DSD output very quiet?

Help and Support Help
1

Hey all,

I have just installed a Pi DAC+ in place of using an external DAC and so far it sounds great.

One thing that I have noticed though is that the output level of DSD is a lot lower than other audio types. It also seems that the quality of DSD playback is not a good as my DAC however this is perhaps just because the level is lower and I have to adjust the volume before trying to compare to non-DSD audio.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Where would the issue lie? Is it a Volumio issue or incorrect settings in alsamixer or the Pi DAC+ itself? Or is it just a DSD thing (although I didn’t have the issue with my external DAC)

All the setting in alsamixer look fine. I am not sure what setting to go with for the DSP setting so I just left the default one selected. All other settings seem fine.

Guy

2

  1. i2s connectivity in Rpi does not support DSD (DoP or Native). What you hear is DSD converted to PCM.

  2. Most of DSD masters are much quieter than popular recordings. I am not a DSD fan but all 10 albums I have in DSD are in much lower volume comparing to all my other library.

3

Not sure why but I thought Pi DAC+ supported DSD!

4

With a Rpi and and an i2s dac the maximum you can get is 24/192 PCM.

5

OK, thanks. Maybe it’s back to my USB DAC then :slight_smile: