I have a pair of M700 monoblocks with the Stellar Gain Cell DAC, and I absolutely love the combination.
About a month ago, I added a Shanling SCD1.3 to the system, which allows me to play SACDs, CDs, stream Apple Music, and play my ripped music library. After spending time with Paul’s Audiophile’s Guide to Speaker Setup, everything is sounding fantastic, and I’m a very happy listener.
That said, the more I read on forums and websites, the more confused I’ve become!
I currently have the Shanling connected to the Stellar via both I2S and XLR. Shanling states that SACD playback over I2S is converted to 88.2 kHz PCM. If that’s the case, so be it, but it raises a few questions:
Can the Stellar Gain Cell receive native DSD over I2S only from PS Audio transports, and not from the Shanling?
The Stellar display doesn’t show any sample rate information regardless of whether I’m using I2S, XLR, or RCA inputs. The Shanling, however, indicates when it’s playing the SACD layer and also shows the output format when playing downloaded DSD files.
To my 66-year-old ears, the XLR connection actually sounds slightly better than I2S.
So here’s the million-dollar question:
Is the Stellar actually receiving the original output rates from the Shanling via I2S, XLR or are they being downsampled depending on which output is being used?
I’d greatly appreciate any clarification from those who understand this better than I do.
At one time I owned a Stellar Gain Cell and I played the PST through it via I2S. When doing so, the unit did recognize the SACD source as being DSD. What may be happening in your case is, the SACD player is outputting DSD, but without a compatible DAC or compatible connection to a compatible DAC, you may indeed be listening to PCM over your speakers. My understanding is the I2S configurations have to match across components, regardless of brands, to reproduce true DSD.
My understanding is that PS Audio is licensed by Sony to decode and protect SACD’s but the encryption is in the transport.
But then again, I could be misremembering it, or worse, misunderstanding.
I don’t have your setup but for a while I was running an Onix Zenith SACD transport (which has a Shanling drive in it) and a Stellar Gold DAC. In my case the DAC was displaying accurate information (DSD64 via the I2S for example) but the sync indicator (I call it “the dot”) was showing red even though the audio was playing just fine. So, to answer your questions, 1) yes the StellarGold DAC, and likely yours as well, can receive native DSD over I2S from a non-PS Audio source, assuming the HDMI port pinout configurations are close enough. Native DSD over I2S may need to be turned on via a menu in the transport – I don’t know. And it likely is not available on some of the digital output ports on your transport such as the SPDIF coaxial and optical ports. 2) your transport might be sending DoP to the DAC. DoP = “DSD over PCM”. In that case, the DAC should be indicating it is receiving PCM (Note: Mathematically, native DSD64 converts to 24-bit 88.2kHz PCM when packaged as DoP, so displaying 88.2mHz would be correct for SACD playback if no upsampling by the transport is involved.)
Awesome thank you, the sound from XLR and I2S both sound awesome. But the issue still remains the Stellar doesn’t display any incoming rates etc. Is this just a fact of life with this particular Stellar range or is mine having a “hissy fit”?
I don’t have an answer to that. It could be like the red dot I was getting with my Onix Shanling / StellarGold DAC combination. And after thinking about this again, I may have been wrong about what I wrote earlier and it may not have been displaying the “DSD64” either. I suspect there’s an incompatibility that’s affecting the ability of the Stellar to display the information – call it a firmware bug if you will – but likely outside of the level of support you can expect from PS Audio.
I found the photo I was looking for! This is what my StellarGold DAC displays when I play an SACD on my Onix Zenith via the I2S bus. Is this similar to what you are seeing?
duffss, in my previous comments I’ve been assuming that the Gain Cell and the StellarGold DAC had similar displays but from your photos I can see that they are quite different. Those big numerals in the upper photo appear to be displaying volume level? So everything that I wrote about my StellarGold does is not seem to apply directly and it is probably not helping you much. I will say that the Shanling SCD1.3 is similar to my Onix transport with the exception that the Onix does not have a built-in DAC and therefore has no analog outputs. All that said, I am fairly confident that if you connect your SCD1.3 to your Gain Cell via I2S, you will get native DSD (you are not limited to the PCM 88.2 kHz you mention). The SCD1.3 has configurable pinouts for the I2S output port – set to mode 9 or second choice mode 5. The selected mode is working right if you check both SACD and CD playback via I2S to ensure the left and right stereo channels are assigned correctly (you can compare the I2S output to the analog output via the XLR connectors which should always have L/R correct if you haven’t crossed cables accidentally). With that done, I don’t know but it sure looks to me that your Stellar Gain is not going to tell you what it is receiving in terms of PCM or DSD and the resolution. Whether you choose to listen to the SCD1.3 via its digital output (I2S) or its analog output (XLR) is completely your preference, of course.
did you check With your computer if you have the right driver in it
Mine wasn’t working I hook up the computer to it install the PS audio ( available in the Download page ) driver in my computer. It needs the dac To be connected to the computer and it start working
Doing so you use the USB cable from computer to preamp
I have a Mac and they don’t have drivers. there is no downloads for the Stellar Gain cell dac that I can see on the page, only the more modern Stellars
The difference between the I2S and XLR is very very slight personally the XLR is a “smidge” clearer,I’m not very good with the audio gobble gook sorry.
It wasn’t a biggie that I couldn’t the the rates etc, just that that would have been cool.
The sound from both in my mind is truely outstanding, I just went down a bloody rabbit hole…too much time on my hands
