In newer Denon AVRs, Audyssey and DIRAC use the same Analog Devices SHARC DSP chip and cannot be used simultaneously. So, no matter whether you use Audyssey, Audyssey MultEQ-X or DIRAC Live; DSD still has to first be converted to PCM so the processing can take place. PCM is not reconverted to DSD prior to sending the data to the DAC chips and there would be no advantage of doing so. As @JamOne has pointed out, he bypasses all processing with Direct Mode and listens to his DSD content without room EQ, time domain (speaker distance), phase correction enabled. This is how I used to listen to SACD decades ago when my equipment consisted of a Sony SCD-XA333ES SACD / CD player, Sony TA-P900oES 6 channel analogue pre-amplifier, a couple of TA-N9000ES multichannel power amplifiers in BTL configuration and an ME-850HC power amp running the main front speakers. Fortunately my listening room at the time required very little EQ correction with the speakers I was using so it was just a matter of getting the levels correct across all the channels. Not quite the case in my current listening room which lacks the wooden floor and extra high ceiling which IMHO just isn't as acoustically forgiving.
I know that Dirac processing wasn't possible if keeping DSD integrity is the goal. More than the chip is the DSD signal itself that doesn't allow any form of digital processing without loosing bit perfect. Not even digital volume. I know exactly what you mean. My room is a disaster, it's almost perfectly square, one side is with windows and a direct opening to the staircase a a 2,5mt low ceiling and a laminate floor. While for HT I could reach good results, my stereo set has always given me headaches. I have acoustically treated the room, within limits of one can do with a living room without destroying decor. Used several kind of speakers, closed cabinet, bass reflex and open baffle. I have never been able to get a satisfying bass response. The definitive solution? Dutch & Dutch 8c. I don't know if you ever heard of them but they are a full range cardioid active monitor with DSP processing for optimal in room placement and integrated with REW for filters design.
Hello Al, please forgive me for side swiping your conversation, I have heard of Dutch & Dutch loudspeakers / monitors, somewhere , I was somewhat taken back what beautiful speakers I also noted. They are available solid wood, which is kind of an unheard of today far as cabinet Construction or MDF ? , if I have viewed this information correctly this early in the morning . Please correct me if I’m wrong , a little costly their my friend but as I proceeded to read further, certainly appear not a mass produced product, loudspeaker. Absolutely beautiful craftsmanship I haven’t seen anything built or assembled quite like that and probably 35 years or longer. since some of the old cabinet makers that I knew from Europe that had opened up shop here after World War II unfortunately, all these guys have been long gone for quite some time now. I remember if you had mentioned MDF or plywood to them they kinda got somewhat extremely insulted, I wasn’t sure if they were going to throw me out of their work shop … No I'm very serious In view of a few pics I can plainly see these guys here are building and fabricating the old world way . the way that it should be done to a certain degree but not of today which is not typical in practice or standards with all types of new composites and materials, in justifying them from a sensible and broader aspect I would definitely say their cost ratio is absolutely in line within the overall product itself in whats being offered in overall performance, and just with the hand quality alone absolutely a beautiful and extremely functional well engineered design with numerous other amenities, that would normally take you outside the box. Well you never know maybe someday Perhaps something to look into. It’s just so difficult breaking away from those Dam folded horn designs especially once you get used to them if someone would’ve told me years ago I would have a horn loudspeakers for over 25 years someday I would’ve probably told them they were crazy for lack of better