Seen a lot of yes and no arguments. I am also an owner of a Melco ripper and could clearly hear the difference between that and what I used before (normal drive). In both scenarios I still use EAC to do the process of ripping so nothing changed there, I don’t rip directly to Melco, is too cumbersome for me as I had to (re-)rip 10.000 CD’s……, happy that I will be done in the foreseeable future…, this has been a project of years.
My audio friend also heard a clear difference on his audio equipment.
I don’t know the why and I can’t argue against the more scientific tests which are described on this forum, but still I hear a difference and it’s also with enough of a margin to go through this painstacking process of reripping.
If we knew why the Melco files sounded different, I’d expect it to be possible to post-process any previous verified rip to give the same benefit - no requirement to re-rip thousands of CDs.
Presumably Melco do know, but don’t want to tell us.
Not correct, if you rip to DSD, which is now possible with the latest version of dBpoweramp, and you use a DSD DAC the results are very different to a PCM rip. SACD’s used the DSD encoding, sadly, even with the higher bitrates, and superior modulation methods, it did not take off, the same as mini disc, dcc, etc
DSD isn’t optimal on nDAC - naim don’t have the dedicated hardware even on new devices. We convert to hi res PCM with a frequency matching the DSD rip (88.2 or 176.4kHz). This seems to work nicely.
This is not the forum for discussion of quantisation error, dithering etc.
Upsampling/oversampling, DSD rip blah blah. They’re all “interpretations” of a 16 bit, 1411kbps original if a standard CD is the source. Nyquist frequency in play. Each output might sound different depending on what is done.
So it’s all in the ears. How do we aurally interpret what the resulting waveform is.
Not to say there’s nothing that can be done - still hankering after a trial of an mScaler into a Weiss 502
You’re not explaining how this enhances an original RedBook CD bitstream sampled at 16 bits and 44.1kHz
Sampling a bitstream containing information captured at 44.1kHz at 88.2khz simply interpolates bits. Reconstructing the waveform then resampling simply introduces other errors.
Are you saying ripping a standard CD to DSD rather than bit perfect WAV/FLAC makes it sound better? I’m surprised every digital download and streaming service of CD quality audio uses FLAC in that case, the whole world is missing a trick.
SACD use source material at much higher sample rates than 44.1kHz so there is no interpolation. Comparing a DSD created from a hi res source and sampled at (equivalent of) 24/88.2 or 24/176.4kHz to a RedBook 16/44.1 bitstream is apples and oranges. Once the information is lost it’s a one way street.
Fair play to you Bert. That’s a project requiring the same time to at least a year’s full time employment, but much easier because you just sit there listening all the while to music which you’ve forgotten you had. Let’s hope no one comes up with a better mousetrap………
I may be mistaken, but you seem to be suggesting that Melco is somehow gaming the ripping process to give the users of its products the false impression that Melco rips are better. That would be a conspiracy theory, and absurd in my opinion.
If it sounds different, something is different. If we find out what, it’s maybe possible to repeat it. If Melco have found a way of packing otherwise identical data (and I think the accurate rip results are telling us that the data is identical) such that subsequent reading and serving (for want of a better word… ) sounds different, I can understand why they wouldn’t want to publicise the details - they want to sell ripper and server boxes after all.
I’d still like to understand what’s causing any difference, even if it’s unlikely I will be able to hear it myself. I don’t have anywhere near enough black boxes.
Perhaps you need to take a CD ripped in standard redbook flac, and the same CD ripped in DSD64, and compare them. Sadly the Naim DAC-V1, now discontinued does not have a dedicated DSD DAC, but merely uses code to decode the DSD streams. The FLAC rip will at the most take up 650Mb, the DSD rip almost 2Gb. The bits are stored in a different way, although I have no degree in the area, I believe that the DSD process takes it to the the level pre digitisation, before it is converted to PCM.
Listen to both on a blind listening test, let your ears be the judge.
I have a Roon based PC, using a USB DAC, a March DAC1, feeding into a Nac202/250, the 202 is powered by a UN-Naimed power supply. Kudos KS-1/Kudos X3.
My other source is a Pink Triangle 1/AO modified RB300/Rega Elys2
My digital source sounds very different to the the analouge one.
“With the addition of DSD, the Naim DAC-V1 feels more solid a proposition than ever, offering a decent build and design, excellent connectivity and a sound that will have you hooked.” What HiFi review Jan 2016
Interesting how both Linn and Naim have adopted DSD and Roon compatibility.
