Post by Timmer February 8, 2014 (1 of 51)
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Hi guys,
Since I just got my oppo I've been reading articles on how the oppo allows for playback of dsd files. I'd like to download a dsd album on channel classics, but I have a couple questions first.
1. Is it worth the extra cost, or do you think it's just a gimmick to charge more for the same music? (for example, compared to the 24/192kHz album listed here its only 600mb larger : http://www.channelclassics.com/dsd/florilegium-27012.html )
2. I'm using the stereo output on my oppo-103 to a wooAudio firefly headphone amp for playback with my grado's. If I play a dsd file, is it being converted or changed in any way between the usb drive and and my headphones? Am I getting the benefits of dsd audio using this setup?
Once again, thanks for any help!
- Tim
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Timmer said:
Hi guys,
Since I just got my oppo I've been reading articles on how the oppo allows for playback of dsd files. I'd like to download a dsd album on channel classics, but I have a couple questions first.
1. Is it worth the extra cost, or do you think it's just a gimmick to charge more for the same music? (for example, compared to the 24/192kHz album listed here its only 600mb larger : http://www.channelclassics.com/dsd/florilegium-27012.html )
2. I'm using the stereo output on my oppo-103 to a wooAudio firefly headphone amp for playback with my grado's. If I play a dsd file, is it being converted or changed in any way between the usb drive and and my headphones? Am I getting the benefits of dsd audio using this setup?
Once again, thanks for any help!
- Tim
1. Depends. Channel Classics records in DSD, so the PCM download has been converted from that. I am a devotee of DSD (as are most here) but only you can determine if you agree.
2. Well, it is converted to analog for your headphone amp and, if you set up the 103 properly, there will be no intermediary conversion to PCM between the USB drive and your headphones. I cannot comment on the benefits since I am unfamiliar with your analog equipment and do not listen on phones.
As I said, only you can determine if you will appreciate a difference. A direct comparison with the PCM file on your equipment (and ears) is, probably, the only way to know.
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Kal Rubinson said:
1. Depends. Channel Classics records in DSD, so the PCM download has been converted from that. I am a devotee of DSD (as are most here) but only you can determine if you agree.
2. Well, it is converted to analog for your headphone amp and, if you set up the 103 properly, there will be no intermediary conversion to PCM between the USB drive and your headphones. I cannot comment on the benefits since I am unfamiliar with your analog equipment and do not listen on phones.
As I said, only you can determine if you will appreciate a difference. A direct comparison with the PCM file on your equipment (and ears) is, probably, the only way to know.
From recent experience, using a BDP-105 to stream from a USB hard drive:
1. I couldn't put it better than Kal
2. In my experience, this depends how you are 'driving' the Oppo. Mine is connected to a small Samsung TV for navigation purposes: when I connect only via analogue 'diagnostic' video SACDs are identified as SACD DSD but when I connect via HDMI (from either output HDMI1 or HDMI2) SACDs are identified as SACD PCM. When playing DSD files from a USB hard disc there is no indication of playback method, but I suspect the Oppo converts DSD to 24/88.2 whenever it detects an HDMI device that supports only PCM, in which case the 24/192 download is likely to sound better.
3. A further point: gapless playback of DSD files still seems to be unavailable. Personally I have always ripped / edited FLAC files into a single file per piece of music (and will investigate doing the same in DSD using Audiogate) which makes gapless playback irrelevant, but this may also be a dealbreaker for you.
Regards
Hugh
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Post by Timmer February 8, 2014 (4 of 51)
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hugh_london said:
".... When playing DSD files from a USB hard disc there is no indication of playback method, but I suspect the Oppo converts DSD to 24/88.2 whenever it detects an HDMI device that supports only PCM, in which case the 24/192 download is likely to sound better."
Does anyone know the answer to this for certain? I'd like to know if I'm hearing DSD playback or converted playback of DSD to PCM.
