From ProStudioMasters, until July 18, if you Type in WORLD code before checkout, you get 25% off on all regular priced files. I just got a couple more of some jazz DSD256’s and they are killer sounding!!
EDIT: I got to listen to these 2 recordings more, and both are excellently recorded. Blue and Brokenhearted sets the stage several feet behind the speakers and the instruments are very full, finely textured, and very live sounding. If your system has the resolution, it can put a live band right in your living room.
Body and Sole is set further back, about 5 feet behind the speakers and the soundstage is larger both to the side and back, but still very live sounding. DSD256 really shows off the resolutions in these recordings.
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I got some DSDs from pro studio last night. Thanks for the news about the sale!
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Thanks for mentioning ProStudioMasters site, and you got me on the discount code. I bought two albums to try, and both 256 sounded excellent! They seem to sound better than NativeDSD downloads, but it could be due to a couple upgrades I did to my streaming system recently.
The DSD256 fills up my SSD fast. 
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I’ve been comparing DSD256 to a bunch of 24 bit 192k recordings. I think I know why DSD256 sounds more analog like. It’s because there are much more information with the higher rate. The images are more complete and dense, hence more dimensional and there are more ambience information, hence more separation of images and not as flat. The more I listen to DSD256, the less I miss my LP system.
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DSD256 files sound more LP than any digital format that I have heard, and they have more extended frequencies also.
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Here’s what Paul has to say about lossless.
Do we see an Airlens in the background?
This is why I said:
“When streaming from a server to an endpoint over Ethernet, there is no reason the sound would be different between a losslessly compressed file and an uncompressed file. The same exact data is sent to the endpoint.”
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And I’m saying I can hear a difference when I play back FLAC and AIFF files from my streamer even if the bits are the same.
Did you not hear what Paul said at the end of the video? Maybe if my streamer has galvanic isolation like the PST, then it wouldn’t matter, but it doesn’t.
Yes, in my case Jriver is the server on a PC, Bridge II seems to unpack in case of Flac and I hear a difference between them, that’s for sure.
In case the server unpacks, the server generates the more noise. Now Paul says the Airlens is galvanically isolated…but is everything else connected to the power cirquit of the server also isolated? I think we will continue to hear differences over the power cirquit to other equipment if my logic doesn’t fail.
Ethernet provides galvanic isolation on each end. The only thing that gets sent over Ethernet are the bits…not the electrical noise. This is why Roon recommends using a server/end point model. In that the server electrical noise does not matter. Only the uncompressed PCM data is sent to the end point…even in @jazznut’s case…
Maybe I’m missing something here. So unpacking the compressed files don’t need additional power and energy to do the work? it’s just automatically and magically done? Or do the player just plays the compressed files as is?
Which device do you think might be the AL? I think it’s going to be half width with no screen.
I thought maybe the unit on top bottom right.
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Yes, it does…but decompressing is not a “hard” thing to do so the extra power and processing is minimal. It might affect things if the computer doing the decompressing were directly attach to the DAC via USB or SPDIF. But, when you use an end point like an ultraRendu, the server does the decompressing and then sends the decompressed data over Ethernet to the end point. So the end point is sent the same data and sends that sam data to the DAC regardless of the source container (FLAC or WAV). Ethernet provides galvanic isolation so any extra electrical noise the decompression process might create is not passed down the Ethernet connection.
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As you hear hear a difference when playing back FLAC and AIFF files from your streamer there is a difference.
The challenging part is determining why.
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The data is coming into my streamer through ethernet. Then it is passed on via USB > Matrix 2 > I2S > DS. I am using the Lumin app for playback. I don’t know at what point the decompression takes place, but I believe it does affect the sound.
It is easy to rationalize the difference away. The hard part is to explain it. 
So you are not using a separate music server and end point then? You have the server directly connected to the Matrix which is outputting to the DAC. So, there is no galvanic isolation happening.
Actually I’m not using my NAS to the ethernet and ethernet to my streamer any more. I’m using a Hard drive via USB to my streamer, because it sounds better, so ethernet to my streamer is only to use the Lumin app. for control.
The soon to be release AirLens has this galvanic isolation feature. It would be interesting to hear the difference. That being said, the difference between what I hear with FLAC vs AIFF is really very small. I can not tell any difference in my bedroom system, so it really doesn’t matter to some people. But there are a lot of people that must have uncompressed data just for the sake of it.