I’m an audiophile car audio enthusiast or hobbyist per se but this channel has taught me so much and Paul is excellent at explaining techniques and everything else! Love the channel @psaudio

Hey paul! Just got myself the sprout 100 and just want to thank you and your son scott for bringing it to the market. Came from a marantz pm5005 and the difference was astonishing. I cant stop listening, the depth, detail, unreal power it delivers is just great. I cant afford those high end stuff that others have and this gave me a taste of what high end audio is. Great job really! As for the topic, i use usb all the time and have a separate dac (ifi idac2). I love that thing and its just better than anything i ever had (that not saying a lot as im poor lol). Anyway, you guys at ps audio rock! Never stop doing what your doing.

This is the most clear explaination I heard. Thnx.

Another great video 👍 thx Paul

Thanks Paul

You observed that USB is the "worst sounding" of the digital transfer options. Surely poor sound quality would be a function of the hardware/firmware/software of the sending device, rather than the connection medium. Digital protocols (including USB, HDMI, AES/EBU, S/PDIF, etc.) just ship bits from point A to point B. As long as the bits themselves are OK, the ports and cables are "innocent bystanders".

Ps Audio should send I2S using USB Type C connectors so you can’t plug them in upside down. Also, if you send substitute a DSD bitstream in lieu of video signals using Alt DP Mode, you could also add simultaneous USB bi-directional functionality. Just a thought.

USB doesn’t make audio bad. It doesn’t make video bad. It doesn’t make images bad. It doesn’t make your power point presentation bad. Data is data and USB can reliably transfer all bits unharmed. Paul has a point about USB if you decide to power your DAC through the USB cable from a computer, cause that can induce some noise in your analog output. But just don’t do that!!! Always use a DAC that has a separate quality power supply and make sure your gear is grounded to avoid common mode current noise, and USB can be absolutely excellent for audiophile systems. USB does not only allow for capability negotiation but it also allows for jitter free asynchronous audio transfer, which is much better than one-way SPDIF.

Is it better to send my DSD over PCM files from my Mac using a USB cable to my galvanically isolated USB input on my DAC, or to use a USB to XLR cable to the DAC (assuming such a cable exists)?

Great discussion. Can you do a part 2 and talk about transport of DSD over a network?

Denafrips also supports DSD via I2S on their DACs But there are (sadly) only a few DACs and even fewer transports which support I2S

Hi, Toslink cannot transfer DSD. Spdif has enough bandwidth to transfer up to 1x DSD (dsd64) through DOP. For more data (i.e. dsd128, dsd256, dsd512 etc) I think that USB is the only viable option.

I have a fosi q4 , and i dont know if usb is better than optical.

I've been thinking about buying the Sony UBP-X800M2 Blue Ray player as an audio only player. It supports DSD and SACD. It also has 2 HDMI ports 1 for audio only. Not sure if it's I2S or not, though. Supposed to be the best for audio playback. It's only $400 Cdn. Any thoughts? My PS Audio Stellar Gain Cell DAC won't have any problem with I2S. Great vid, Paul.

One question: I have a Sony UHD blue ray with separate audio and video output, and passing it to the Yamaha Aventage Receiver can it perfectly read the DSD files from my hard drive (plugged into the BD's usb). Does that mean that that exclusive audio output HDMI is an I2S?

Does Roon Advanced Audio Transport sound better than UPnP streaming?

“DSD can’t be played from a server”. I’m not quite sure what he is talking about here. I can create DSD content, store it on a DLNA server and “stream” it back over a LAN to any number of DSD capable media players. DLNA is a a standard and has been around since 2003 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Living_Network_Alliance Media players based on ffmpeg can capture and play DSD content. Audacity is an Audio capture and editing platform based on ffmpeg. VideoLAN (VLC) Media Player is based on ffmpeg. I also understand that the MicroSoft Media Player uses ffmpeg code ffmpeg.org/ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FFmpeg www.videolan.org www.audacityteam.org/ ffmpeg is an Open Source Code software package. There is no license fee to use all or some of the code. It is widely used as most video and audio editors and players today are really just ffmpeg with lipstick. Having said that someone creating a media player or editor could choose to not use, or prohibit DSD, record or playback content. If the DSD file(s) are stored on a server that has either a Samba or NFS share, and your DSD capable media player can access that share, then the DSD file(s) can be streamed and played. VideoLAN (VLC) and Kodi are media players that are capable of this. And that can be done with live streams as well. kodi.tv/

I don't think USB transfer is the worst. USB is just transferring the data, binary bits. It keeps the integrity of data, the protocol makes sure there is no adding, no deletion, no modification.

I have just discovered the existence of .DSD files and wonder if there are fake ones just like there are fake flacs? thxxx

I was surprised that you didn't directly mention clock stability. In all transfer methods other than I2S the clock must be embedded and extracted. Perhaps you answered this indirectly when you said that I2S sounds the best.

what about IIS to your dac?

So its not possible for a DAC to receive native DSD from a computer or did i got it wrong? Which transports actually can deliver such signal? As much as i know SACD players have no digital out because of copyprotection......

is the PS audio transport discontinued ? i cant find it in your website ?

Long Live Analog

Hey Paul.... good video.

USB use the DAC clock to sync.

M dsl, hdmd wtf, are we taking about....., what about a clean analog signal?

Geerfab Audio BOB is another option.

Is USB the only option for DSD? You can hand carry your DSD in plastic bag and shove it into your DAC

I only use usB when I'm forced to and there isn't another option.

USB is inferior compared to the other signals Paul mentioned. It has a more square/edgy type of sound, not being so analog/natural. It can still sound pretty okay. Coax is the very best way to go in terms of sound quality and not using too much money. I suggest that everybody that has a PC streamer use a gustard u16 external clock and an uptown audio iso regen together. And have a GPS coax cable connected to the gustard. These 2 boxes give you 10x better value for your money. These 2 boxes are so good that a 1000 dollar system can sound like a 10.000 dollars system, and a 10.000 dollars system will sound like a 100k system. And when that is done, get some really good custom made LPSU for those boxes. (crucial) When you have these things set up, everything you own sounds sooooooo much better and you save so much time and many years of frustration. (The gustard takes control over the clock and processes the signal externally, this creates a magical sound where the timing gets crazy good and you can turn the volume up to about the double) The isoregen regenerates the USB signal which funny enough also affects the coax signal. The people I know that paid about 2k for this, now own setups that are beating everything in the stores usually costing 5-10x more. (no one really knows about it, because the default LPSU for the Gustard and Isoregen and really bad, like most other LPSUś on the market) I2s is not worth using your time on. It has a lot of potential and looks good on paper. But integrating it with a good LPSU, is a whole other thing that nobody really knows how to do. If you have a good USB setup and want to use a USB cable, I suggest the cheap Oyaide usb cable, and a really short version of it around 50cm. (that is some of the best USB sound for the money)

Listened to the whole thing and have no clue whatsoever what the question and even less the answer was..lol.

I'm pretty Savvy with computers and have been an audio file for 50 years. But I'm confused with all these acronyms?

if using USB you really want to use a reclocker is a must! USB has a 46 nanoseconds delay causes issues something cheap like ifi ipurifier3 USB clean up the signal as well lowest noise pollution by 100 times and eliminates jitter does PCM DSD and DxD about $150

Does anyone else not care one bit about DSD? I sure don't.

Only if the e has an accent :)

"Computers and servers struggle with DSD and breeze along with PCM" That's because DSD is not really digital Paul. Use a DAP and forget pissing around with cables. The DSD goes straight to the DAC. Job done big tick.

With all my respect to Paul... This remind us that main purpose of PS Audio is to be profitable, and they have to advertise for their product in a way or an other... the way used in this video is a shame! especially for pple how don't know how the technology works and rely on such missleading video. Shame on you ! USB Dacs quality are variable indeed BUT the USB transmission itself have no impact whatsoever (other than powing the dac with the usb cable, and it is discutable as well because most usb dsd decoding have noise correction with a perfect efficiency most of the time).Missleading in the hi-res audio domain is a norm apprently PS audio is no exception.

DoP is an actual joke. You're playing yourself if your using it. Most DSD dacs don't even do real DSD.