HDTT tape transfer, and I have a number of DSD256 transfers that all sounded better than Cds or SACDs.
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In the early days of CD there were lots of poor transfers, because it was a cheap way of selling CDs to people giving up on vinyl (which happened quite slowly) or wanting the CD for their car or Walkman. I bought very few of those transfers (e.g. Karajan’s 1970’s Beethoven symphonies, I have the 1960’s set on vinyl) and haven’t spun a CD for over a decade.
HDTT I suspect appeals to a very limited audiophile market. People old enough to know HDTT’s classical output probably still have the vinyl (or can buy it very cheaply). As for their jazz transfers, I’d rather have the vinyl, and much of it is readily available.
That is fine, and I am not sure DSD256 will sound better in your system anyway.
Before Lumin U2 and three cables upgrades (yes, I am talking about digital cables), DSD256 sounded worse in my previous system.
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A6 looks like a nice quality streamer, and if you have a quality DAC you owed yourself not to try some quality USB cables.
When I did the USB cable comparisons using a Euphony Summus2 streamer, they made more SQ difference than any of my interconnects. You can demo a few from The Cable Company to hear yourself.
The USB cable remains to be the most significant SQ upgrade in my streaming chain. With it I could finally hear what DSD256 can offer.
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Hi Buddy! you and I were the two that sent our MK2 back for PSA hospital care. I have zero problem since it came back. How about yours? Did you do the Massive yet? I had it for over a week and it is simply amazing!
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Hey my golfer friend, I have had no issues at all and I did upload Massive and sounds amazing. The great thing about the MK2 is it’s only going to continue to get better with mountain upgrades in the future. One of the big reasons I upgraded from JR and did not go with a different brand dac.
Hope things are great
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Virtually all digital audio equipment runs on very little power, usually 5v-12v and up to about 20w power consumption. It is sensitive stuff and really benefits from high quality DC power. I’ve put together a fairly modest system, a Lumin T3 and Innuos Zen Mk3 server. I have a very clean dedicated mains supply, the Innuos has an internal linear power supply, I’ve upgraded the T3 power supply to an external DC unit, all other DC units (switches etc.) have upgraded low noise power supplies, and most of the cabling is fibre optic. The sound images beautifully and is holographic, even with 16/44 PCM recordings.
There is a similarity with analogue. My phono stage has a good external DC power supply and it too provides an amazing soundstage.
The limitation of the A6 may be the switch mode power supply, but it looks to be a well-designed internal unit, unlike the $10 OEM unit that Lumin use (that I recently replaced). ASR measurements suggest the A6 power supply is good, but with some higher frequency distortion. The more you look at it, the A6 just seems incredible value. The DSD-types can form their own views if it is good enough.
There will no doubt be after-market 12v/2A power supply kits for the A6 in due course.
Eversolo have a forum. Someone has already replaced the A6 power supply with an $100 LHY external unit and they said there was significant improvement, as you would expect.
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Yes, the power supply can and do make an enormous difference in the sound quality as I found out with the Farad Super 3 to the Matrix 2 DDC. My streamer also has a pair of pretty good power supply built in and it really sounds fabulous. The power supply is the foundation of the sound quality that comes out of your speakers.
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If you want to try some fantastic sounding dsd256 files, check out highdeftapetransfers.ca the following 3 are spectacular (and do sound VERY nice using the internal dac of the A6) (and i happily credit (or blame, lol) @waymanchen11 and @paul172 for helping me spend money:
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Octave Records is also coming out with some outstanding DSD256’s. Here’s a couple I really like.
Feels like a real live band in my room!
Turn up your subwoofer, the bass will literally blow you away!
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I can only take credit for the Ben Webster. Tho the Beethoven is very good. The other I have not heard.
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Paul, you will not be disappointed with “Joe Policastro Vibes Quartet”. a very live sounding recording, and one of the best real sounding vibes I’ve heard from any recording. A phenomenal sounding recording. I haven’t try Beethoven yet also.
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It amuses me that I have a Matrix in use in my computer system. Those were the days…
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It was recorded an hour away from my house at Pro-Musica. I’ve been there several times but it was some time ago! I remember they have a huge collection of Vinyl there.
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At the Esoteric price point you should have a superb power supply. About two thirds of the contents and 90% of the weight of that device seems to be the power supply. There is the output board with a prominent clock and the actual streaming module seems to be the very small card top-left.
I’ve posted this before, but you can take power supplies as far as you want. This is the power supply for the big brother unit to my RCM phono, and the phono itself is a unit of similar size. This model costs $47,000, so I gave it a pass.
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I checked the site and for the item I looked at DSD256 was $26. DSD64 was $19 and 24/96PCM $16.
It seems a fair enough deal if you want these analogue transfers, although a lot of these titles are also available in remastered versions on Qobuz (as opposed to poor quality old CD transfers) or on vinyl, new or used.
Like all reissues, you have to be careful. The Mingus one below states that is was edited in DXD (so no longer pure analog) before being converted back to DSD. So you might as well purchase the PCM version. All the reviews say it is extremely clean, which may be because the source tape was not clean, and HDTT won’t say where their source tape came from. I’d rather have the vinyl, and the mono version.
I never expected to see anyone reissue Wilbur de Paris. I think this cost me about $5.
I also never expected to see the Ted Heath Big Band reissued. For those who don’t know, he was a UK Prime Minister, conductor and big band leader. The only thing of note is that he was one of the few who recorded in Decca’s research studios in West Hampstead.
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And, if I may add, the A6 really responds to a good power cord.
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Thanks! Live at Nocturne is among my favorites of all time.
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I think it’s pretty evident that there is not need for me to go down the download rabbit hole. There just isn’t a compelling reason to.
Going down the rabbit hole is probably being more (or only) concerned for the format than the music, ending up buying DSD files for $25 that you can stream in PCM for nothing.
I would definitely try a few DSD files, make sure they are pure analogue transfers (like the Bill Evans) or pure DSD recordings from the likes of Jared Sachs. Just make sure they were never PCM or DXD and music you actually want to listen to.
Then you can decide on whether DSD rocks your boat. I still buy files that are not available on streaming, most available in PCM only. Few specialist DSD labels put their files on Qobuz, but they always give the option of DSD or PCM files because there are still plenty of systems that cannot play DSD at all (Linn) or only DSD64 (e.g. Devialet) or DSD128 (e.g. dCS).
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