terminology, it’s not very often but I am getting somewhat tired of moving these 2 refrigerators around if only a few inches either way I do believe I would miss somewhat of what I would call an extremely lively presentation and unrestricted dynamics but then again that’s somewhat of the younger man’s game, but yes these particular speakers may be something to look into. I would absolutely have no clue where to even look into these particular loudspeakers in my part of the world. Al beautiful loudspeakers , best of luck with all now and in the foreseeable future, Yes very interesting indeed, You have a wonderful safe weekend …
Hi Biamp, They are indeed built from solid oak. The price might seem high but you get a full system for that money. I have several sources and i need a preamp but if you listen streaming services only you don't even need a streamer anymore. Besides the 3 dedicated power amplifiers per channel they have Roon bridge and Spotify connect onboard. You just need a network cable and either a Roon subscription besides your favorite streaming service and/of Spotify. Spotify lossless was available as soon as it was available from Spotify itself. No problem of positioning either, you just enter in the app the distance from front and lateral walls and the system adjust bass response. You open REW, choose D&D as output, measure the room, give some parameters and the upload the filters directly to the speakers without any additional operation. In the end, you save money on the amplification and if you want on the streamer too. I have owned several speakers but I am now certainly not looking back. Have a nice one too
Hi JamOne, Now you see what you went and did You absolutely have my wheels spinning, well I mightJust sit this one out for now currently speaking, time is Really flying bye fast here at present, before i know it , Fall & winter months will upon us here again at the Blink of the eye. but in serious terms of consideration with a ton of Equipment that would no longer be needed To a certain extent, I would most likely recover quite well in my current situation, with the help of US Audio Mart along with a few friends, as you so stated I would be most comfortable and complete. The overall quality reliability, simplicity, would indicate excellent results With out all the hassle of amps, crossovers, countless other issues and variables just may be worth the move in the end, I’ll absolutely keep this on the back burner for now for lack of better explanation in thought at present However you absolutely have my attention Absolutely no question, hopefully this somewhat sluggish audio market presently upon us, unfortunately will not continue on the downward decline in all areas, as naturally this would absolutely affect any standing decision’s , let’s Hope for the Best, also I have been thinking about sizing down for quite sometime, I Thank you for your support and reply quite interesting very informative information, Best of luck to you.. Have a wonderful safe weekend ……
Interesting. I've ripped quite a few of my SACDs over the years. I ripped them as DSF files having to choose stereo or multichannel. When ripping as an ISO how does one switch between the stereo and multichannel layers with the DMP-A6? I tried listening to DSD multichannel music (SACDs and SACD rips) with DSD Direct and Dirac enabled. I much prefer the sound quality with Dirac enabled with my Emotiva XMC-1 processor. The sound quality is more immersive and the bass seems to have more impact in my opinion.
When connected via HDMI and playing a SACD ISO with both 2.0 and multichannel, your DMP-A6 will display DSD 2.0 (stereo playing) or DSD 5.1 (multichannel playing). To switch between DSD 2.0 and DSD 5.1 on the fly simply tap on the icon which appears at the top right-hand side of the screen near the VU meter icon.
It all comes down to choices. 5 full towers in acoustic controlled room would simply surpass a semi stereo/5.1 setup. I don't think many people would prefer 5.1 over stereo on such a system. The 5.1 part becomes a gimmick . In my 5.1 all bookshelf approach stereo is less impressive. Perfect for me. I grab my headphones when needed.
