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There is no hard limit on DSD levels

If your comments are about the Redbook tracks, then what you suggest is possible, as there is an absolute hard and fast level limit on PCM audio at 0 dBfs, i.e. +32767 and -32768 for Redbook. However, there is no such limit for DSD, just a "guideline" such as exists with analog media. As with magnetic tape, as the level is pushed above an arbitrary "0 dB" there is an increase in distortion, eventually resulting in either harsh clipping or with some converters "lock up" where the encoding fails disastrously with continuous loud noise. The point at which this happens depends on the particular music and internal details of the encoder, something that no one talks about as this is proprietary "black magic".

Purist recordings are those that are released in the original format with no processing at all, not even level changes. With these recordings the levels had better be very conservative, otherwise the original recording will be ruined by distortion. The best sounding SACDs are pure DSD recordings, made directly with no subsequent processing other than the equivalent of "razor blade editing". These often come with very low recording levels because that's the way the original was recorded, particularly at a live performance where the engineers may not know how much louder the musicians may play when an audience is present.

My volume control is calibrated in dB, so I know exactly how "loud" any given recording is. In general, those recordings that require turning up my volume control turn out to be higher quality recordings than those that have been artificially boosted. I have several dozen BIS recordings that I've downloaded from eclassical.com. Most are in 44/16 format, some 44/24 which sound better, and the newest ones in 88/24. These have what I would consider "ideal" levels for audiophile quality recordings, but BIS is really a budget label and doesn't use the most expensive state of the art equipment, and I would say that there better recordings can be "very good" but I've yet to hear one that I would call "excellent". By contrast, I have several Channel Classics downloads and these are all excellent recordings. Channel Classics uses the state of the art converters, whereas BIS has been using prosumer gear, such as RME.

If you want to look at dynamic range rather than peak levels, and this was the original issue with this thread, then it is possible to determine this for any format, since one is working on a relative difference, e.g between fortissimo vs. pianissimo. For a large scale orchestral worka this is typically in the range of 45 to 50 dB. Back in the early 1960's this kind of dynamic range was available on pre-recorded 2 and 4 track open reel tapes.


Tony Lauck

"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar


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