Can Audirvana support DSD native output?

alon · January 31, 2023, 1:59pm

I found there are only 2 options for DSD output, DoP 1.0 and DoP 1.1.
Is it possible to support DSD native output which could support DSD256 or higher coding.

bitracer · January 31, 2023, 2:02pm

If you’re on a PC and have ASIO drivers installed, then yes. Otherwise DoP is the only option. Macs only support DoP anyway.

alon · January 31, 2023, 2:17pm

I’ve installed Audirvana for win, but I didn’t found the options for native output. Only the same DoP option as in Mac. Because I didn’t install ASIO drivers, it couldn’t show in configuration of Audirvana? How can I install the ASIO driver? Where to download?

bitracer · January 31, 2023, 2:30pm

From the DAC manufacturers site.

alon · January 31, 2023, 2:50pm

@bitracer Thank you! I’ll check with them.

Agoldnear · January 31, 2023, 5:15pm

@alon … There is nothing to be gained by playing the raw DSDxxx stream via Windows versus playing DSDxxx via DoP 1.1 on macOS… DoP (DSD over PCM) carries the raw DSDxxx data interleaved into the PCMxxx carrier stream and the DSDxxx stream is then extracted by the DAC for playback.

bitracer · January 31, 2023, 7:21pm

With some DACs, the only way to reach the maximum DSD resolution is by using Native DSD. Other than that, it’s true. The DoP is pure DSD, just incapsulated in in PCM “words”.

Reynaldo · January 31, 2023, 8:24pm

In the vast majority of DACs using DoP, you will get half the capacity for DSD.
In terms of quality, using native DoP or DSD will be the same thing.

Agoldnear · January 31, 2023, 10:23pm

@bitracer … The very small number of relevant DACs that don’t support DoP is inconsequential when talking about DSD transmission, generally…

bitracer · February 1, 2023, 12:19am

Well, if you have a PC and you really care about DSD, it makes sense to use Native DSD with ASIO.

Reynaldo · February 1, 2023, 12:24am

Using PC with driver ASIO gives many compatibility issues.
If everything is working great.
I used it for a long time and gave up. I prefer to use a MAC without ASIO driver.

Agoldnear · February 1, 2023, 1:56am

Yes this makes sense… I was speaking to the notion that a large demographic of DSD capable DACs do not support DoP… Which is not the case… most do support DoP… The majority of DSD capable DACs, support both raw DSD and DoP streams… The computer platform/OS has nothing to do with whether or not a DAC is DSD capable… The computer platform OS, etc, may provide certain advantages or disadvantages in any given DSDxxx playback scenario.