Dear Larrybou,
This is a ridiculous argument, just because a dac can or can't do DSD is hardly a reason for not buying it, you buy a DAC because it sounds great period!
It is of course nice to have a dac which can do DSD but to automatically say that DSD is superior to PCM is a ludicrous statement, it really depends on the hardware.
I have listened to many, many, dacs, and there are ones that sound great on DSD and ones that sound great on PCM but to say automatically that the DSD sounds better or brand A DAC sounds better because it is playing a DSD file is just silly.
On some pieces of hardware DSD files sound too soft and a bit rolled off, while the same file played via PCM sounded more detailed and dynamic so it is up to a persons taste, ear and system match.
My shop sells many dac including the NAD M51 no DSD and the Auralic Vega DSD as well as Naim Dacs No DSD, and it comes down to taste.
The Vega is better than the NAD, but boy does the NAD sound amazing especially for $2k, the new Naim DAC V1 also is shockingly good for $2,500.00
We also sell the Lumin which is a pure streamer which does both DSD conversion and PCM playback and in that piece the DSD conversion does sound a bit better.
So are non DSD Dacs obsolete no they are not, and just because you use a gate array doesn't negate a good dac chip.
The Lumin uses Wolfson dac chips and in a recent demo blew aaway a DCS Puccini which uses a custom ring radiator decoder made from discrete gate arrays so in audio as with a anything else there is no absolute just opinions.
Which is better a Mercedes or BMW? Comes down to taste, doesn't it. Does the Tesla electric car now obsolete the internal combustion engine non-electric car?
Now their are proponents of each but which is ultimately better depends on what you personally value.
This is a ridiculous argument, just because a dac can or can't do DSD is hardly a reason for not buying it, you buy a DAC because it sounds great period!
It is of course nice to have a dac which can do DSD but to automatically say that DSD is superior to PCM is a ludicrous statement, it really depends on the hardware.
I have listened to many, many, dacs, and there are ones that sound great on DSD and ones that sound great on PCM but to say automatically that the DSD sounds better or brand A DAC sounds better because it is playing a DSD file is just silly.
On some pieces of hardware DSD files sound too soft and a bit rolled off, while the same file played via PCM sounded more detailed and dynamic so it is up to a persons taste, ear and system match.
My shop sells many dac including the NAD M51 no DSD and the Auralic Vega DSD as well as Naim Dacs No DSD, and it comes down to taste.
The Vega is better than the NAD, but boy does the NAD sound amazing especially for $2k, the new Naim DAC V1 also is shockingly good for $2,500.00
We also sell the Lumin which is a pure streamer which does both DSD conversion and PCM playback and in that piece the DSD conversion does sound a bit better.
So are non DSD Dacs obsolete no they are not, and just because you use a gate array doesn't negate a good dac chip.
The Lumin uses Wolfson dac chips and in a recent demo blew aaway a DCS Puccini which uses a custom ring radiator decoder made from discrete gate arrays so in audio as with a anything else there is no absolute just opinions.
Which is better a Mercedes or BMW? Comes down to taste, doesn't it. Does the Tesla electric car now obsolete the internal combustion engine non-electric car?
Now their are proponents of each but which is ultimately better depends on what you personally value.