Getting more out of your DAC, upsampling. (For beginners)

#hifi #DACs #audiophile #stereo #audioreviews #highfidelity #hi-res
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sound Demo
5:09 44k with Mscala
6:19 705k upsample with Mscala
7:29 44k Jriver with subwoofer on
8:39 705k Jriver with subwoofer on
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gear used in this video
Hugo TT2 DAC
Hugo M Scala upsampler
Qacoustic Concept 500 speakers
Hegel P20 Preamp
Lumin Poweramp

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Track: Left Alone — Airixis [Audio Library Release]
Music provided by Audio Library Plus
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

[ThomasAndStereo]

You can also go into 'Sound' in the control panel to configure Windows to upsample to 24bit / 192k.
Sound Demo with Hugo TT2 DAC
5:09 44k with Mscala
6:19 705k upsample with Mscala
7:29 44k Jriver with subwoofer on
8:39 705k Jriver with subwoofer on

[aceofspades]

Team NOS / R2R... keep on keepin on Thomas!

[HiFiGOAudio]

Hi Thomas, Really appreciate your such informative videos for beginners. Thank you so much, Keep up the good work!!

[hmcgrath]

One thing that is IMPORTANT to mention - sorry if you did and I missed it....

Upsample by an even multiple of the base frequency. For example, 44.1kHz files should only be upsampled to 88.2, 176.4, 352.8, or 705.6kHz. Upsampling say from 44.1 to 192kHz is not only more processor-intensive but it will also introduce “digital noise”.

I prefer the upsampled sound (w/o JRiver subwoofer processing) in my listening. Either 176.4/192kHz or 352.8/384kHz.

[Starchbcda]

All those Nickleback albums. A real fan, wow

[BelieveHiFi]

I agree with general up-sampling but with the M-Scaler for me there is a massive improvement in detail, timbre, space and transient response. To the point where its arguably my favourite digital product ever, its the only thing that makes my digital music as enjoyable as my analogue setup.
Intersting to hear your thoughts

[tee-jaythestereo-bargainph]

Ole skool 44.1 😃 i agree 100 ! You should always try multiple settings but in the end its not the bits its not the sample rate its the quality of the recording ! hdcd is one of my favorites higher dynamics peaks even if your cd player doesn't have the microtonics chip for 20 bits thabks Thomas i have tried everything and Sacd is still king to me a lean towards analog sound also 😃 P.S. Burson Composier will be mine soon as bursons refill 😆 Thomas effect ! Dam that Buraon I had sounded so analog hated sending that one back !!

[shingnosis]

Real men use neither upsampling nor oversampling.. NOS DAC. Not for everyone but definitely something to try. And if you've ever tried a NOS Ladder DAC with discrete components.. it lets you know you're alive.

[nicktaylor]

I also use JRiver to upsample to 176khz to my D90 -I find it offers a bigger soundstage and more detailed highs that could sound bright in some systems.
Running a tube preamp compensates for this.

[Thomas_A_H]

Thank you for showing parts of your CD collection in this video. I got curious and listened to some of the albums. Now my wishlist is a bit longer :-)
Especially "Sessions from the 17th ward" by Amber Rubarth sounds great, and I have never heard about her before.

[Ricky-clbu]

Your right I like 44k over the others, it sounds more meaty 🙂

[spycraft]

I love those sound diffusers behind your towers! I’m more for listening to the original sampling rate of the music, no added fluff but then again I don’t own a $6k scaler or Dac, just a pioneer sc27 and Plex.

[marcosr]

Great subject and good video, man
I prefer 44k native too, upsampling sounds '' skeletal '' and unnatural, to me another thing that makes the sound artificial is to use ASIO or WASAPI, which despite sounding more defined and accurate than Direct Sound (which at least sound a little bit ''compressed''), ASIO and WASAPI sounds kind of artificial and forced, kind of ''strange bright'' and causing a little earache at times, especially WASAPI, I don't know if you experienced the same, it would be nice for you to talk about it in future videos. Sometimes we need to choose between '' high definition '' and listening comfort.

[riccitone]

Through Allo Digione running Volumio, I can hear some difference when set to higher res. But then I listen to my CD player at redbook, really just different (in good ways). Everything seems to be a factor, down to the digital cable! Which only propels the fun (or further down the rabbit hole).

[dmartyn]

All digital system: Chord TT2 Stack...cannot go back…even Youtube video files 128k, Sound glorious when upscaled to 705k. Don’t need to pay for anything better than a 16bit/44.1k source file. The remaining components include a small high current amp 40 wpc, (Mies i100 no longer available?), Zen Blue Streamer (Bluetooth Streamer also feeding the M-Scaler), MBP USB to M-Scaler, (Upscaled to 768k). 10TB SSD digital music and video file library. KEF LS50s with KEF Kube 10 Sub. Next piece of kit likely a music server?

[shuckylad]

I’m out of the dac game for a while. I’m tired of listening to boxes instead of my music. I’m currently using the internal dac of my cheap £300 Yamaha s303 streamer and 20 year old Sony CD player. After a day of adjusting to its “sound” I think it just sounds great through either my Hegel or naim amps. It just makes me tap my feet and nod my head. That is all I need right now. Enjoy your music.

[NosTubes]

If ones say Mac Mini ( in my case, Windows need not apply ) offers 16GB Ram Memory!, then DSD 256 is the sweet as is DXD 705 ( PCM ) I’d say it’s how ones DAC is implemented to handle upsampling, hence the Chord DACs are amongst the best in doing this.

[DueM]

Software based upsampling is aids, native format playback like wasapi event in exclusive mode is the best option. Hardware based upsampling is a whole new kettle of fish.

[luisrodrigonunezolguin]

I never did oversampling with my MacBook (neither with Volumio, nor with ROON), it didn't sound real to me, but about four months ago I bought a LUMNI U1 Mini that does DSD oversampling and that was a radical change, in definition, positioning, width of the soundstage, and the DAC is the same... Personally I think that in this upper mid-range streamer the hardware makes the difference just like in the CHORD.

[Distorted-Vision]

Are you going to be reviewing the Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M?