I am quite surprised and disappointed at my experience with my very first purchase: First, I'm using an OPPO BDP-205 Blu-ray player for playback of the Pure DSD Files which I purchased to get all the available downloaded formats, both DSD and Flac. The OPPO BDP-205 can play Flac, MP3, MP4, and other formats as well. Of all the formats, only 1 set of the DSD files would play and for some reason none of the Flac files in the download could be played at all other than showing the cover art. In terms of sound quality, of the DSD set of files that were playable, I thought I was going deaf or that there was a problem with my system. As it turned out neither was the case. There seemed to be no high-frequency content on the playback and the characteristic brushes and cymbals so prevalent in the Time Out tracks seemed totally missing. I use a Marantz Model 7 (tube) preamp, so I was able to boost treble and even that didn't help. As a final test I pulled out my pristine LP version of Time Out and played it. Oh my God, what a difference. All the missing sounds that are so much a part of the Time Out tracks suddenly were all there. As another test, I also have the commercially available CD of Time Out and it was the same, all the sound missing from the DSD files were perfectly audible. So, at this point I don't know what the problem is with the files. That I could hear what was missing by using either the LP or CD version proved I wasn't going deaf and that there wasn't a problem with my system. At this point, based on my experience, I don't know if I will be purchasing any further downloads. Your mileage may vary.
DSD256 Direct Stream Digital Download
