I’m gonna move down to Florida
And I’m gonna bowl me a perfect game
I’m gonna cut off my leg down in Florida
And I’m gonna dance one-legged off in the rain
Deep.
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Last off-topic post for me…promise:
I forgot about “No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature”!
Listening to this now on my somewhat modest desktop 'Phones system:
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That is the best version, no question about it. The Guess Who are sadly underrated and forgotton.
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Sledgehammer played very loudly
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BTO: Not Fragile! Love the opening bass.
The Guess Who: Artificial paradise!
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Another Plus One for Bandcamp, and if they offer a CD of something (or vinyl) you can buy that and still download the AIFFs whilst you wait for the physical copy to arrive 
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Okay, Teach! Homework is done.
I think that I got it now.
I want to know about DSD and PCM. Not DSD and FLAC.
FLAC is like the bag you can use to store your sweaters in the summer by using your vacuum to suck the air out, and thus saving a ton of space.
But when you unpack the bag, voila! With no loss, all of the sweater is there ready to wear.
PCM is the sweater and FLAC is the bag. Or, something like that.
Anyway, what I wanted to know is this: How do the different DSD files compare to PCM files.
What I have discovered is that a DSD 64 file is roughly equivalent to a 96KHz/24-Bit PCM file.
Does anyone have info for:
DSD 128 ~= XXXKHz/YY-bit pcm file.
DSD 512 ~= XXXKHz/YY-bit pcm file.
And so on.
TY!
Don’t forget, Grand Funk Railroad…
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It’s going to take a brighter bulb than mine to be able to explain that.
There really is no equivalent comparison that I know of as DSD is 1bit at a very high sample rate and PCM is 16 or 24 bits at a much lower sample rate (64, 128, 256, etc. times lower).
And yes Grand Funk is one of the first Vinyl albums that I purchased. We played it on an old fashioned “portable record player” with built in speakers that my friend had. It was awesome.
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Thanks. I appreciate you taking the time for all of your replies.
In the meantime, happy listening!
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I will actually try to answer your question, except for the difference between DSD and PCM.
DSD256 is generally the best for the absolute best possible quality for music purchased at highdeftapetransfers, but I would be ok with dsd64 most of the time.
When purchasing from highdef… most, and I do mean most, but not all recordings purchased in DSD256 you can download all the formats they have. The DSD64 are wonderful for playing music from my portable FIIO music player to my car, for instance, where dsd64 works but not dsd256 (limitation is the car, not the player)
DSD256 also takes up a lot more storage space than DSD64 does, but for the 2 live recordings I mentioned above, I am definitely glad to have the DSD256, for every ounce of detail/liveness I can possibly get from those recordings. Yes, I know, liveness is not a word, but is the best descriptor I have at the moment, and if you have those recordings you know what I mean.
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Like Baldy, I haven’t a great grasp of how DSD actually works. FWIW, this is the simplistic way I understand it. For a start, DSD is a specific, 1-bit version of an encoding scheme known as Pulse Density Modulation (PDM). This is a different encoding scheme from Pulse Code Modulation (PCM). The former represents an analogue signal by varying the density of bits. That is, louder sounds are represented by a denser sequence of bits than quieter sounds. The bit stream is continuous and closely follows the profile of the analogue signal. If you look at a graphical representation of a DSD bit stream from a distance, it resembles the analogue waveform. OTOH, PCM is a discrete encoding scheme. That is, you take ‘snapshots’ (samples) of the analogue waveform tens of thousands of times per second. The magnitude of each sample is represented as a 16-, 24- or 32-bit number, the higher the number, the ‘louder’ the sample.
This is why many say that DSD (PDM) is ‘closer’ to analogue than is PCM. Supposedly you can actually ‘play’ a DSD bit stream directly into the analogue inputs of your pre-amp and get a sound! The problem is that PDM is not quite a ‘continuous’ waveform and the transition from bit to bit manifests itself as high-frequency noise. That’s where the high-powered mathematical algorithms programmed into your DAC come into play, smoothing out those rough edges.
