IPS-3 User Manual
11
Re-connection after system has been previously configured:
1. Power on both computer and IPS-3. Select PC input on IPS-3.
2. Connect USB cable.
3. Enumeration should be quick on Windows and about 10 seconds with Mac and may not indicate
anything except with failure. The front panel should indicate the chosen sample rate.
4. For best performance and bit perfect reproduction make sure to set all volume controls in the
computer playback software, Windows / OSX control panel to exactly 0db (wide open), turn off all
operating systems sounds, effects or equalizer that might be running in your playback software or
Windows / OSX. Control the volume only with your analog pre-amp.
5. Your system is now ready for high resolution playback.
During playback with PC
When changing songs from within your computer player software the USB protocol automatically
communicates all necessary sample rate changes to the IPS-3. The front panel of the IPS-3 always indicates
the true sample rate during file playback. This system will never perform any sample rate conversion or any
signal processing that could adversely affect the sonic performance, but rather use the exact bits from your
file and convert them directly to analog.
During playback with Mac
The native OSX operating system and iTunes do not
understand the needs of audiophile consumers and insist on
sample rate conversion. When connecting the IPS-3 OSX will
automatically select the highest possible sample rate
(384kHz) and convert all your songs to this rate before
playing them out through USB. This will result in degraded
performance. You can manually select the sample rate in the
Audio/MIDI Setup utility to correspond with the native sample
rate of the song (as shown in picture), but this can be a
tedious process if your library contains songs with more than
1 sample rate. Alternatively, 3
rd
party plug-ins for iTunes exist
that automate this process and always select the correct
sample rate for bit perfect playback.
Check our website
www.playbackdesigns.com
for an updated list of supported plug-ins.
Playback of DSD files
The IPS-3 supports native DSD playback up to 11.2MHz and DoP playback up to 5.6MHz. DoP is a standard
that allows raw DSD data to be sent over a normal PCM link (DSD is NOT converted to PCM). This standard
only supports DSD rates up to 5.6MHz. Mac computers can only support the DSD file format via DoP and
hence are limited to 5.6MHz. Windows based computers on the other hand, require a custom driver software
that can be made to support DSD natively at higher sample rates.
So for DSD playback on Windows computers the playback software should be configured for native DSD
playback, whereas on Mac computers it should be configured for DSD via DoP playback..
Testing your system for bit perfect reproduction
Windows / OSX and your player software offer multiple places for volume control, effects processing,
dithering, equalization or sample rate conversion. Generally, these algorithms affect the sonic performance in
a negative way, especially in low volume listening levels. It is therefore recommended that all volume controls
on your computer are set to exactly 0db (wide open) and all operating system sounds, effects, equalizers and
other algorithms are turned off. You should only control volume with your analog pre-amp. In order to test
your system to make sure that no hidden control or algorithm on your computer may impact your sonic
performance you can play a special test file:
