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phasebug

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  1. Thanks very much to Chris and all of those on CA that share so much useful and fun information and for that I am compelled to share some of my latest and best experiences to move forward with digital audio. These are only my opinions and I have no financial interests or other affiliations with any audio companies. I’m not a professional reviewer so please go easy gentle readers. Like others, I loved the sound with a Berkeley Audio Designs Alpha Dac. It truly refined my music experience listening to Redbook CD’s via the AES/EBU interface of a Mark Levinson 390S CDP. Yearning to get the best sound possible, I experimented with interfaces to a Mac for higher bit rate audio and ended with a wonderful sounding Audiophilleo USB to S/PDIF converter while I waited for the Berkeley USB interface. Some material from HDtracks and others such as “Rebecca Pidgeon, The Raven”, 24bit-176Khz, disc ordered direct from Chesky Records were magical. Also, the Audiophilleo combined with a fast Macbook Pro, iTunes and Pure Music, provided the first computer audio that beat my 390S CDP on Redbook playback. Playback Designs MPD-3 DAC was available for my audition before the Alpha USB and I was not prepared for the improvement it would make in my listening pleasure. MPD-3 includes no volume control but has three randomly selectable digital inputs, AES/EBU, RCA coax and USB 2, where all PCM is converted to DSD with custom FPGA’s before analog conversion to discrete stereo outputs. The USB interface plays native DSD via Pure Music without the need for PCM conversion. PLayback Designs’ website claims the that the digital interface used does not make a difference to sound quality for a given PCM track. I compared the sound of AES/EBU via my 390S with the same tracks via USB and was not sure if I heard differences. I made many A-B comparisons between the combinations of USB->MPD-3 and USB->Audiophilleo->BADA over a two month period before I sold the BADA while the MPD-3 was burning-in between listening sessions, converting XM radio via PCM/RCA coax. Each and every comparison for all bit rates left me with the conclusion that the MPD-3 sounded more analog and musical and more like vinyl records I grew up listening to only with better dynamics, better imaging and of course less noise. The MPD-3 made all Redbook CDs sound better than the BADA, even those that were encoded as HDCD, the remarkable audio improvement developed by a team which included genius talent on the Berkeley Audio Design staff. 16bit-44.1Khz, HDCD encoded, “Smooth Africa”, is a wonderful sounding CD that sounded great on the HDCD capable 390S CDP analog outputs but sounded even better with the HDCD capable BADA fed via AES/EBU from the 390S CDP. This was slightly improved with HDCD capable iTunes->Pure Music->Audiophilleo combination via an Audioquest “Eagle Eye” BNC cable to the BADA. MPD-3 played, “Smooth Africa”, from the iTunes->PM->USB without HDCD and without digital glare. The sound was more natural than with the BADA. Instruments and voices were more separated, with more air, and with much better controlled bass. I can only surmise that this was a realization of how much PCM reconstruction with anti-alias filter ringing could be improved with conversion to DSD prior to reconstruction provided by the MPD-3. The removal of glare with the MPD-3 was more noticeable with some material than others. With the pleasing sound of the BADA you may never know that it existed unless you heard the same tracks on the MPD-3 or unless you grew up with vinyl. Some of the most surprising examples were electric guitar tracks like “Joe Satriani, Flying in a Blue Dream”. The guitar distortion was tamed in a way similar to vinyl. “Rebecca Pidgeon, The Raven”, 24bit-176Khz direct from Chesky records on DVD (not DVD-A) was also improved with the MPD-3 via USB. Track 12, “Spanish Harlem”, always had a sort of harshness with the piano that was improved in the high bit rate version compared with the Redbook version but both versions sounded better with the MPD-3, with better imaging, better bass control, and just smoother without lack of detail. Native DSD material such as “Blue Coast Collection, Looking for a Home”, and “Blue Coast While She Sleeps, Tenderly”, really demonstrated the true potential of native DSD playback via Pure Music. The DSD tracks had improvements over any PCM I’ve heard, similar to what I described earlier, only just better still. All recorded music should be so good! Native DSD piano was the most impressive given that it’s one of the hardest instruments to record and playback with fidelity. I could hear those hammers strike the strings with artistic finesse. If you’ve read this far, you might be wondering if I have a PS3. No, I have three. Two that extract DSD and a new one for parts. After hearing the DSD potential, I purchased 50+ SACD’s so far. Classical music never sounded so good. The record labels should be happy! I don’t know how much better digital audio can get for me but I am glad to be along for the ride with DSD. -phasebug 2011 13” MacBook Pro, 2.7Ghz, iTunes, Pure Music Mark Levinson 390S CDP Oppo BDP-95 disc player MPD-3 DAC -> BAT REX tubed preamp Mark Levinson 33H Amps -> Dynaudio C4 speakers Pass Labs XVR1 crossover -> JL Audio Fantom F113 Subs Wireworld Platinum Starlight and Ultraviolet USB cables Audioquest Sky and Nordost Valhalla analog interconnect cables Audioquest Raven AES/EBU and Eagle Eye digital BNC/RCA cables Audioquest Everest speaker cables
  2. @Mr Wicked Mac OSX: Compile now works on Mac OS X 10.6.7 + Xcode 3.2.6 but have not tried to extract tracks from ISO yet. >svn update U libs/libsacd/dsdiff.c Updated to revision 366. >make Scanning dependencies of target sacd_extract [ 2%] Building C object CMakeFiles/sacd_extract.dir/Volumes/Data/Downloads/Local/Playstation3/SacdRipper/sacd-ripper-trunk/libs/libsacd/dsdiff.c.o Linking C executable sacd_extract [100%] Built target sacd_extract Windows version: I was missing the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package. .sacd_extract.exe -p -c -i"*.iso" On MacOSX + Parallels6 + WinXP extracted 2ch DSDIFF from ISO and tested with Pure Music + iTunes + Playback Designs MPD-3 streaming native DSD. SQ is amazing. The best I've heard! I'll try mch extracts later. A thousand thanks!
  3. Cannot compile sacd_extract on mac 10.6.7 / Xcode 3.2.6 with commands below: svn co http://sacd-ripper.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ sacd-ripper-trunk cd sacd-ripper-trunk/tools/sacd_extract cmake . make Undefined symbols: "_ftello64", referenced from: _dsdiff_write_frame in dsdiff.c.o ld: symbol(s) not found collect2: ld returned 1 exit status make[2]: *** [sacd_extract] Error 1 make[1]: *** [CMakeFiles/sacd_extract.dir/all] Error 2 make: *** [all] Error 2 Alternatively, Cannot run sacd_extract_0.3.5 download binary on WinXP, does it require Win7? .sacd_extract.exe --help The system cannot execute the specified program. Thanks for any help.
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