Not everyone has a dedicated room, let alone fully acoustically treated and even then, the quality of the speakers is fundamental. And, yes my primary listening is stereo, and i don't use the Denon at all for that, but I wouldn't call the 5.1 a "semi stereo/5.1 setup". The difference here is that the front speakers have their own DSP processing and bass management. Then, even in 5.1 encoding, the front speakers handle the core of the music, establishing the primary stereo image, width, and the lead instruments. The other 3 speakers are still there and do their job quite well but without Dirac processing, and I wouldn't call it a gimmick at all. All this, in an acoustically challenging room....not bad
Hi JamOne, Sorry for the intrusion , today I believe the dedicated listening room with all your audio equipment and other devices appears to be slowly becoming unobtainable for many numerous reasons as of today. I absolutely consider myself quite lucky, I also proceeded to enlarge the total circumference even further in overall square footage however Not to sound Presumptuous In particular, I honestly don’t believe I would be able to proceed any further within this higher end, audio endeavor without the standing and constant dedication of sanctioned room . I have tried numerous sonic Bliss methods with calibrated microphones, room EQ’s various programs room correction devices, etc. throughout the years, no matter I always come back to square one a straight wire with Gain Bi-amp system 2 channel stereo using 2 independent 18 ‘in subs in the summed mono mode . I’m aware there are some excellent audio programs out there today in just about any area within audio reproduction or recording, I’m often very impressed how sonically superior older recordings can sound in reproducing them on Reel to Reel using half inch tape with some effort using a basic Pro Tools program and others Ect , these Machines have made quite a resurgence the last few years, if one could keep up with ongoing rising costs , definitely not for everyone, just a side hustle absolutely a lot of fun, very interesting format. However without a dedicated room, I’m almost 90% certain in thought I would most likely abandoned the hobby in general, I would imagine like anything else. This is something you adapt to as needed that becomes normal in nature also the more room you acquire the more you find yourself starting to occupy it . However I certainly agree in understanding your above comment or statement on this extremely important issue in general regarding the use and ability in having a dedicated room within your existing listing area, not being directly involved with the remainder of the residence to some degree, personally have found that thorough numerous experimentation with notch filters along with various types of Quality electronic and passive crossovers to be the most biggest asset in overall sonic gains in performance speaking within my particular system. Along with some minimum room treatment I have spent many sleepless nights experimenting down in the Lab… lol , Have a wonderful week , …
LoL well that’s a good thing, rooms may come and go, just temporary toys. But that’s an excellent thing. Good for you. Good man . Enjoy the upcoming weekend
Most people live within the restrictions of their environment. It's no different for listening rooms. They are often shared spaces and without anywhere near ideal acoustics. Add in limitations on speaker placement for aesthetic reasons as well as the WAF / SAF / PAF, the use of room EQ is now pretty commonplace in trying to address these issues. Even a dedicated listening room often needs some "help" to get it right, from either acoustic treatments and / or EQ. It's therefore of no surprise to me that many audiophiles have shifted to smaller speakers (with an added subwoofer) or have gone for the ultimate private listening experience and purchased really good headphones. Many decades ago, I lived in an apartment and one very quickly got the message your choice of music isn't always to your neighbours' liking. I'm so grateful to have a big dedicated listening room and to live on rural acreage with no nearby neighbours to bother. I can crank up the volume knowing full well I'm not disturbing anyone.
Hey hello Al, excellent post very nice. I haven’t came across your post in sometime however it’s again summertime well I guess it would be safe to say a pretty unique time of year at least around here anyway my buddy opens up this Custom Hot Rod Shop every summer opens around 7/8 PM and works on what ever usually to daybreak, well one reason being it’s much cooler in the evening naturally without the sun coming at you all day , So a few of us spend quite a bit of time over their as long as he keeps making coffee to keep us awake at times lol, However I certainly agree with you on the dedicated listening room. I would also say I’m very lucky and quite content as yourself. I have literally no neighbors to bother me or me bother them they’re not real far away far enough most likely similar as yourself, but in your explanation I would believe it would appear you are a bit more out in the wide open , that nice. However I never went in too much for headphones no particular reason, years ago I had a friend he was into the electrostatics I believe they were stax with the outboard transformer of some type ? I believe I may be wrong if I’m remembering accurately that far back ago I own one set of headphones As a matter of fact, I had to go look at them , Sony MDR 7506, my friend John, who was employed by companys by the name of ,sounds fine ,sound by Paul and showcoe Had