DSD was better suited to softening the buzz-saw guitar stabs of Les Savy Fav’s Root For Ruin where leading edges could often itch-teeth. DSD ups that ‘sense of ease’ (so often attributed to vinyl playback itself). PCM’s zippier handling of transient attack contrasted DSD as more languid. Volumes matched by ear, PCM was still notably livelier and punchier than the DSD encode/decode. The audible differences between PCM and DSD here were significant.Ģ4bit/96kHz PCM is louder than DSD – some downward volume adjustment was required. I listened exclusively to single-rate DSD and then, later, to 24bit/96kHz PCM encodes. This past month I’ve been listening to records via DSD. Turntable purists should probably stop reading right here. This wasn’t the case with the NAD D 3020 its digital inputs are easily bested by a healthier analogue feed. The Mirus is a D/A converter of sufficient calibre that a 24/96 PCM stream had already shown itself ( in Part 1) to be utterly indistinguishable from the analogue output of the NPC itself. S/PDIF’s bandwidth limitations meant only single-rate DSD travelled along the Zu Audio Mission digital interconnection. The resulting digital stream can then be sent over USB to your computer for permanent storage and/or output over S/PDIF via the NPC’s coaxial socket, to which I had lassoed the Resonessence Labs DAC. That same analogue signal then gets digitised on-the-fly to PCM or DSD. The PS Audio NPC has traditional analogue outputs but a switchable option within the front-panel menu enables the NPC’s internal ADC. However, this being Digital Audio Review, there’s a wrinkle: pivotal to both vinyl and digital rigs sat a DAC: Resonessence Labs’ rather splendid INVICTA Mirus. Phono pre-amplification was provided by PS Audio’s NuWave Phono Converter (NPC). The Zu surrendered a little structural bone in favour of more meat and connective tissue. After a couple of weeks listening, a MK1 Zu DL-103r supplanted the stock Concept cart. I’d say the Concept really benefits from a cart with a little more pep. This combination sounded cooler, more-stand-off-ish than the outgoing re-plinthed Lenco. The Concept ‘table comes pre-installed with a (very good) Concept MM cart. Here, in Part 2, the notion of vinyl’s digital conversion and playback is extrapolated.Ī Clearaudio Concept turntable sat at the front of the vinyl playback chain. In Part 1 of this review I demonstrated how the NPC can be deployed with a digital pre-amplifier. I own both but it’s the latter enjoying pixels here. Their Powerbase joins isolation platform and power conditioner whilst the PS Audio NuWave Phono Converter (US$1895) piles an analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) on top of a phono stage. Colorado’s PS Audio have a terrific knack for combining two products in a single box.

Ps audio nuwave vinylstudio