Here's my settings/config:
- Oppo Setup Menu/Audio Format Setup - SACD Output *DSD
- HDMI out to Receiver
- Stereo out to headphone AMP
- usb disk drive as source of DSD files
- Tim
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Post by Fugue February 8, 2014 (5 of 51)
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Timmer said:
Does anyone know the answer to this for certain? I'd like to know if I'm hearing DSD playback or converted playback of DSD to PCM.
Here's my settings/config:
- Oppo Setup Menu/Audio Format Setup - SACD Output *DSD
- HDMI out to Receiver
- Stereo out to headphone AMP
- usb disk drive as source of DSD files
- Tim
Unless your receiver can accept and pass-thru DSD, which I doubt, and your headphone amp can accept native DSD files, then you are most likely listening to PCM conversions.
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Fugue said:
Unless your receiver can accept and pass-thru DSD, which I doubt, and your headphone amp can accept native DSD files, then you are most likely listening to PCM conversions.
Many receivers can accept and decode DSD. Pass-through is, afaik, not and issue as one rarely sends audio to the display (HDMI or not). The issue is that connecting the Oppo to a TV/display via HDMI will force a PCM conversion.
Also, he is not sending HDMI to the headphone amp but, rather, analog from the Oppo. So, if his receiver is not DSD-capable, he should disconnect it from the Oppo and connect the headphone amp directly to the Oppo when he wants to avoid the PCM conversion.
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Post by Fugue February 8, 2014 (7 of 51)
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Kal Rubinson said:
Many receivers can accept and decode DSD. Pass-through is, afaik, not and issue as one rarely sends audio to the display (HDMI or not). The issue is that connecting the Oppo to a TV/display via HDMI will force a PCM conversion.
Also, he is not sending HDMI to the headphone amp but, rather, analog from the Oppo. So, if his receiver is not DSD-capable, he should disconnect it from the Oppo and connect the headphone amp directly to the Oppo when he wants to avoid the PCM conversion.
I meant he could not send DSD from his receiver to the headphone amp. I agree: He should just bypass the receiver altogether.
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Post by steviev February 8, 2014 (8 of 51)
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Timmer said:
Does anyone know the answer to this for certain? I'd like to know if I'm hearing DSD playback or converted playback of DSD to PCM.
Here's my settings/config:
- Oppo Setup Menu/Audio Format Setup - SACD Output *DSD
- HDMI out to Receiver
- Stereo out to headphone AMP
- usb disk drive as source of DSD files
- Tim
What do you mean by "Stereo out to headphone AMP"? Do you mean that you're connecting the Oppo analog (RCA) outs to your headphone amp, then using your headphone amp strictly to amplify the analog signal? If that's the case, then the Oppo is directly modulating the DSD internally using its own DAC, and not first converting it to PCM.
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Post by tailspn February 8, 2014 (9 of 51)
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Timmer, you might want to try the headphone output on the Oppo with your Grado's. It was redesigned by John Curl for that series. You may be pleasantly surprised.
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Post by Timmer February 8, 2014 (10 of 51)
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tailspn said:
"Timmer, you might want to try the headphone output on the Oppo with your Grado's. It was redesigned by John Curl for that series. You may be pleasantly surprised. "
steviev said:
" What do you mean by "Stereo out to headphone AMP"? Do you mean that you're connecting the Oppo analog (RCA) outs to your headphone amp, then using your headphone amp strictly to amplify the analog signal? If that's the case, then the Oppo is directly modulating the DSD internally using its own DAC, and not first converting it to PCM. "
Thanks for the tip tailspn, unfortunately I have the oppo 103. The oppo 105 is the model with the headphone output.
Steviev,
Yes, I'm using the rca analog output from my 103 to my headphone amp. I don't know if I'm getting a dsd signal or a pcm converted signal, since the oppo is sending pcm to my receiver in addition to the analog signal from the rca out sent to my amp.
Also, I'm not sure how I can bypass my receiver since I use it to output video to the tv. Without a video signal I couldn't navigate to my dsd files on the usb drive.
- Tim
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