Sony and DSD

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This is a quick hit to weigh in on the Sony annoucement that they would start selling downloads of their Columbia Records in DSD format.  Link to a good news story is here.  Sony's site dedicated to the products and downloads is here.

Why should you care?

The only way to get closer to the performance would be to steal the master tape as these were ripped right from the tapes in a format to preserves the sound of it.  Also many (but not all) studios record using the DSD format.  So in a lot of cases DSD is the master.  And unlike CD, it is easy to get realistic sounding playback with DSD due to the nature of the decoding.
The First SACD player c1999 ...for a brief period
of time it looked like it might take off, but never became more
than an audiophile format as the public raced over to MP3's ...
Given how good the medium sounds on modest equipment, we were
sad to see if fizzle in the mass market, but glad you can still get them.
DSD is the download version of it !

If you are fortunate enough to have a SACD player (highly recommended) and have a couple of SACD titles, you will know how good is sounds compared to CD and even vinyl.  DSD is the file format, and true to form Sony is also starting to sell a selection of DSD players (that will also play MP3, AAC, and the PCM format that is CD).

What's also cool about this, is that Sony is starting (along with others) to populate the long missing "middle price" bracket in audio systems that went missing about the time that home theater receivers hit the scene.  Let's hope this is the start of something good!

Comments

  1. bulletheadSeptember 29, 2013 at 12:16 PM

    There are still plenty of SACDs being made, in Europe and Japan. USA market is not there, so you have to get the discs online. DSD downloads look promising, it's confusing with all the DSD DACs coming out, Sony made it even more confusing with their amp/DACs (wtf) how about a normal DAC? I'm looking into the latest TEAC, but it will need some software that I like or else I am sticking to SACDs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bromo33333September 29, 2013 at 2:04 PM

      We do have a growing collection of SACDs, and yes, all are made in Europe or Japan. We went over the Sony offerings, they have one "almost pure" DAC that loads DSD files onto a hard drive for later playback. I have no idea how well that system works, but we're encouraged. We've started the search for a good-in-our-estimation DSD based DAC, but as this process tends to be lengthy and torturous for us, it'll likely have fizzled or become mainstream by the time we take the actual plunge.

      We sure wish SACD had taken off - it really delivered the promise that CD offered.

      Delete
  2. somchaiDecember 13, 2013 at 12:44 AM

    "Also many (but not all) studios record using the DSD format. So in a lot of cases DSD is the master."
    What does this mean?
    I am understand that in Studio, the format used is PCM not DSD as all the software used in studio only work with PCM file. After finishing and want to print the CD/SACD, then it will convert to PCM 16bit/44.1KHz or DSD. In this case, the studio master is PCM which usually at higher bit such as 24bit but as for sampling frequency, it depend. With the popularity of High Resolution, I understand that most studio will not use 24bit/192KHz PCM. So we should get best sound quality by using master which is studio master PCM not DSD.
    However, it is true that when Sony acquired Columbia Record in 1988, Sony convert all tape to DSD. So for those content, the best sound will be in DSD format. I am not sure if Sony has or allow someone to convert those tape to PCM for remaster or not. If yes, it is interesting to compare the direct from tape PCM and DSD.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bromo33333December 13, 2013 at 3:38 PM

      We agree - but also in playback gear, there are few (none?) off the shelf chips that do a "pure" DSD conversion, and end up converting the signal into one form or another of PCM before filtering and conversion.

      If DSD takes off, though, I suspect we'll find some interesting approaches to the simplicity that DSD promises. There is a fellow in Eastern Europe that is attempting DSD conversion without any silicon chips - though the project still looks to be more a hobbyist/DIYeffort with a lot of promise than a finished product.

      Interesting times!

      Delete

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