To my ears nothing sounds better than native DSD recordings. It is still the very best digital representation of analog sound waves for music. This has been true for me since first hearing Sony tape masters converted to DSD64 stereo over 20 years ago.
DSD can present challenges as can most PCM hi-res with the accompanying large file size and high bitrate required for delivery as a common streaming format. Newer technologies like MQA have been created and help solve both of those with very good reproduction. But native DSD recordings played as native DSD are still top shelf to my critical listening.
NativeDSD developed a sonic improvement to the original DSD64 (64fs or 64 times resolution of CD) with a remodulation technique that remasters the recording at 128fs, 256fs, and 512fs. Is this simply another word for “upsampling”? It is not in the Native DSD Higher Rates Program (HRP). There are clear distinctions between CD’s PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) samples (or snapshots of the music’s frequency and amplitude) and DSD’s PDM (Pulse Density Modulation) which measures the density of the analog signal’s amplitude.
DSD (PDM) is then the continuous analog signal itself represented in a digital format. It is not a series of snapshots of the sound described digitally and stored that later get pieced back together as with PCM.
Read NativeDSD Tom Caulfield’s explanation of the HRP Benefits as “a multiplier of the bit density resolution by the re-modulated bitrate ratio, and the enabling of the playback DAC’s employing a gentler reconstruction filter/algorithm in the D/A process.“. [Blog article here]
ALL DSD128, 256, 512 on Sale at 15% Off from NativeDSD
I have been offering my DSD64 Studio Master downloads from my website online since 2009. In late 2013 I started working with online services including NativeDSD to add my DSD masters to their new catalogs at that time.
When in 2019 NativeDSD developed their HRP method of remodulating my DSD masters to the higher bitrates I was of course interested. All of the masters I had created in the studio using Sonoma DSD Workstations were 100% Pure DSD meaning they had never been converted to DXD (24/352.8k PCM) for recording, editing, or mixing. The HRP remodulation then is performed on the original source DSD tracks recorded in the studio and mixed to stereo and 5.1 multichannel. Each higher bitrate was noticeably improved to my ears so I volunteered my entire catalog with NativeDSD to be offered at all resolutions up to the maximum DSD512 (22MHz, 1-bit).
What I’ve heard and written about on my blog were nothing short of stellar improvements to the already naturally authentic live studio sounding recordings I have been recognized for instigating and performing.
First impressions of NativeDSD’s HRP remodulation on my recordings
https://art-of-listening.com/2019/11/
My Blog Comparing Native DSD64 and DSD256 Releases by Tom Jung of DMP
https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/music-reviews/david-elias-art-of-listening-2/
Album of the Week: “The Window” NativeDSD.com DSD512
https://art-of-listening.com/2020/04/page/2/
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the art of listening... 