dBpoweramp DSD Help

dBpoweramp: DSD

DSD (Direct Stream Digtal) is the audio format used for Super Audio CDs (SACD). This codec is able to decode .dff (DSD Interchange File Format) and .dsf files, .dsf supports ID Tags whereas .dff does not.
DSD is an unusual format in that it used 1 bit samples with a very high sample rate: 2.8 MHz DSD64, or 5.6 MHz DSD128, 11.2 MHz DSD256, 22.4 MHz DSD512. DSD files are normally played direct by a compatitble DAC.
Supported by this Codec

- Encoding: Yes [.dsf with dBpoweramp reference]
- Multi-processor Encoding: Yes (with dBpoweramp reference)
- Decoding: Yes [.dff, .dsf]
- ID Tag Reading: Yes DSF [ID3 Chunk]
- ID Tag Writing: Yes DSF [ID3 Chunk]
- Unicode Tagging: Yes
- Supports Album Art: Yes

Compression Options

Mode sets the DSD sample rate, DSD256 and DSD512 create very large files.
Codec Background
Created by Sony and Philips for storage on Super Audio CDs (SACD). Audio is stored as 1 bit (either 0 or 1) at very high sample rates.
ID Tag Details
ID3v2 tags can be saved to .dsf files, allowing the full range id ID Tags including album art.
Advanced Options
dBpoweramp Configuration offers advanced options for this codec (dBpoweramp Control Center >> Audio Codecs 'List / Options'):

DSD Decoder

DSD Processing: on decoding (converting from DSD) the DSD file can be either decoded to PCM, at a set sample rate, 24 bit, or embedded as DoP (DSD over PCM) within another lossless format (such as wave or FLAC). The idea behind DoP, is that DSD can be passed untouched to a compatible DAC, the player and transport need not know about DSD, as it is passed as PCM.

Decoding Down Sampling: used only with Decode to PCM, be aware if choosing high sample rates that the audio will contain ultrasonics, that is why by default 96 KHz is chosen as anything above 48KHz is filterd.

Terminology

Encoding: compress and write audio track,
Decoding: uncompress and read the track,
ID Tags: meta data such as artist & album are embedded inside the audio file,
Lossless: compression without audio quality loss,
Lossy: audio quality is sacrificed (how much depends on bitrate and codec used) to achieve smaller files,
Gapless: allows the decoder to decode audio stream without gaps (silence),
Explorer Audio Popup: a dBpoweramp function, hold the mouse over a supported audio file and details contained are displayed,
Multi-processor Encoding: for multi core processors multiple files can be compressed at once fully using all cores.
Command Line: text interface, where commands are typed (start >> run >> cmd to get to the command line)

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