545th: Comparing 3 DSD-compatible USB DAC models [Part 1]

Basic differences between the 3 models

　The DSD-compatible USB DACs covered this time are TEAC's UD-501 (110,000 yen / actual sales of 99,800 yen) and Korg's DS-DAC- 10 (open price / actual sales 54,780 yen), Ratoc system RAL-DSDHA1 (72,000 yen / actual sales 59,800 yen). Ratoc System also has a high-end product called RAL-DSDHA2 (standard price 120,000 yen / actual sales 99,800 yen) with balanced drive headphone output, but I used RAL-DSDHA1 this time.

First, I lined up the three products, so please check the difference in size. The obvious big UD-501 and the compact DS-DAC-10 and RAL-DSDHA1? However, the UD-501 is not just a USB DAC for PCs, it also functions as a DAC that supports optical and coaxial S/PDIF input, and in addition to RCA line out, it also has XLR output. It feels like a high-end product that is also equipped with.

Then, how about comparing each by spec? In the first place, I don't know which items to compare, but I mainly extracted and arranged only the parts related to DSD. Although it's the same domestic DSD compatible USB DAC, if you look at it like this, you'll find that there are quite a few differences between each product, not just the size and price.

　All products support DSD64, that is, 2.8224MHz data playback, but they also support DSD128 at 5.6448MHz. Of is narrowed down to UD-501 and DS-DAC-10. Well, there is almost no data such as DSD128 at present, so the difference may not be so noticeable, but it is one of the points for selection.

On the other hand, when dealing with DSD on a PC, the most difficult part is the playback mechanism, including the driver. As you know, DSD is a completely different way of thinking from PCM, so a trick is required to make the PC handle this. Currently, there are two main methods, one of which is the method of using the familiar ASIO driver in DTM, which can be said to be a safe and reliable method.

　ASIO is an audio driver standard developed by Steinberg of Germany, and recently it has been supported by PC audio users, but when it was updated to ASIO 2.1 in 2005, it became compatible with DSD. It has become. However, at that time, only Sony's VAIO was compatible with DSD, and this situation continued until recently, but recently the number of devices compatible with this has increased. Of the three models this time, only RAL-DSDHA1 is not compatible, but in fact, RAL-DSDHA1 is also compatible with ASIO in PCM, so the ASIO driver can be seen from the application side. However, since it does not support DSD native, it is different from UD-501 and DS-DAC-10.

　The other method is to use DoP = "DSD Audio over PCM Frames". In the past, companies such as dCS and Playback Design used the PCM mechanism to develop a method of dumming and streaming DSD, but the two parties agreed and came up with DoP. When I interviewed KORG before, I said, "If there is some kind of trouble with DoP, there is the possibility of damaging the device," but from that point of view, only KORG does not support DoP.