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play DSD from Mac

o2so
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o2so Veteran

o2so

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hi there.

My new amp has an integrated DAC that can play DSD64 and 128. I have never used DSD files before. I know nothing about streaming.

I have downloaded some files on my mac.

How do I make it work? I connect the mac via USB to the DAC, I assume, then use the DAC as sound card. What software should I use to play the DSD files?

(first question was easy)

Second question:

What is the easiest was to create a home network with a NAS to stream to the renderer that is also integrated in my amplifier?

Thanks in advance and apologies for my immense digital ignorance

Edited by o2so

Demondes Veteran

Demondes

Posted
Posted

You will need some software such as jriver or roon to play the dsd files.

Usually the dsd music will be in the form of dsf files or iso files.

Do you have playback software on the mac? Standard iTunes will not play dsd.

Also what musical dsd sample file do you have?

  • Like 2
o2so Veteran

o2so

Posted
  • Author
Posted
  On 09/08/2016 at 5:29 AM, Demondes said:

You will need some software such as jriver or roon to play the dsd files.

Usually the dsd music will be in the form of dsf files or iso files.

Do you have playback software on the mac? Standard iTunes will not play dsd.

Also what musical dsd sample file do you have?

No, i don't have a playback software. I need to select and install one. Which one do you recommend?

Demondes Veteran

Demondes

Posted
Posted
  On 09/08/2016 at 6:11 AM, sjay said:

audirvarna + , leaves the rest for dead with sound quality

Yes there are definitely more than the 2 software products i mentioned.

With different qualities and prices. You will need to research the existing thread discussions and costs to make a decision

davewantsmoore Life Member

davewantsmoore

Posted
Posted

For free?

 

Korg audiogate

Teac HR player

 

 

(Kodi?   Unsure about this one.   Both whether it transcodes, and/or if it does that on Mac - anyone?!)

  • Like 1
Jventer Grand Champion

Jventer

Posted
Posted (edited)

I dont know your amp, but accessed the Hegel website.

There is a lot of info on there that explains what you wish to know.

 

This looks like a fantastic amp, you have all the normal stuff of an integrated, but have a built in dac, so can take various inputs. Also has network compatibility. As it is a renderer it can access files somewhere on your network.

 

To play DSD files your DAC must support it, or your software can convert from DSD to PCM, I do the latter just because I have an old Dac.

 

You have several options. 

  1. Put Audirvana on your mac, connect that to the amp via usb set the software to play via your dac, Works great. (I am using jriver on Windows and can unfortunately not give an opinion on its abilities on Mac.)
  2. Another alternative is to connect it to a NAS (with LAN) and with Audirvana play the music files from the NAS.
  3. What could further be possible with the right software and NAS is to play files from the NAS directly to the Hegel using a phone or computer.

I would start with option 1, Audirvana is not expensive and works great. There may be free versions of software, but I am not up to date with those.

 

A cheaper option than a NAS is just using the Mac or more hard drives connected to it, but in all setups please take backups and move offsite.

 

Enjoy, I would not mind having that amp.

Edited by Jventer
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Misternavi Veteran

Misternavi

Posted
Posted
  On 09/08/2016 at 5:40 AM, o2so said:

Jriver or roon?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

a couple of softwares out there that does DSD, i use audirvana. you should be able to download a trial version.

DSd is good but there aren't that many decent tunes out there to support it.

converting 16/44 to DSD is pretty good when i tried it with my DAC.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

o2so Veteran

o2so

Posted
  • Author
Posted
  On 09/08/2016 at 1:46 PM, misternavi said:

a couple of softwares out there that does DSD, i use audirvana. you should be able to download a trial version.

DSd is good but there aren't that many decent tunes out there to support it.

converting 16/44 to DSD is pretty good when i tried it with my DAC.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes, I realised that tonight. There is not a single decent DSD album to buy

  • Like 1

Misternavi Veteran

Misternavi

Posted
Posted
  On 09/08/2016 at 2:09 PM, o2so said:

Yes, I realised that tonight. There is not a single decent DSD album to buy

I bought a coltrane dsd remaster and found i prefer the CD rip more.

also got some bootleg springsten live in the 80's on DSD. should have just got the 16/44 instead.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  • 2 weeks later...
Gieseler Audio Veteran

Gieseler Audio

Posted
Posted

Hey quick question for you Mac guru's.

I can't seem to play DSD256 content, DSD64 & DSD128 perfect but DSD256 brings a hardware playback error.

Setup is a Mac book pro (also air)  into my Klein DAC II which uses a Amanero Combo 384 USB board with the latest firmware. The

playback software I have tried has been Roon Labs & the latest version of JRiver.

