Off topic… I’ve long held to the belief that, given the choice, listening to the edit master of any digital download is the best listening experience. Today I was given the opportunity to listen to the results from three different format conversion programs creating a DSD256 file from a DXD 32-bit edit master file.
Of the three conversion programs, one was my clear preference. But it was still a matter of choosing the conversion format program that did the least damage to the original edit master file.
So, my advice continues to be, if you have the option to do so, get the edit master of the file. The only exception would be if you’ve determined that your DAC clearly performs better with one format than another.
To get back to a bit more on topic, the music was the first movement of this performance of Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, a lovely piece of music in a very nice recording that is well worth adding to your music library if you enjoy classical orchestral music.
Rushton, just to be clear on your recommendation to get the edit master, for the Rachmaninov on Native DSD, it says “Edit Master Sourced” then below is says “Original Recording Format: DXD 352.8 kHz 24 bit”. So selecting “DXD 24 Bit” in the “Qualities” menu gets the Edit Master, correct? Seems straight forward and logical, but I hate making assumptions …
Yes, you interpret that correctly.
A bit more challenge comes when there is not a direct match among the Qualities menu. Then some interpolation may be required. But, in the example above, you’ve nailed it.
