Volumio Version: 2.873
Hardware: Raspberry 4
DAC: Topping E30
Just upgraded from an RPi 3b+ and Hifiberry DAC+ and I want to make sure I’m getting the most out of the new setup. I have Volumio set to use the E30 using DSD Direct. The E30 shows USB 44.1 PCM and Volumio playback shows 44.1 KHz 16 bit. This is what I was getting from my old setup. Should I expect better?
Oh, and I should mention that I’m listening to Radio Paradise Main Mix (FLAC).
Is it the case that Radio Paradise is a 16/44 stream? In which case the correct way to reconstruct the original analog waveform is by interpolating between the 22us samples (the period of the 44.1kHz signal) with a linear phase low pass filter. This happens inside your E30. Interestingly this interpolation is rather old science and was first suggested by a mathematician, in a very different application, back in 1915 and re-purposed some years later into the engineering domain by Claude Shannon and Harry Nyquist.
There would be no real advantage in changing the FLAC stream to DSD but if you had a DSD stream your DAC should respond correctly to it. So you would need a DSD stream to activate this functionality. No real sound quality advantage of DSD over PCM FLAC at equivalent data rates.
EDIT. The E30 is a much better DAC than the Hifiberry+. With a good system you will be rewarded with better sound. A good choice!
I have exaxlty the same setup… All. My music is shown as pcm on e30. The dsd stream appeqr as 5.64 MHz dsd. Depends ind dsd stream. Settings is dsd over dop because in buster beta this option is inverted I guess.
I also expected to see kHz instead of pcm.
Thank you both! There weren’t many setup option so I thought I got it right, I just wanted to check. I was looking at the numbers even though it does sound better.
I have an Carver setup I bought in 1984. I hadn’t used it in years an when I set it back up, it didn’t work so I sent it in for a refresh. They upgraded the opamps and made a few other changes and my system sounds better than I ever remember it sounding. That’s what lead to my upgrading my streaming equipment. Next, a minor repair to my turntable.
@edw, just for my understanding pls when I play 44.1khz 16bits or 96khz songs, should not I have 44.1 kHz on e30 instead of pcm? Because when I listed to dsd music I see 5.64mhz dsd. This is how e30 shows the sample rate?
Thanks
I don’t have an E30 but I do have a Topping D90. When the bit rate changes I get the new bit rate displayed in large numbers 44.1 or 96 for short moment then the display reverts to smaller lettering telling me that the feed is USB to both RCA and XLR, the volume level I’ve set and the bit rate and a notification that it is PCM.