amgradmd said
pmotz said
Amgradmd, Paul was saying only the DSD from an SACD can't be sent over the I2S to the Nu Wave DAC. I think all other data can be, including hi-res burned to a DVD (I have never done this but heard this, or something like it, is possible
). For Nu Wave DAC owners I would think finding a good used PWT would be the best option, the new DMP will cost several times the Nu Wave's original cost. You can stream DSD to the Nu Wave, correct?
I appreciate the reply. Not sure if I understand what the point of I2S is if you're not going to use it for DSD? Part of the name is "DSD" after all, as in "DSD NuWave DAC". AS I understand it that input was included in anticipation of DSD input. So that begs the question regarding the I2S port on the NuWave. What is it's purpose? Did PSA anticipate using it for streaming DSD from the DMP but technical factors kept them from making it work? Was the I2S input on the NuWave improperly implemented? I think as an owner of this DAC it's fair to ask for an explanation.
Indeed it does deserve an explanation. The I²S input on the NuWave DSD does handle DSD. It has since it's launch and a few people have taken advantage of it through their PWT by cutting discs with DSD on them, replacing the file names to .WAV to trick the PWT. That's neither practical nor easy, but that has happened. Also, other manufacturers, like Sonore, who use our I²S over HDMI protocols, send DSD to our products through theirs.
The reason we put the I²S input on the NuWave DSD was, in fact, not to support DSD but to support the raw signals sent by the PWT. We should remember that for the last 8 years, before everyone was even interested in DSD, our innovative I²S system has been the de facto standard for superior data transmission of CD as well as high resolution PCM. Our I²S protocols have been adopted by a number of manufacturers and we wanted to make sure that even our lower cost DAC had the ability to accept digital audio data in the same correct way as our other products.
With the launch of DMP more than just I²S has changed. To make DMP send the unencrypted layer on the SACD to our DAC, legally, we had to make sure it could not be copied. To do this, we devised a clever code based handshake scheme initiated by DMP. To “seal the deal” the receiving DAC had to be upgraded to make the handshake. It is anything but simple and we are checking for the DAC’s ID, serial number, etc. It’s more than just a handshake - it’s an actual “fact checker” that verifies the authenticity of the decoding device. We did this to ensure some clever hacker couldn’t easily decipher what we’ve done (like flip a polarity bit) and make an easy copy box - or program. Then we’d be in hot water with Sony. That’s something we don’t want for two reasons. First, they’re just a little bigger than we are. 
Second, we respect the rights of musicians and labels and want to honor their desire to not open the flood gates to what is, essentially, a copy of their master tape.
To manage all this after the fact - the fact that DACs were released well before we ever figured out how to do this handshake or even if we could successfully go forward with our DMP project, we had to update all the DirectStreams in the field. That was what the Torreys firmware update was really all about. Sure, it had Ted’s latest thinking on the state of digital sound reproduction, but buried in that code was also the keys to making DMP work. Without Torreys installed, DMP will not handshake with our DACs.
As was mentioned in another post, NuWave DSD hasn’t the ability to be field updated. Thus, we cannot add the handshake. Also, I am not certain NuWave has enough “brain power” to handle the complex algorithms needed to make the handshake work. Might be able to, I just never looked into it.
So yes, NuWave does handle DSD overI²S. However, it cannot do the handshake to allow the DSD layer on SACD to be reproduced.
Hope that’s helps with understanding.
