Eric,
Thank you for posting your impressions!
Yes, there is a difference how DACs handle PCM and DSD. The Crystal and the AKM handle DSD very similar so the DSD quality with those two is very similar. The thing is that AKM handles PCM in a way that is unmatched by any other current DAC manufacturer so the CD pulls far ahead from Crystal. This makes you think that now DSD is not as good with AKM but it's actually the same, just PCM is a lot better.
Meitner is using DSD DAC incorporating FIR (Finite Impulse Response) filters, which are pretty much analog filters. These are followed by more post DAC filtering. On a recent shootout with Meitner, the Denon was clearly superior to it with CD and was a little worse than Meitner with SACD. The reason is because I don't use steep filters in my designs because of their sonic disadvantages. Now, if DSD is converted to PCM the noise is gone so just minimal filtering is necessary. It sounds much better than pure DSD processing with steep filtering too. The above also confirms the inferiority of converting PCM (CD) to DSD.
Do you still have the DV-50? It processes pure DSD with sharp filters. See how the DV-50 "pure" DSD processing compares to the Denon with Source Direct OFF (DSD to PCM conversion).
Regards,
_________________
Alex Peychev
APL Hi-Fi
