Deck The Halls - Compare for Yourself - DSD and DXD

From Paul McGowan's forum at PSAudio... response to a post.

Hi Mike and thank you for pointing out my recent article and comparison tests.   I agree with you... music first, format second.

Paul is correct in saying that most DSD recordings started life as PCM or tape.  Recording direct to DSD is a very difficult challenge that few people undertake (it could be only Paul and I at this point... LOL).  

At the same time, musicians want to release in DSD to reach our audience.  We developed a remastering technique we call SEA (Systems for Exceptional Audio) to accomodate artists and engineers recording in PCM or other formats who want to reach our audience of DSD256 listeners.

Laurence Juber was one of those musicians.  He recorded with Al Schmitt (a deeply respected engineer who passed away in the last few years).  We found that using our SEA process to remaster the 176.4 PCM masters to DSD256 was what our customers at Blue Coast Music Store wanted. (Note: we sell 9 formats for each song).  It's not a simple conversion process.

We also found a lot of confusion in our audiophile community who asked the question "If you need to go to DXD for editing, why not record to DXD instead of DSD?"

We had done the test in the studio many times, but decided to create a project where those interested to test at home, could compare the variables of DSD and DXD.  So, using our SEA remastering process on one of Laurence Juber's songs, we recorded direct to DSD and direct to DXD and supplied the DXD converted to DSD256. And yes, we included the original source files provided by Laurence.

https://bluecoastmusic.com/dsd-workshop-1

Very few, if any, had created this test or offered it for customers to compare under such controlled environments.  It wasn't easy to create and do the blind listening tests with a qualified group.  Since we rarely record directly to DXD, we also found some odd things....  the same test tone used in DSD recording is 1db hotter when recording to DXD on the Pyramix.  So we also included DXD recordings adjusted to the same test tone for DSD.  With the original source file, that's 6 versions of the song to compare.

And we did compare and found differences.  At first it's difficult to tell those differences, but when we returned to the files recorded to DSD, they won with our test group.  (Note: that does not mean someone else might prefer a different sound... that's what we preferred and reinforced why we work the way we do).

Also interesting to note..  the analog stage we use in the SEA process also improved the clarity and deepness of the bass in DSD over the original source file.  It's not always the case, but we did find our DSD256 to our liking over the original source file.  Others might have a different opinion.

I liken these differences in studio work habits to great painters of fine art.  We wouldn't ask Picasso to paint like Monet.  Similarly, if you ask 3 vinyl mastering engineers what their approach is, you'll find very different answers.  Bernie Grundman, MoFi, Abbey Road and others take very different approaches to mastering.  The same album will sound different depending who's mastering and each will have a following.

There isn't a simple answer that explains why we choose what we choose in the studio. That is part of the 'art' we provide our artists and listeners. It's a big beautiful world full of differences. :)

Enjoy your music!
Cookie Marenco
Blue Coast Records and Music