told me about them years ago and had stated they were a big choice of many broadcast and audio engineers. Now keep in mind back at that particular time. Very inexpensive , The only time I really use them is when operating my R to R Machine, in trying to make some of the older and newer albums sound a bit better sonically, basically a big expensive toy but it’s a lot of fun. The cost of the tape is real Bummer , I found a vendor here that imports slightly used R to R tape from all over the world and guarantees it but you really never know what you’re getting but so far I can’t complain. He’s very accommodating very reasonable, I haven’t spoke with him in depth. I have no idea where he obtained them from some do have certain studio markings on them But the writing has been heavily altered I’ve got a fuel from from Japan. The half-inch tape is out there new but extremely pricey i’m also quite lucky to find a gentleman that still works on these machines as you would know yourself that could take hours adjust calibration along with many other maintenance and upkeep procedures, but the guy is good. He was talking about retiring. I told him don’t do that. You don’t want to retire trying to talk him out of itI told him what would you do all day LOL really my other half she just passes by into the laundry room area or what’s left of it after I moved the wall back 9 feet, but just shakes her head. I don’t know whether she’s shaking it at me or the music but it’s all good. yes, absolutely agreed I have a few pair of small monitors. One of my favorites is Andrew Jones design correct me if I’m wrong LS- 22. again, very inexpensive and can sound quite amazing even hard to believe at times not to bring cost ratio into it, but I think there are 100 bucks for the pair. Hard to go wrong especially today in my personal opinion, for desktop monitors or perhaps TV viewing personally I don’t use sound bars or things of that nature they seem to perform quite well the Lil Andrew Jones pioneers. I would say my room is a little lively Within certain boundaries, especially with glass sliding doors on one side, brick fireplace on the other side So that they’re alone does present placement problems absolutely, presently, I’m pretty satisfied with the overall acoustics or cross the Board sonics, You know I found when some of these audio OG’s guys get a little older than me so they’re getting up here. You can’t tell them anything about Little speakers I would imagine this has a great deal to do with the timeframe within their said participation in a particular time frame But I listened and I learned a hell of a lot of those guys They were also very correct before you change anything the Crossovers in those speakers would most likely be your biggest upgrade and I must admit they were correct, but going forward, please keep in mind. These are folded horn designs yes, big heavy and extremely efficient aesthetic doesn’t bother me. It’s not a showroom. It serves all intends and purposes and has to meet no one’s approval as far as a better half I never try to impress people, let them impress me. Old saying. no it’s my Room and she has the remainder of the other approximately other 2800 Sq ft , Al its to big for 2 people a lot of upkeep in personal opinion Plus outside surroundings, General maintenance ect, Al as always I thank for your very interesting and informative post and I always appreciate your time , help and concern, please have a wonderful safe summer. I remain very respectfully yours yes it’s still TT , somethings never change For me that’s a good thing. ;-)
Hi @Biamp300B Apologies to the forum for the off-topic reply. Yes I've been a bit busy with having my city house re-roofed. No, I'm not doing it myself, but it's been a logistical nightmare plagued with issues. Sadly, in Australia reliable and skilled tradespersons are now as rare as rocking horse manure. The good ones are booked out years ahead. The company that did the work have had to be recalled several times to remediate faults mainly pertaining to Australian Standards building construction code violations, but the big issue which is still outstanding is they installed the wrong thickness of roof sheeting. They installed 0.42mm BMT instead of the 0.48mm BMT specified and quoted on. Yes, the entire roof. Now, the difference between 0.42mm and 0.48mm thickness might not sound much to the layperson, but there is a huge long-term performance difference. Re-roofing an entire house is not an inexpensive undertaking here in Australia. BTW, just after the project was supposedly completed I had the work independently inspected and that was when the problems were uncovered. FYI, it's winter here down under. Officially started at the beginning of the month but it feels a lot colder than normal for this time of the year. Some mornings it gets down to below 0 deg.C. (32 deg. F) Hmmm.... so much for global warming. There's also a backlog of audio projects and hi-fi repairs in the workshop and the pile isn't getting any smaller. I've also been working on correcting all the mislabelling and title / artist / genre errors on my ripped SACD iso library stored on my DMP-A6 thanks to the forum member @losinka for his most excellent program that allows you to fix those errors. Now all we have to do is to convince the eversolo design team to update the firmware to be able to read and correctly display the Performer metadata correctly. Currently any SACD iso file albums that have more than one artist can't be searched nor displayed correctly from the library because the meta data is buried in a field designated "Performer" associated with each track.
