Upsampling in Roon 1.3

[GuillaumeB]

I have listened to a dSC Vivaldi upsampler converting 16/44.1 to DSD64, only for the Devialet to convert back to PCM.  In theory this seams like a lot of processing only to end up back at PCM, but for some reason it works brilliantly.  

I absolutely 100% concur with this.

What was most impressive was the ability to toggle between sample rates and formats and hear very real changes to the sound. The soundstage would increase in size or contract depending on the settings chosen.

Even music streamed from an iPhone using Airplay could be upsampled and made to sound superb. 

Speaking to the dCS rep at the time (and sorry if I am repeating myself here since I did post about it shortly after) he seemed to think that this was more due to the noise shaping algorithms and filters involved in the conversions. The idea being to remove digital artefacts and improve the quality of the bits.

In some ways this turns the whole bit perfect paradigm on its head.

There are many reports on the internet of another server called the SGM which is capable of upsampling to DSD 512 and DXD and supposedly completely transforms the performance of DACs. This is achieved by HQPlayer and Roon running in the same shiny box, in a highly optimised and powerful Windows 10 environment with a fancy power supply to boot. The price? A cool 16k euros. I wouldn't mind hearing what this thing could do to the Devialet.

Based on what I have read it seems that the HQPlayer algorithms are on a par with the processing carried out by the dCS Vivaldi Upsampler. So far I have only heard the latter and I can assure you it is no joke. Jaw droppingly good.

Guillaume