Another symptom:
- when I bitstream DSD64, I hear "white noise" with the music in the background
- if I convert it to DSD512, it sounds normal
I've tried 3 different PCs and 2 OS. It's the same from XLR and RCA outputs.
I factory reset it, but that didn't help.
Is there another thing I can try out?
I hear what you mean about the noise when playing DSD64 via your XLR. It's almost like bad tape hiss.
I just played back DSD64, DSD128 and DSD256 on my SU-8 using Foobar on Windows with XLR outputs. I could not hear any white noise or hiss through my speakers.
I used the DSD test tracks from
http://www.2l.no/hires/ , specifically the following track:
Britten: Frank Bridge Variations - Romance
TrondheimSolistene
Stereo DSD 64 2.8224Mbit/s
Stereo DSD 128 5.6448Mbit/s
Stereo DSD 256 11.2896Mbit/s
Can you try these tracks and report back at which point the hiss is most obvious?
Edit: There seems to a natural hiss at the end of this track, that I hear regardless of what output format I choose, even FLAC. Perhaps people can share a track here and a timestamp where the hiss is obvious to hear?
That looks like DSD to PCM conversion before the data reached the SU-8.
I agree, also, if the display of the SU-8 is not displaying "dsd64", "dsd128" or "dsd256" when you are playing the track, then you are not truly sending it DSD output, and something prior to the data reaching the DAC is converting it to something else.