In JRiver I have tried native DSD output & also DOP.

With a PC music server DSD256 is perfect.

Scratcher Experienced

Scratcher

Posted
Posted

Hi Clay,

I tried out a few dsd files on my Mac book pro today to check your findings.

Roon had to be set to dop output, then when trying to play a dsd256 file it displays dsd to PCM conversion -dsd256 to 1411.2kHz then sample rate conversion 1411.2kHz to 352.8kHz using core audio exclusive mode.

Jriver states playback couldn't be started using core audio dop 11.3mhz even though I have it setup as native dsd direct not dop mode.

Audirvana also down samples to 352 PCM automatically.

Dsd 64 and 128 play fine....

Windows server on the other hand plays the dsd256 perfectly using Jriver or Roon

Gieseler Audio Veteran

Gieseler Audio

Posted
Posted

Hi Liam,

Thanks for all the info & testing. As we know the hardware will handle DSD256 so do you think it is just a Mac/

Amanero issue or will Macs not do DSD256 with any brand of DAC?

Has anyone out there had success with DSD256 file playback using a Mac?

pcking Proficient

pcking

Posted
Posted
  On 09/08/2016 at 9:49 AM, davewantsmoore said:

For free?

 

Korg audiogate

Teac HR player

 

 

(Kodi?   Unsure about this one.   Both whether it transcodes, and/or if it does that on Mac - anyone?!)

You need a KORG DSD DAC to use AudioGate 4 software in DSD mode.

Scratcher Experienced

Scratcher

Posted
Posted
  On 28/08/2016 at 8:35 PM, Gieseler Audio said:

Hi Liam,

Thanks for all the info & testing. As we know the hardware will handle DSD256 so do you think it is just a Mac/

Amanero issue or will Macs not do DSD256 with any brand of DAC?

Has anyone out there had success with DSD256 file playback using a Mac?

Expand  

Hi Clay,

It appears to be a Mac/Amanero issue, I tested with another dsd 256 capable DAC and all players worked fine with Yosemite OS.

cheers 

Liam

Demondes Veteran

Demondes

Posted
Posted

Try the upgrade to Mac OS Sierra, public beta 6 now available

 

Then again maybe it will make things worse and you will need a reinstall afterwards

 

Ha 

 

 

matth Collaborator

matth

Posted
Posted (edited)
  On 27/08/2016 at 10:19 PM, Gieseler Audio said:

Hey quick question for you Mac guru's.

I can't seem to play DSD256 content, DSD64 & DSD128 perfect but DSD256 brings a hardware playback error.

Setup is a Mac book pro (also air)  into my Klein DAC II which uses a Amanero Combo 384 USB board with the latest firmware. The

playback software I have tried has been Roon Labs & the latest version of JRiver.

In JRiver I have tried native DSD output & also DOP.

With a PC music server DSD256 is perfect.

Expand  

Hi Clay,

there is a comment from the Roon Forum about this topic:

 
brianBrian LuczkiewiczRoon Labs: CTO
 

We don't support DSD256 over DoP yet--Roon only does DSD256 output in native mode (meaning, on Windows using an ASIO driver).

The main barrier is: we haven't got a piece of hardware in our test lab that supports that configuration. DSD256-over-PCM requires a DAC that supports 768khz PCM input--these are pretty rare.

Once we get our hands on some hardware, we can validate/test this configuration and then enable it in Roon.

 

Roon states that they support PCM up to 384kHz but for DSD256 DoP you need 768kHz, that may be the reason.

 

Matt

Edited by matth
  • Like 1
wis97non Experienced

wis97non

Posted
Posted

Nothing to do with ROON or any player per se. The limitation for Mac OSX playback is core audio, similar to Linux. The Dac will have to have a dedicated Mac OS driver to handle ablve DSD128, like the modified Steinberg Mac driver that ExaSound provides with their Dacs.

 

Linux can do DSD256 of both the USB receiver and the Linux playback source are patched, as there is no official version of Linux that support these higher rates today....but it will come soon.

Jonny Proficient

Jonny

Posted
Posted
  On 06/09/2016 at 10:26 AM, wis97non said:

Nothing to do with ROON or any player per se. The limitation for Mac OSX playback is core audio, similar to Linux. The Dac will have to have a dedicated Mac OS driver to handle ablve DSD128, like the modified Steinberg Mac driver that ExaSound provides with their Dacs.

 

Linux can do DSD256 of both the USB receiver and the Linux playback source are patched, as there is no official version of Linux that support these higher rates today....but it will come soon.

Expand  

@Gieseler Audio

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