empirical differences between the two. It's all subjective. My philosophy about music playback generally, is to start with the best quality source available to you. Some bits will get lost along the way to your speakers.
The two CD's I mentioned earlier, Michael Jackson's Thriller, and Steely Dan's Gaucho truly do jump out of my speakers, much like 4K video jumps off the screen in clarity. Even more so with HDR. I'm sure there are many other - very well produced - DSD tracks. I will say, as I've gotten older, my systems have been improved over what I use to have. I generally listen to two different DACs. One is Ian Jin's Dual Mono ES9038Q2M . The other is the FiiO Flagship K9 Pro (AK4499) which was a gift from my son. Both of these DACs provide specs above which I'll never causally hear the difference. This, of course, is just one man's experience and opinion. I like to tinker with the hardware as much as next guy, but I also can sit and listen to quality produced music, and in those moments let myself get carried away to a place only music can provide. That makes it all worthwhile.
Enjoy your music!
The two CD's I mentioned earlier, Michael Jackson's Thriller, and Steely Dan's Gaucho truly do jump out of my speakers, much like 4K video jumps off the screen in clarity. Even more so with HDR. I'm sure there are many other - very well produced - DSD tracks. I will say, as I've gotten older, my systems have been improved over what I use to have. I generally listen to two different DACs. One is Ian Jin's Dual Mono ES9038Q2M . The other is the FiiO Flagship K9 Pro (AK4499) which was a gift from my son. Both of these DACs provide specs above which I'll never causally hear the difference. This, of course, is just one man's experience and opinion. I like to tinker with the hardware as much as next guy, but I also can sit and listen to quality produced music, and in those moments let myself get carried away to a place only music can provide. That makes it all worthwhile.
Enjoy your music!
I have not heard Ian talk about the FifoPi Q7 is this coming soon where did you hear about it? I can not see anything anywhere that mentions FifoPi Q7 sounds exciting.
I'm really happy with the MonitorPi. It is a universal OLED display panel that works for all kinds of Raspberry Pi audio applications.
To install a MonitorPi, all you need to do is just simply plug it into the GPIO port. It has never been that easy to add a high-performance display screen to an existing system until MonitorPi was developed.
Benefiting from the unique built-in high speed signal analyzer, MonitorPi detects the digital audio format and the I2S/DSD signal status in real time and shows the true digital music information on the OLED screen. It also integrates a FifoPi Q7 controller and an RPi IR receiver inside.
The Built-in high speed real-time digital analyzer detects the true digital music signals up to 128MHz
Music format display range up to PCM1536KHz and DSD1024
1.3” PMOLED screen
Adjustable Brightness
Dim screen button
Configurable screen saver functions
Software free architecture no need any additional Linux driver.
Can be an external display screen when working with a universal GPIO extension KIT
Works with any Raspberry Pi audio applications as long as they use GPIO port
Would be a great help to debug an audio system by inspecting the real music signals
Integrates FifoPiQ7 controller function to display FIFO status and config FifoPiQ7 settings
Has an IR receiver to control player software (Play, pause, stop, next.... such as Volumio)
The picture below: MonitorPi works with RaspberryPi Zero 2
MonitorPi by Ian, on Flickr
To install a MonitorPi, all you need to do is just simply plug it into the GPIO port. It has never been that easy to add a high-performance display screen to an existing system until MonitorPi was developed.
Benefiting from the unique built-in high speed signal analyzer, MonitorPi detects the digital audio format and the I2S/DSD signal status in real time and shows the true digital music information on the OLED screen. It also integrates a FifoPi Q7 controller and an RPi IR receiver inside.
The Built-in high speed real-time digital analyzer detects the true digital music signals up to 128MHz
Music format display range up to PCM1536KHz and DSD1024
1.3” PMOLED screen
Adjustable Brightness
Dim screen button
Configurable screen saver functions
Software free architecture no need any additional Linux driver.
Can be an external display screen when working with a universal GPIO extension KIT
Works with any Raspberry Pi audio applications as long as they use GPIO port
Would be a great help to debug an audio system by inspecting the real music signals
Integrates FifoPiQ7 controller function to display FIFO status and config FifoPiQ7 settings
Has an IR receiver to control player software (Play, pause, stop, next.... such as Volumio)
The picture below: MonitorPi works with RaspberryPi Zero 2
MonitorPi by Ian, on Flickr