24/96 vs 24/192 DAC


What is the main purpose between these 2? Is it (24/192) for sacd/hdcd/dvd-a play back - better sampling rate? Please explain in plain terms, as I am a tech newbie. I was going to buy either an Arcam cd72 or a Jolida 100 but found out that they both are 24/96. So is it better to get something with 24/192 DAC since it is newer/better technology? Please help!!!!!!!
Thanks in advance
jeanluc07

Showing 2 responses by rcprince

I will likely be castigated for this, but after listening to upsampling to 24/96 and 24/192 on a dCS Purcell, I believe it is primarily marketing hype. I believe that the current DVD-V and DVD-A standard is 24/96 (others please correct me if I'm wrong), and I hear no real significant differences to my ears that I can consistently identify between the two sampling rates, as opposed to my clearly hearing the difference between redbook CD and upsampled CDs or true 24/96 discs. None of these sampling rates has anything to do with SACD; that's a different animal. I think you can buy true 24 bit/96khz sampling DACs without giving anything up. Note, though, that if you're playing redbook CDs on the units, the DACs are only at best upsampling to 24/96 (assuming that they do upsample); you won't get true 24 bit resolution from a CD, and you won't be able to play SACDs or, unless these are DVD or DVD-A players you're referring to, DVD-A or DAD discs on them. Just my $.02.
I'm really not the one to be giving technical information, but I'll give it a try here, and hope that someone with better information can correct me:

1. Redbook CD is the regular CD you buy at the store. I believe that the players you mentioned above are regular redbook CD players. A redbook CD has 16 bits of information sampled at 44.1 Khz stored on it. A redbook player with "upsampling" capability can add digital noise to come up with a 24 bit/96 or possibly 192 khz signal to be processed, but it really can't add any information to the CD's information (although I do think a properly implemented upsampler such as the dCS Purcell can make a CD SOUND better). But a CD player without upsampling capability will only give you a 16 bit/44.1khz signal from a CD. There may be a reason that a true 24-bit DAC might be better at decoding a regular CD than a 16-bit DAC, but I'm not aware of it.

2. SACD does not sample at 192khz, it's some ridiculously high number. You need an SACD player or a universal player to play the SACD layer of an SACD. I don't think either of the units you mentioned can read and play back the SACD layer of an SACD.

3. DVD-A is (and I'm generalizing and ignoring the various multichannel and other capabilities here) a pcm-based 24 bit/96 khz medium, which requires a DVD-A player or universal player to decode at this time (I think some DVD players can play them too, but I don't know if they can fully decode the 24/96 signal). There is also another 24/96 medium out there, the DAD (principally available from Classic Records and Chesky), which is DVD-video based and likely to be left by the wayside in the high-rez wars, can play on a regular DVD player (not a CD player, though) and can, if your DVD player has a digital output that can output a 24 bit/96khz signal, be played through an external DAC with 24/96 capability. I think, and someone please correct me, that DVD-A still has an encryption scheme in the software that prevents a 24/96 digital signal from being passed from a DVD-A player, so you can't currently use an external DAC to play a DVD-A disc.

4. HDCD is a 16 bit/44.1khz medium, with some special encrypted signal or something manipulation that does make a sonic difference from the standard redbook layer but requires a decoder in your CD player to reap all its benefits.

This is really basic, and pretty confusing. Bottom line is that if you buy a redbook CD player, you won't be able to play anything other than CDs in it; if it has 24 bit DACs in it and 96khz sampling capability, it can possibly sound better than a standard CD player, but you should check the archives under "upsampling" to get an idea of the controversy around that process.