XLD users, DSD support now available!

More info here:

http://tmkk.undo.jp/xld/dsd.html

What can we use this for I wonder? I have a Korg AD3000 DSD recorder ... maybe I won't have to use Korg's own Audiogate software any longer. Never much liked what it did to the sound when converting anyway.

More to the point perhaps, would it now be possible to rip an SA-CD and if so, what kind of disc drive would need to be connected to the computer?

Anyway, thumbs up to XLD for continually work on their software!

 

XLD won't rip SACDs. It "is able to open and convert DSD files. It supports DSF (.dsf), DSDIFF (.dff) and SACD .iso formats."

And: "For multichannel .iso files, only 2ch data is imported (at this moment. will be improved in the future)."

 

It's specifically for converting DSD to PCM. PCM digital audio is more prolific in consumer/pro audio devices.

 

"It's specifically for converting DSD to PCM. PCM digital audio is more prolific in consumer/pro audio devices."

Sure, but it 's nice to have some software other then Korg's own Audiogate to to this. Having used Audiogate I was not impressed by the quality loss when going from DSD to PCM. Looking forward to trying the same experiment with XLD.

 

Glad you feel that there is better sound using XLD. Have you tried AudioGate 3.0? (yes you have to have the DS DAC 100/m, sad-trombone)

 

Not sure which version of Audiogate I have (not at work now0, it was whichever version was available around March 2014. I have not actually used XLD yet so I cannot say if it sounds better or not.

 

I've been using XLD recently for DSD files to convert for portable use. It works quite well. And the sound quality of the resultant PCM files is pretty good.

 

Well, get to work! Kidding. When you do try it, let us know. Thanks.

 

Can someone please let me know exactly which XLD settings should be selected to get the highest quality PCM files (don't care how long it runs - just want best possible SQ) for these types of DSD files (please see example link below - thinking about buying a bunch of downloads from this site with this same specs but don't have any experience with DSD - although I have been using XLD for a while):

http://store.acousticsounds.com/d/1...Collection-DSD_Single_Rate_28MHz64fs_Download

 

On paper, maxing out the settings of the DSD importer to 192/32 would seem the way to go. In practice, the default settings seem to pick the most appropriate settings it seems. I'm not sure one would tell the difference between a DSD file converted to 192/32 and one converted to 96/24.

 

At 24bit, 176 kHz is the optimum sampling rate for converting DSD to PCM, not 192kHz. 176 is an integer multiple of the DSD sampling rate. That's why Blu-ray/SACD players offering PCM conversion convert SACDs to 24/176 or 24/88, not 24/192 or 24/96, and DSD/SACD-sourced downloads on HDtracks and elsewhere are in 88 or 176kHz PCM

 

JE Johnson Jr. from Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity recommends 24/88:

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/tech...sacd-music-tracks-to-pcm-in-disc-players.html

Oppo feels the same thing:

Why not 176.4KHz when converting SACD to PCM?

The hardware is capable of doing 176.4 and the licensing is not different. OPPO believes that 88.2KHz actually produces a better quality result for SACD DSD to PCM conversion. OPPO feels that even to offer 176.4 as an option would mislead people into thinking the higher rate must be better when that's simply not the case.

SACD players do not convert at a higher rate -- as measured at the Analog output. The process of producing Analog from DSD for SACD requires a 50KHz filter (just as exists in the OPPO's DACs when DSD-Direct-to-Analog conversion is in effect), which is the equivalent of a 100KHz sampling rate limit (see Nyquist Limit). 88.2 is the highest multiple of 44.1 that does not exceed 100.

http://watershade.net/wmcclain/BDP-103-faq.html#how-does-dual-hdmi-output-work

 

I agree with the math aspect, but am not convinced the differences will be audible - worth playing with though. I had a feeling when I made my last comment that the XLD default settings were going to result in either 176 or 88 conversion and I'd leave it on the default. I sort of interpreted the question as "how do I get the biggest numbers".

Personally, I just let Audirvana convert on the fly. FWIW it picks 176/32 vs. 176/24, but again, I wouldn't expect an audible difference there.

 

My desktop dac (Hegel HD12) can supposedly handle DSD natively so I will use the original DSD download files at my desktop (I only got this DAC recently so don't have and DSD's yet).
However my portable dac (Tera) can only play wav files (all resolutions between 44/16 to 192/24) so I want to convert them for that purpose.

 

With a portable player, I'd probably do 88/24 if for no other reason then smaller file sizes. I was listening to an 88/24 conversion of a MoFi SACD the other night and thought it sounded incredible.

 

Little Tera is an incredible DAC given it's size. I can actually sometimes hear differences between 192 vs 96 files (on extremely well recorded albums). However I also need extremely expensive IEM to pair with Tera since it's extremely picky about matching phones - Tralucent Ref 1 is perfect with Tera but for $1650 it better be ).

 

Other than resolution (thanks for those opinions) how about few opinions about other XLD settings for converting DSD to PCM.

What would you recommend for SRC algorithm:

1. SoX MQ
2. SoX VHQ Linear Phase
3. SoX VHQ Intermediate Phase
4. Sox VHQ Minimum Phase

And how about Quantization:
1. 24-bit integer
or
2. 32-bit floating point

And what should be the gain adjustment?

Any rule of thumb for any of the above (ie what produces best results most of the time, even if need to run longer to complete)?

 

Did anyone ever figure out the appropriate XLD settings for DSD conversion? Per tgdinamo's request above?

I'm very interested in learning the same thing myself

Cheers and many thanks in advance!

 

24 bit/ 88KHz appears to be the above consensus for converting DSD 2.8MHz (DSD64).

From my searching, settings would be:

88200, SoX VHQ Intermediate Phase, 24 bit, No gain.

Read on: http://sox.sourceforge.net/SoX/Resampling

 

How much gain do you guys add? If I don't add gain it seems way too quiet, but I don't want to add too much, just want to see if anyone found a sweet spot yet. Cheers.