Fortunately, my neighbors are not that difficult, no complaint so far. As for the monitors with added subwoofer, many modern active monitors don't need a subwoofer. And this is a big plus as it is not always easy to integrate a sub, especially in small rooms
Hi Al , it certainly sounds like you have your hands full of this present time I had moved my Audio equipment rack, which is quite large 72 inches in length. And approximately 20 inch deep shelves with the total of 4, my Eversolo unit along with many other devices happen to be in place against the very few walls that are actually usable with no obstructions as every time we would get a heavy storm or thunderstorm will we call a north eastern here, I would get a few drips here and there not good, I apologize for very off centered comments in subject post or reply if I am somewhat correct, you were talking somewhere in the area of approximately , 0 006 in millimeters or 0.15 in , approximately I was wondering if you retain the ability in accordance in what would be your license and inspection requirements with the installation and use of what we call in this part of the world a 100 year roof made of fabricated aluminum or a aluminum shingle roof within standard installation, the overall thickness’s typically ranges 0.032 inches to 0.040 inches , Sorry but my curiosity had got the best of myself , within your somewhat unique perspective in situation , as far as any trades or Construction trades are concerned here at present my situation. Here is somewhat of the same, but I must say . I see countless young folks here in my part of the world with bachelors degrees ect and many other levels within higher education sitting in the park across the street all day doing nothing whatsoever, however a few of the younger guys with pick up trucks and a good set of skills are doing extremely well for themselves, as I am starting to get up in age as all of us do, short story there are two brothers with a few older pick up trucks that are excellent within the set of trades of Roofing ,carpentry, electrician, plumbing, etc I use them from time to time for various jobs or reasons as I no longer climb 40 foot ladders unless I absolutely have to. It has been about a year since I last did . Im good but no more , but what I wanted to say to you i have 2 young guys here in their 30’s that made 6 figures last year without even trying , actually turning work away, high school grads . After any job is complete the man of 40 years of experience thoroughly inspects and goes over all work they performed , while the college graduates as I stated are across the street in the park with their dogs in the afternoons, figuring out how to pay back all their student loans definitely something to think about. IDK I would certainly think so , It seems no one wants to get their hands dirty anymore as of today , however very best of luck to you with your most unfortunate and unforeseeable event, I also Carry an insurance rider or summary binder on all electronics and Audio equipment very inexpensive here and I believe very foolish not to have coverage. Or not obtain proper coverage that applies to almost any accident or unforeseen event, Again very best of luck to you, please have an enjoyable weekend ……
Hi Alan, I've read about the nightmare of the roofing... sh*t happens, nowadays that good skilled operators are rare (as you say...). Nevertheless, living in a place like you managed to is my dream. Here where I live I do indeed have the possibility to buy and build, and it will be my next headache for sure, once I retire. I've been wishing for my man-cave for the past 40 years... uh? Have a nice weekend, my friend from Downunder.
Hi Nutul, hopefully I believe you will fulfill your dream one day, I must admit there’s nothing like a man cave. I honestly don’t know what I would do without mine for many other numerous reasons besides Audio, lol. however, I’m most certain you’re well aware, but when or as you become a property owner, you are quite correct within the terminology of nightmare but of multiple nightmares that always seem to appear out of nowhere, no matter how much is maintained, I must admit it does have its advantages naturally disadvantages, of course however it is quite nice when you see a problem or Potential problems to just make contact with whom whomever is responsible for the structure and your surroundings. I actually know folks here that were in possession of some beautiful estates and properties, but had decided to go the other way just for that particular reason in nature yes it can be a headache it comes with the territory after my own 50 year + battle of maintenance cost and upkeep. Please have a wonderful weekend …
