Native DSD

Sonik supports most USB DACs out of the box because the USB Audio standard is well defined. Native DSD support is a different matter — the DSD standard has gaps that lead to inconsistent results across DACs.

DoP (DSD-over-PCM) wraps DSD data inside PCM frames and works reliably with almost all DSD-capable DACs. It is the recommended approach.

Important

Native DSD offers no audible advantage over DoP. Its only technical benefit is slightly lower bandwidth, which in some cases allows a higher maximum sample rate than DoP can achieve.

Over the years, Sonik has added explicit native DSD support for many DACs by patching the underlying Linux kernel. The DSD DACs reference page lists all DACs with confirmed native DSD support.

If your DAC supports DSD but is not on that list, use DoP — it will work correctly in the vast majority of cases.