Recommended usage of 
DSDIFF version 1.5  
 
Version 1  
 
Philips 
Intellectual Property 
& Standards  
 
 Recommended usage of DSDIFF version 1.5 
 
 
 
Recommended usage of DSDIFF version 1.5 
1 
2004-04-27 
 
Title: 
Version: 
Date: 
 
 
 
 
 
DISCLAIMER 
Whereas Philips has taken care to ensure that the information contained in this document is 
accurate, this information is provided on an "as is" basis, without any warranty as to its 
completeness or accuracy.  Royal Philips Electronics shall not be liable in any manner 
whatsoever for any damages, including direct, indirect or consequential, resulting from the 
use of this document or reliance on the accuracy of its contents.  
Supply of this document does not confer any license under any intellectual property right of 
Royal Philips Electronics to use any of those rights in any apparatus, system or any 
components, subassemblies or software for such apparatus or system. 
 
 
For any further explanation of the contents of this document, or in case of any perceived inconsistency 
or ambiguity of interpretation, please consult: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
or send an E-mail to: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Philips Intellectual Property & Standards  
System Standards and Technology Optical Storage and DRM / Super Audio CD 
Building SFF-8 
P.O. Box  80002 
5600 JB Eindhoven 
The Netherlands 
Fax.: +31 40 27 34965 
info.superaudiocd@philips.com 
© Royal Philips Electronics N.V. 2002-2004 
 
All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without the written consent of the 
copyright owner. 
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Contents 
 
 
Contents 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
Introduction 
1.1  PURPOSE AND SCOPE 
1.2  DEFINITIONS, ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS 
1.3  REFERENCES 
1.4  DOCUMENT HISTORY  
The content creation process 
2.1  RECORDING 
2.2  EDITING – MIXING – SOUND MASTERING 
2.2.1  Channel configurations in Edited Masters 
2.2.2  The Marker offset field 
2.3  DST ENCODING 
2.3.1  Checking the DST encoding algorithm 
2.4  AUTHORING 
File system limitations 
3.1 
3.2  THE DIVISION METHOD 
INTRODUCTION 
INTRODUCTION 
Time File 
4.1 
4.2  EXTENSION OF A T IME F ILE 
4.3  REQUIRED CHUNKS IN A T IME F ILE 
4.4  RESTRICTIONS ON A TIME F ILE 
4.5 
IDENTIFICATION OF A TIME F ILE 
INTRODUCTION 
File History 
5.1 
5.2  FILE REVISION INFORMATION 
5.2.1  Edited Masters 
5.2.2  Time Files 
5.2.3  Relation between Edited Master and Time Files 
5.3  EXAMPLES OF USAGE OF  COMMENTS 
5 
5 
5 
6 
6 
7 
8 
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Appendix A : The CRC algorithm 
 
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Introduction 
 
1  Introduction 
 
1.1  PURPOSE AND SCOPE 
This document describes the typical usage of the DSDIFF file format, a standard file format 
for storing DSD material [DSDIFF]. The specification is system independent, so 
applications across various computer platforms can use DSDIFF files.  
In the specification of DSDIFF [DSDIFF] chunks are defined. Some of these chunks are 
optional. Within this document recommendations of how and when to use the various 
chunks are given.  
Furthermore guidelines are given of how to use DSDIFF in the Super Audio CD production 
chain. 
1.2  DEFINITIONS, ACRONYMS AND  ABBREVIATIONS  
CD 
CRC 
DSD 
DSDIFF  
DSD File 
DST 
DST File 
DST Frame 
EDL 
Fs 
GMT 
IFF 
PCM 
Silence Pattern 
Super Audio CD Frame 
Time File 
 
Compact Disc 
Cyclic Redundancy Check 
Direct Stream Digital 
Direct Stream Digital Interchange File Format 
DSDIFF file containing DSD audio 
Direct Stream Transfer  
Format for lossless encoded DSD audio 
DSDIFF file containing DST encoded audio 
1/75 second of DST encoded audio 
The time corresponds to the Super Audio CD Frame time 
Actual length in bytes is variable 
Edit Decision List 
Sampling frequency for CD, being  44100Hz 
Greenwich Mean Time 
Interchange File Format 
Pulse Code Modulation 
A digitally generated DSD pattern with the following 
properties: 
1/75 second of audio (is equal to CD frame length) 
At 64×fs a frame covers 37632 DSD samples per channel 
DSDIFF file containing marker information, without sound data 
• 
• 
all Channel Bytes have the same value 
each Channel Byte contains 4 bits equal to zero and 4 
bits equal to one 
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Introduction 
 
