Dsd 64

[musicnuttyboy]

Hi,

I'm considering switching from Minim Server to Asset on a QNAP NAS but can't find any reference on the site or forum to DSD 64?

I would be grateful if anyone could confirm if Asset is compatible with DSD 64?

Thanks in advance.

Paul

[simes_pep]

Re: Dsd 64

Hi Paul,

Yes DSD support is provided in Asset R5 Beta, however this is only available on Windows at present. I understand the plan is to complete the feature/functionality development on Windows, release this version and then port to the other platforms, which includes certain QNAP NAS devices.

I have been using the R5 Beta to serve SACD files in dsf/dff formats to my Naim network player, using their Beta firmware which adds native DSD64 playback. So the concept is proven.

I am personally are looking for Asset R5 on the Raspberry Pi2 platform, as I use this device as a dedicated UPnP Server running Asset R4 to serve files from a ReadyNAS Pro 2 NAS. I prefer this option, as it leaves the NAS device just as a file server, albeit with RAID1, snapshots and rsync backups to other NAS units. Plus I dynamically transcode the FLAC, ALAC, AAC and MP3 formats to WAV for the Naim network player. It all works well.

Thanks,
Simon.

[musicnuttyboy]

Re: Dsd 64

Hi Simon,

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.

Thats good to hear it's on the way as i'm struggling with Minim. Asset looks far easier to set up and run.

I'm also a Naim user and have the new NAC-N 272 hence my interest is DSD64. Due to issues with Minim I'm currently using a memory stick for DSD so having the ability to serve it from my QNAP would be great. I have to say the sound quality from DSD has been a real surprise via the 272!

Thanks again.

Paul

Hi Paul,

Yes DSD support is provided in Asset R5 Beta, however this is only available on Windows at present. I understand the plan is to complete the feature/functionality development on Windows, release this version and then port to the other platforms, which includes certain QNAP NAS devices.

I have been using the R5 Beta to serve SACD files in dsf/dff formats to my Naim network player, using their Beta firmware which adds native DSD64 playback. So the concept is proven.

I am personally are looking for Asset R5 on the Raspberry Pi2 platform, as I use this device as a dedicated UPnP Server running Asset R4 to serve files from a ReadyNAS Pro 2 NAS. I prefer this option, as it leaves the NAS device just as a file server, albeit with RAID1, snapshots and rsync backups to other NAS units. Plus I dynamically transcode the FLAC, ALAC, AAC and MP3 formats to WAV for the Naim network player. It all works well.

Thanks,
Simon.

[simes_pep]

Re: Dsd 64

Hi, The DSD playback on the Naim players with the Beta firmware is rather good.

What I am doing at present is running a second UPnP server, on my laptop, for the DSD files which I have in a separate directory to my FLAC, ALAC, AAC, MP3.
So this serves up the dsf/dff files - in the Naim app you get two server options.
You could also run R5 Beta on the same directory, but exclude all formats other than dsf/dff.

Let's hope we can move off Beta releases soon.

Simon.

[nautibuoy]

Re: Dsd 64

I'm a long time Asset user but did try minim on my QNAP NAS because of the DSD capability but it didn't last long; Minim is so complicated compared with Asset!

I'm also running a second instance of Asset using V5 on my laptop for DSD material until V5 is released for the QNAP platform.

Asset V5 also offers streaming of native DSD as well as DoP, I believe Minim only offers DoP. My renderer/DAC can accept a native DSD stream and I'm experimenting at the moment.

Ray

[nautibuoy]

Re: Dsd 64

After a little experimentation I'm now enjoying native DSD64 and DSD128 streamed from Asset V5 b8 on my laptop; it sounds excellent.

The only issue on this setup that I'm experiencing is that occasionally a track will truncate and playback will skip to the next track but I put that down to network errors as the laptop is using a wireless connection; I understand streaming native DSD uses UDP network packeting so no guaranteed delivery; but I anticipate wired network connections to resolve that.

Ray

[simes_pep]

Re: Dsd 64

So you need the Asset R5 Beta ported/released for your NAS.
I believe this is an Unix based OS, same as the Raspberry Pi so hopefully as part of the same activity.

What are you playing the native DSD128 on? I would imagine those files are quite big, several hundred MBs each.
I have one or two of those, plus one DSD256 but have to convert them down to DSD64 for playback, at present.
Each track of the DSD256 is 1GB in size.

Something the Meridien's new MQA format helps with, I understand.

Simon

[nautibuoy]

Re: Dsd 64

Yes, I'm pretty sure that the code for QNAP NAS and RPi are closely related Linux developments.

I'm listening to the DSD on this;

http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5955

I believe the ES9018 DAC chip is pretty optimised for DSD processing, some other DSD capable DACs immediately convert DSD to PCM and treat it just as any other PCM data.

That said, I'm interested in the possibilities of a DSD only DAC that eliminates to need for a conventional DAC chip. DSD actually sits in a sort of twilight zone between digital and analogue and it is possible to obtain an analogue signal by, simplistically, pushing the DSD through a low pass filter without processing. Results are said to be awesome. If the benefits are as good as suggested maybe you just transcode everything to DSD before streaming it and get rid of PCM based processing?

I confess I know noting about MQA as I no longer have an interest in commercial audio products and plough my own furrow nowadays, but I will do some digging and find out.

Ray

[gulp]

Re: Dsd 64

So you need the Asset R5 Beta ported/released for your NAS.
I believe this is an Unix based OS, same as the Raspberry Pi so hopefully as part of the same activity.

What are you playing the native DSD128 on? I would imagine those files are quite big, several hundred MBs each.
I have one or two of those, plus one DSD256 but have to convert them down to DSD64 for playback, at present.
Each track of the DSD256 is 1GB in size.

Something the Meridien's new MQA format helps with, I understand.

Simon

What do you use to downconvert DSD files? I only founnd jriver so far, but it's slow and doesn't offer multiprocessor usage. dbPoweramp doesn't offer DSD as target format, just flac, wav etc.