Hello to all forum members. I own both a Sony X-800 and a Sony X-800 M2 UHD BD players. Both of them feature a function called DSEE-HX which is some kind of "sound recovery system". As I don't use/own lossy files, I don't know what DSEE-HX does to lossy codecs like MP3 or AAC. With CD's, ripped to FLAC, or any files that are 44.1 or 48 Khz, it upsamples them to 88.2/96 Khz @ 24 bit. What I don't know if with 44.1/48 Khz @16 bit data DSEE-HX applies some kind of "recovery algorithm" in addition to upsample them to 88.2/96 @24 bit. I haven't used this much as all my ripped CD's are upsampled to 176.4.Khz/24 bit using Weiss Saracon and compressed to FLAC (Saracon has FLAC as an output option for PCM files), something that most of you won't see the point of, but for me, Weiss Saracon upsampling ripped CD's to 176.4 Khz/24 bit makes sound smoother, softer, easier to the ear, with better and more defined yet less agressive highs. I'm using a Topping D50 D/A converter that has 7 different filters, that have subtle but noticiable effect on sound with 44.1/48 Khz material. But with 176.4/24 bit either upsampled or native material (and 192/24 files too), the effect of the 7 different filters is not noticiable, at least to my ears. I guess what these filters do is too far from the 20 to 20000 Hz audio band. But back to the subject, do you know what this Sony DSEE-HX algorithm does to non-Hi Rez audio? Is it just an upsampler with lossless files or do you think it does something else?
It's just an upscaling system to which Sony has given a fancy designation. Read about it here: What is DSEE HX audio technology? | Sony UK
Thanks for your reply. I've read the information on your link and Sony is very vague about the technology or algorith used on DSEE-HX, but that's logical, they don't want other brands to copy their algorithm. The first technology of this kind I saw was Pioneer's Sound Retrieval Sound System, I think it was called like that. It only worked with lossy files and it didn't upsample 44.1/48/16 to 88.2/98/24. I don't think it does anything to lossless files upsampling apart. I'd like DSEE-HX to have the option to upsample to 176.4-192/24. Many people believe upsampling does more harm to 44.1-48/24 than good, but I'm not one of them. I think upsampling has its logic, by artificially increasing sampling rate and bit depth, more gentle filters and farther from the audio band can be used. It won't magically increase signal to noise ratio, dinamic range or frequency response.
I have the same technology on the Sony's HAP S1. I don't know what this thing is doing but my ears like the sound that is coming from the speakers.
I like it too when it's on when playing 44.1-48/16 lossless (FLAC) files and it upsamples them to 88.2-96/24, but I much prefer how my ripped CD's sound upsampled to 176.4/24 as FLAC files done by Weiss Saracon, but this is no surprise not only by the increase to double on the sampling rate, Weiss Saracon is a professional program that is quite expensive.
Of course there can be some benefits, but they vary depending on the source file. Here’s an authoritative article on upsampling that should clear up a lot of questions: Upsampling vs. Oversampling for Digital Audio
