Hey, that horse looks just like me. 
ProStudioMasters just extended their 25% off sale to Thur. 21. Just enter code UP at checkout. Maybe they got an inrush of costumers and want it to continue.
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Maybe selling downloads at 25% off still allows a hefty profit.
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Does anyone have a ballpark figure for average DSD 256 file size? There are a few comments on them being big and consuming drive space, but how much? I’ve guessed my average, standard AIFF 44 rip is 40-50MB and my AIFF 192’s hover around 200-250. Anyone pay attention to actual file sizes of the DSD 256s?
Nah. I don’t even think about it anymore. Disk space is cheap.
The NativeDSD Starter pack with 7 tracks is 2.68 GB.
I looked at seven titles, six to ten GB with the tendency toward 10GB. I have one or two that hit 15GB.
Which makes me laugh as I remember the absolute wonderment of my very first 1GB hard drive. An entire GB??!! WhooHooooo!
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Again, I understand you do not want listeners hearing differences between digital formats.
But they do.
This reminds me of those who still assert cables and other wires cannot make a difference.
But they do.
I’m out.
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A 1TB HD can store 100 to 150 albums of DSD256, or 2000+ regular CD files doing a rough calculation from my retired brain.
Great, I am going to buy another Samsung SSD T7 for future DSD files and I have already had 5 DSD256 files more from last week, and ProStudioMasters just extended their sales. I am a sucker in deals.
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Or a 360k floppy disc
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Think of the time also to download all those files if you don’t have fast internet and a fast computer, especially if you’re moving all your files to a new NAS or hard drive.
Thanks for the heads up. I’ve been using HDtracks. Really like ProStudioMasters.
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Hardly. Unlike with cables, the difference is variable.
All I am saying is that if decompressing makes a difference in sound quality, then so should any other task the server performs during music playback.
Sound quality should be variable as the music server computer does whatever its does since that is variable too. It’s not the like the server computer has a constant set of processes running at all time. Processes fire up and then go idle on an irregular basis.
Since the decompressing of music data is not a constant process, the sound quality should vary even as the song plays and this variance should be readily hearable based on these listener’s fantastic ears.
With the variability of the various tasks the music server computer runs and with the variability in the FLAC decompression task, sound quality changes should occur often and at what appear to be random times. The music data being sent to the DAC is not variable…only the work the computer is doing is…and that work varies all the time. The work required to decompress FLAC is just part of the work the music server does and that same level of work is often being done when a WAV file is being played. So, how could one discern that WAV sounds better than FLAC when the computer may actually be working harder when a WAV is being played?
I remember that also Ted had doubts if the differences we hear in the Flac/AIF/WAV comparison are related to format or hard disk fragmentation or file position or other effects of the storage device. At least he pointed out, that a lot is to consider in those comparisons.
Anyhow, what exactly happens or could happen remained open and Ted pointed out that he simply sees other differences being more relevant as well as apples2apples comparisons difficult. I also remember that your assumption that only the server decompresses is not correct.
Experiencing, that even for people like Ted, who are extremely deep into the technology, certain effects are no clear black or white and there’s no reason or basis for them to explicitly deny them, lets me relativate theoretical explanations of folks, understanding much less of this technology (sorry, but I assume this is correct), just because they don’t hear it in their environment, or maybe even didn’t try at all.
Although I absolutely understand the logic behind your argumentation, you simply can’t give a logical explanation that contradicts what others reproducibly hear, simply because there’s no chance you have a complete overview of what happens. It never made sense trying to find a theory that proves what one doesn’t hear. It just makes sense to find the reason for what one does hear.
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When does a server connected to the DAC via USB/AES/SPDIF/Optical not do the FLAC decompression? What server/end point setup has the endpoint doing the decompression?
Logically, one can’t explain what others hear in regards to FLAC versus WAV because it does not make logical sense. The idea that the relatively easy decompression process changes the sound when other more intense processes the computer may do does not, is illogical.
This gets even more illogical when you factor in the server/end point model. Because the slight work the computer does decompressing FLAC is unknown to the end point and thus the DAC.
Ted has the same concerns I am pointing out based on what I have read. He is just more diplomatic about it.
If the work a computer did were constant, the same processes running all time and doing the same work all the time, then one could argue that you could hear the difference when FLAC files were being decompressed. But even that process is not constant. When playing a FLAC file, decompression is not constant. Nor is the reading from storage.
There’s little chance to argument if someone seems to know as much as you do, but maybe Paul‘s post here helps. The option where to decompress (server or streamer) is something also Ted mentioned.
I personally don’t fully understand it and I don’t know how I can care for a decompression on the server instead of in the Bridge except when in Jriver explicitly configuring conversion of everything to wav or AIF before playing to the Bridge or another streamer (which I do not).
Assumed we would all configure conversion on the server, it would be interesting if we still hear a difference. I guess probably yes, and I also guess we’d probably hear a differemce if another noticable CPU load would be implied to the server while playing. All those theoretical thoughts just prove nothing, it’s only important what we hear…then we can try to find out why.
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Here’s another couple of very nice analog sounding DSD256 recordings. Very live, sounds like the bands are in the room.
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I have several Samsung T7 drives, all red in color. They please the heck out of me. I can’t wait until they make a 4TB version. An excellent drive!
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I could not convince my wife that we needed a NAS to backup all our files. She just said how much of that will be used for audio stuff.
All my Samsung SSD look the same too. So, there is no way she will notice if a few extras show up. 
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I recall a conversation with Ted where he said the PSD converted everything to PCM. I think it was over on the Matrix thread. My Aurender server would convert everything to PCM first, but DSD is sent native thanks to my Matrix and it still gets converted to PCM when it hits the DAC. This leads me to believe the DAC has nothing to do with FLAC decompression.
I have a Bridge II but don’t use it so can’t really comment. I read Qobuz streams Hi-Res FLAC 24-Bit music up to 192 kHz so the Bridge II must be doing the decompression if that’s your streamer. After the Bridge, the DAC is going to convert to PCM anyway.
Hope you have multiple backups. I’ve had two SSDs fail (over Samsung then-state of the art QVO 860 2TB).
I now use an old-fashioned NAS.