1.3  REFERENCES 
[DSDIFF] 
 
 
 
 
[ScarletBook] 
 
[SONYText]     The Specification of the STT File Format  
 
Sony – Super Audio CD Business Centre 
Direct Stream Digital Interchange File Format, 
Philips, 
Version 1.5 / April 2004 
Super Audio CD Standard (Part 2) 
Sony/Philips 
 
 
1.4  DOCUMENT HISTORY 
 
Date 
2002-08-05 
2002-08-09 
Version   Most important updates 
1.4/1 
1.4/2 
Initial document 
Added: 
•  Recommendation DST Sound Index Chunk (section 2.3) 
Changed: 
•  Recommendation EMID (section 2.2) 
2002-12-03 
1.4/3 
2003-01-23 
1.4/4 
2004-04-27 
1.5/1 
Added: 
Changed: 
•  Explanation about marker offset field (section 2.2.2) 
•  Time File Definition (chapter 4) 
•  Authoring Recommendation (section 2.4) 
• 
File Revision information (section 5.2) 
Changed: 
• 
Size of a division file (section 3.1) 
Added: 
•  Relation between Edited Masters and Time files 
•  Recommendations to use plain DSD in Edited Master 
(section 5.2.3) 
(section 2.4) 
Changed: 
Removed: 
•  Text changes in Naming Edited Masters and Time Files 
(section 5.2.1 and 5.2.2) 
•  Versions numbers of reference documents (section 1.3) 
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The content creation process 
 
 
2  The content creation process 
sound
Recording
Editing
Mixing
Sound Mastering
DSDIFF input
Encoding
Authoring
DSDIFF generation
Disc
Manufacturing
Super Audio CD
 
Figure 1: Schematic view of the disc content creation process 
The content creation process consists of various stages.  
In this document the following process steps for creating a Super Audio CD disc 
[ScarletBook] are distinguished: 
1)  Recording 
2)  Editing – Mixing - Sound Mastering 
3)  Encoding 
4)  Authoring 
5)  Disc Manufacturing 
 
According to [DSDIFF] not all chunks are required in a DSDIFF file. In this chapter 
additional information can be found on how to use the optional chunks within a particular 
stage of the content creation process. 
 
The output of authoring and the input and output of the disc manufacturing are not 
described in this document, because the DSDIFF format is not used in those steps. 
 
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The content creation process 
 
 
2.1 
 RECORDING 
Analogue live
A/D
Converter
DSD
Analogue tape
A/D
Converter
DSD
DSD recorder
DSD
DSD
Files
digital (PCM)
D/D
Converter
DSD
 
Figure 2: Schematic overview of a recorder set up with different sound sources. 
There are different kind of sound sources for recording DSD signals (see Figure 2).  To 
keep track of the used sound source the File History Sound Source Comment is defined. 
The following kinds of sound source types are defined within DSDIFF: 
•  DSD, sound data directly recorded in DSD during a live recording 
•  Analogue, sound data converted from an original recording on analogue tape 
•  PCM, sound data converted from an original recording in the PCM domain 
 
Recommended information in a DSD file after recording: 
•  Absolute Start time 
The start time of recording within the time line 
•  Channel ID's according to the loudspeaker set-up 
If the recording is not made in such a way that it corresponds with a loudspeaker 
configuration defined in [DSDIFF] then the C001...C999 identifiers must be used; 
channel comments can be generated describing the channel contents (e.g. guitar, …) 
•  Comment – General Remark  
Description of the recording 
•  Comment – Operator 
The name or User Identification of the recording engineer 
•  Comment - Sound Source [DSD, Analogue, PCM]  
•  Comment - Creating machine  
The name and version of the recorder application 
2.2  EDITING – MIXING – SOUND MASTERING  
The Editing, Mixing and Sound Mastering processes are closely related to each other.  The 
different steps are not chronological, the order of these phases is an artistic decision. 
Furthermore the tools to perform these phases can be incorporated in one machine. 
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