WAVERSA SYSTEMS INC.
Waversa Native DSD
Waversa Systems uses an in-house designed type of “Native DSD” transmission method that replaces industry standard DSD over PCM (DoP). Both USB and Ethernet use the same mechanism to transmit data internally and the USB Audio path is fundamentally a PCM path. DSD over PCM (DoP) uses a repeating 8-bit marker to indicate DSD processing of the digital stream. This standardization was established with 24-bit capable processing chips, whereby the 24-bit data stream consisted of an 8-bit marker, 16-bit information, and when applied to a modern 32-bit processor, the last 8-bit segment is ignored. With use of 32-bit processing, DoP is limited to only half of the available bandwidth. Waversa’s “Native DSD” uses a non-standard PCM path in USB at a 32-bit stream without the need for a marker, and the full 32-bit stream is dedicated to digital music. Therefore, DSD64 can be transmitted in PCM 88.2kHz format, DSD128 can be transmitted at 176.4kHz, and DSD256 can be transmitted at 352.8kHz. Waversa’s PCM352.8kHz processing can stream DSD256 in its native format.
Waversa’s implementation of “Native DSD” has two advantages. First, it is a more efficient data transmission allowing higher DSD sampling rates to be transmitted in their native format under less bandwidth. Inherent to this approach, the second advantage is very low power consumption and processing demand, which together provide better overall sonic presentation. In Waversa products to date, Native DSD processing has to be activated in ROON and occurs only between Waversa equipment using Waversa Network Direct Rendering (WNDR). “Native DSD” does not appear as an option under ROON Ready (ROON RAAT protocol).