DSD (Direct Stream Digital) is a high resolution audio format that serves as an alternative to the more widespread PCM format. You’ll most likely encounter DSD when purchasing Hi-Res audio files for download. Below, you’ll find an overview of how DSD works, as well as its advantages and disadvantages.

The acronyms PCM and DSD represent the two most common ways of digitally storing music. This involves the conversion from the analog to a digital state, in order to then burn the file to a CD or make it available for download or streaming. PCM and DSD are raw, uncompressed formats. You may be more familiar with the more commonly used formats MP3, AAC, and FLAC, where music is compressed (with or without making certain compromises), so that it takes up less space.

DSD stands for Direct Stream Digital, whereas PCM stands for Pulse Code Modulation. The idea behind both technologies is the same: to digitize analog audio signals as precisely as possible. In order to do so, the signal is “sampled,” that is, transformed into 0’s and 1’s, creating a digital file that can be manipulated, recorded, and distributed in different ways.

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