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Yes. When possible, I have purchased the highest res available from HDTT even though, at the moment, I cannot play DSD files above DSD 128.
Not sure if you have seen, but I did mention in another post, that from your recommendation, one of my very first purchases from HDTT was the Ben Webster Live In Copenhagen album.
And, wow! Literally breathtaking. There are moments that are actually startling from the clarity and, to borrow your word, “liveness”.
For you and anyone else that can answer:
What I am hoping to get a grasp of, is, and I know that it is like comparing apples to oranges, but, which resolutions roughly match up between DSD and PCM?
So, that if only PCM files are available from a vendor, the 192/24 or whichever they are offering, that PCM resolution is more or less, the same as a DSD XXX file. Something like that.
Thanks!.
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Thanks!
I mostly understand PCM. DSD: I have not fully been able to wrap my head around yet. But I do get that it works. And for now, that is enough for me.
Please see my reply to adifferentpaul above regarding the, sort of, equivalence between PCM files to DSD files.
Would appreciate your insight…
Thanks again!
I think a good way to understand the differences is to think about PCM as the words on the page of a book describing the flow of a river and DSD being the continuous flow of the river.itself.
PCM is easy to edit but not a continuous flow of information and therefore (can be) lower fidelity.
DSD is difficult to edit by the nature of the process but higher fidelity and (can be) more real sounding.
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I’d say you have a very good grasp on this, Mike.
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Thanks for everyone that replied to my questions and helped me to better understand the difference between DSD and PCM files.
I am sold on DSD. When they are offered, I usually do purchase DSD files.
But when they are not, I would like to know around what “DSD ballpark” I am in with a PCM file?
What I would like to know, and I know that they are very different in how they work, which PCM frequency and resolution file is roughly similar to a DSD version?
So, for example,
- a DSD 064 file is like a xxx KHz / yy Bit PCM file.
- a DSD 128 file is like a zzz KHz / aa Bit PCM file.
And so on.
Thanks in advance!
Hey candude
This may or not be what you seek, but I’ll give it a go.
I can set JRiver MC to display bit rate info. Here’s what I see when I look at the bitrate for songs in the following resolutions:
PCM:
Format/Resolution - Bitrate (typical)
AIFF 16/44.1 - 1411
FLAC 16/44.1 - ranges 841 - 973
FLAC 24/44.1 - ranges 1516 - 1691
FLAC 24/48 - ranges 1433 - 1624
FLAC 24/88.2 - ranges 2554 - 2850
FLAC 24/96 - ranges 3250 - 3339
FLAC 24/192 - ranges 5732 - 5845
DSD
Format/Resolution - Bitrate
DSD - 5644
DSD (2x) - 11289
DSD (4x) - 22579
I don’t own or play DXD files. I have downloaded test tracks in DXD and verified JRiver and my DAC can play them.
BTW - I buy downloads or RIP CDs. My favorite download retailers are ProStudioMasters, Native DSD, HD Tracks. Joining their emailing lists will bring email announcements for sales and discount codes.
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Hey Boom Boom!
Thank you!
Admittedly, not exactly what I was looking for but it does help, a bit. A bit! Get it? 
I am a dad, so I should be excused for the Dad Humor.
I have also purchased from NativeDSD, HDTracks and, of course, Octave Records.
I will check out ProStudioMasters.
Thanks again!
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I found this bit on the iFi FAQ support site, it’s regarding DoP or DSD over PCM but it might help paint the picture so to speak, I’ll paste the excerpt below:
Specifically using DoP, DSD is sent as a 16-bit chunk per PCM sample. So DSD(64) requires 4 PCM samples to hold 64 DSD bits and thus it needs to be sent as 176.4kHz PCM. And thus DSD128 via DoP requires 352.8kHz PCM and DSD256 via DoP requires 705.6kHz PCM. Only via ASIO (native) is DSD sent at the DSD sample rate, though under the bonnet it is sent in effect as 32 Bit per PCM sample, so 705.6Khz allows 22.57M DSD sample rate (DSD512).
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