To Doug Schneider,
I read your fantastic review on this innovative product. I was a little confused when you used Ola Gjeilo’s Stone Rose (SACD/CD, 2L 2L48SACD) and described the sound. Does the Devialet play SACD recordings? Or was it using the Red Book CD layer to play the music? I am not aware of many DACs that can play SACD, CD, and high-rez PCM recordings. Thanks.
Mike Kwon
The Stone Rose disc I use for reviews is a hybrid, meaning that it has SACD and CD layers, which is why the catalog information is displayed that way. What I listened to through the D-Premier was the CD layer of that disc ripped to my Sony laptop and played back using J. River’s Media Center, so its resolution is 16-bit/44.1kHz. As far as I know, the D-Premier won’t play DSD files natively (DSD is the digital music format on an SACD disc), but it will play PCM-based files up to 24-bit/192kHz. What’s interesting to know is this: although Stone Rose is available as a hybrid disc with SACD and CD layers, it was actually recorded in 24-bit/96kHz PCM. That native version of the recording is available on 2L’s site as a download.. . . . Doug Schneider
