24/96 Upsampling

Upsampling is the only way to get the absolute most from the CD format, provided the rest of your system is up to the challenge. There are several others, like dCS, Bel Canto, Perpetual Technologies, Muse, and MSB. But I feel that it would take a very expensive linestage coupled with one of those upsamplers, to equal the performance of my Resolution Audio CD50 when driving the power amp directly.

Hi Kies & Carl; I don't believe the Muse model 296 is an upsampling DAC, although I do think it uses over sampling technology, (but I don't exactly know the difference between over sampling and up-sampling). I've looked into this a bit as I have a Muse Model Two DAC and am considering upgrade to the 296.

I was just looking at the Soundstage photos of CES. Looks like the Boulder 1012 DAC/Preamp will be something to watch out for (claims to achieve 144 dB noise rejection, true 24 bit performance). It costs $15,000, though. Ok, the Muse does not upsample internally. Upsamplers by themselves are called "digital-to-digital converters". All the ones I mentioned (except the Muse and dCS) do this in the same chassis as the DAC itself. I beleive the Perpetual Technologies model 3 is the least costly of all these, and they (and also Bel Canto) offer in-home auditions, factory direct. The Bel Canto only upsamples to 96 kHz, instead of 192, though. But the Bel Canto is perhaps likely to be the best one for the money...that's only a guess.

Sonic Frontiers has just announced their 24/96 upgrade to both their SFD2 Mark II and the P-3 DACs. My SFD2 upgrade will cost $1300, but I will still have to purchase the $700 outboard D2D-1. So for $2K I'm ready for the next upgrade which will be the DVD-Audio capable machine probably available by the end of the year. (See the May Stereophile page 62 for the ad/announcement.

You may want to hold off on getting excited about upsampling. I just finished an audition of the Perp P1-A in my system, using alternatively an EVS Millenium DAC, the Muse 296, and Lexicon DC-1 processor. In all cases, I found the sound was BETTER when driving the DAC directly from a transport, than when inserting the P1-A in-between and doing resolution enhancement to 24/96 (for the EVS and Muse), and 20/48 (for the Lexicon). The upsampling seems to rob the music of its dynamics, and the bass gets DRAMATICALLY softer and flabbier. I found this shortcoming to be most pronounced, perhaps surprisingly, by the best DAC; the Muse 296. Using the P1-A, I strongly preferred the Sony SCD-1 alone to the P1-A/Muse combo. When taking out the P1-A and driving the Muse directly with a transport, OTOH, I preferred the Muse over the Sony alone perhaps in a 60/40 ratio. In short, my one person's impression is that upsampling is definitely not a panacea, it is not lightning in a bottle, but in some systems to some tastes, it may offer a slightly different presentation that is marginally preferable.