Has anyone noticed the Marantz SA-10 SACD player? It is similar to the Direct Stream DAC’s where it upconverts everything to 32 bit with a sampling rate of 11.2896 for 44.1 multiples and 12.2888 for 48 multiples. Then, it downconverts it to one bit with a sampling rate not specified (as best as I can tell).
There is one part of the literature that is confusing to me. It talks about having filters that seem to be applicable only to PCM to me. Below is from their literature:
“These filters - one providing a slow roll-off and very short impulse response, the other offering the option of a medium roll-off with short pre-ringing and longer post-ringing - are essentially the same as those found in the Marantz SA-11 disc player and NA-11 network music player, but here they’re implemented at a much higher oversampling rate, thanks to that upconversion to DSD11.2.”
Do the Direct Stream DAC’s have similar filters? I thought there was only a low pass filter.
Did PS Audio get any patents for their Direct Stream DAC’s?
Upsampling is quite common in DACs Converting to samples with a smaller number of bits with sigma delta modulation is also quite common. Converting to one bit is less common. With PCM you have to have a filter that filters out everything above 1/2 of the sample rate and this filter has to be implemented digitally to avoid rolling off the top end significantly. When the final signal is converted to analog there also has to be a filter that gets rid of everything above that sample rate, but since that sample rate is now much higher a much gentler filter works fine. In the DS this filter is the low pass filter you are thinking about. But the PCM upsampling filter is done digitally in the FPGA. I didn’t get any patents for the DS: I don’t believe they have any advantages for me and I’d rather keep my software work as a trade secret.
Deanhorn said
Has anyone noticed the Marantz SA-10 SACD player?
Yes, I had noticed this new Marantz. I was just about to order a DirectStream Player and DAC bundle when it was announced... I currently have Marantz's last top player, the SA-7S1, and thought the DS would be a good upgrade. Now I don't know what to do and lack of comparisons, reviews etc. are not helping. And my dealer's offered trade in price could disappear if I stall any longer!
Too late for me as I just replaced a Marantz SA-7S1 with the DSD/DMP. I’m very interested in the topic though. First thought was is the SA-10 firmware update-able like the DSD/DMP?
Bought the DSMP and DAC bundle… in case anyone was wondering! Not installed yet, but Huron and Tidal/MQA through Bridge2 swung it. Marantz SA-10 sounded great when I had one on trial, but not upgradable like DS DAC. I think that makes it more future-proof for me.