The Comparison Between PCM And DSD’s Quality

When talking about sampling,its density decides audio’s fidelity.With the progress of digital audio technology and in order to meet people’s higher demands on the quality of sound,the bit rate of Pulse Code Modulation(PCM)increased from 16 bits to 24 bits or even higher;The sampling rate of PCM increased from 44.1khz to384 khz.However,these improvements can not completely improve the fidelity of playback which is limited by the density of sampling.For the sake of getting high-fidelity audio and making it sounds better in the minimum audible field,Direct Stream Digital(DSD)simplify the signal flow by sampling real sound in 2.8224 mhz which is 64 times of CD and 1bit which is close to the original sound wave to get a more natural and clearer sound.It also truly shows a sense of presence and has an emotional communication.Theoretically,the differences between PCM and DSD are dynamic range,high and low frequency response,transient response and so on which have already been compared by many theses.While symphony has a widest dynamic range because of its large orchestral composition.The string section and brass section have a frequency distribution and the percussion section can provide a fast transient response.Hence it can completely shows PCM and DSD’s difference in these aspects.I chose the first movement of Mahler’s Symphony No.1 in D major which is a representative symphony and have a complete orchestration to compare PCM and DSD’s difference in these aspects and draw a conclusion of the difference of their quality.