Lunch with Paul: DSD and noise + double rate
Subscribe to Ask Paul Ask a QuestionDSD is the most musical of all digital audio formats sometimes exceeding the quality of analog itself. But, it is not perfect. Find out why in this fascinating video with one of DSD's biggest advocates, Gus Skinas.
Gus was great Zoom guest interview for our club. Everyone
found him to be an amazing fellow. Thanks! AZAVCLUB.com
Gus is the Sonoma system you use uprated to run at DSD128?
No, unfortunately, it’s only capable of single-rate DSD.
Thanks Paul but why do you say “Unfortunately”? – why not use Pyramix capable of DSD256? – yes I know it’s a different system to Sonoma or an alternative idea like NativeDSD.com who are offering conversions of lower bit rates remodulated up to DSD512 which makes sense on the basis of allowing more gentle conversion filters on playback?
Could Gus or Paul explain how Pulse Density Modulation (PDM) audio is mixed and processed? Are recorded tracks always output in analog for mixing, or converted to PCM, or processed in native PDM?
Could Gus or Paul comment on the spectrum of the noise in standard rate PDM with noise shaping? I’ve seen measurements where quantization noise is very low (-144 dbFS) to 15 kHz, increasing steeply to -96 dBFS at 20 kHz. The noise between 15 kHz and 20 kHz cannot be removed after the DAC even with a brick wall reconstruction filter at 20 kHz.
What is the effect of multiple conversions between analog and PDM? Does the quantization noise build up?