PS Audio DirectStream DAC

Hello all I just upgraded my Pwd mkii and it sounds really good. It is as good as the hype . I listened to dsd and PCM it does sound very relaxing. Now the. Use I played was simple easy music l nothing complex . Opus 3 no 3 , Elvis 57 , but a vista social club , Beatles , billy Joel.
It all sounds like dsd . I have alam
i level 7 coming to compare and I have a MSB stack . As I do expect it to out do my msb or lampi , but just by what I hear it was very worth the upgrade . I was playing with a intel I7 CPU win7 and USB on mother board. Nothing special except for the sound . I warmed it up for three hours before I played it .
al
 
The msb is at my office , and the direct stream is at my home in NYC. I would bring it there in the morning but it's Mother's Day. And that would not be good for me hahaha. Bit it will be there on Monday. I can say after about 10 hours of listening and about 24 burn in it has something close to a MSB sound quality . It separates everything very well and it's has the relaxing sound to it. So it is much better than the Pwd . This is away above that. It does PCM very well . Now will,it do PCM like a MSB does not sure as yet. But it is way above the previous dac from ps audio.
Al
 
I continue to hear great music from the Direct Stream DAC, as it breaks in further. It is very smooth and controlled, and still has superb detail. I think it is better than the Auralic Vega and Exasound e28 by a fair margin. But it is TWICE the price. To me, it is worth the price difference. It is a closer call compared to the Meitner MA-1. These two are completely different sounding DACs. If your system is butter smooth and warm already.......the Meitner would be a better match IMO. If your system is hyper detailed or more neutral, then I think the Direct Stream would be the better fit. If you are looking for middle of the road, the Auralic and Exasound units are definitely giant killers for the price. I will be putting my money where my mouth is, and keeping the Direct Stream. The Auralic, Exasound, and Meitner are FOR SALE.
I really notice the difference with redbook CDs. The Direct Stream really makes them shine. Not quite DSD sound......but close. If you are going to play Hi-Rez/DSD music mostly.......then you could probably save yourself some money and stick with the Auralic or Exasound units. THEY ARE EXCELLENT, and near equal to the Direct Stream. I attempted to get together with Mike this weekend, so he could get an ear on the Direct Stream. But his schedule was full. Maybe this coming week will be better ?? Questions anybody ??

Jerry-
 
Good to see DAC technology continues to evolve. I will keep my Auralic Vega for a few more years, and then get something even better. Hopefully for a few dollars less :)
 
I've tried a lot of DACs lately, and the Auralic is a standout...........especially at its price point. Plus, they just introduced the Lightening Aries USB Audio Streamer that can even stream DSD !! And I believe it will be pretty inexpensive. Massive bang for the buck from this company. If they ever enter the mid-priced DAC market ($5,000+), they could probably bury the market.

Jerry-
 
ozzy said:
Has anyone tried the Direct Stream directly to an Amp?
Click to expand...

I tried direct. I still preferred using my preamp. I am getting the best SQ through my Classe SSP 800 processor/Bryston amps so far. This DAC gets along very well with solid state. Even more so than my VAC gear.....which is very unusual. Next, I will pair up the Classe preamp with the VAC 200 amp. But the Direct Stream has the best SQ I have ever ran across, when going direct to an amp. And I have tried many DACs.

Jerry-
 
Jerry,
Thanks so much for the info.
I have a Pass Labs X-10 preamp and a Pass Labs X-350.5 Amp. Both sound great together, but it sure would be nice to be able to sell the preamp to help pay for the Direct Stream and use it direct to my Amp.
 
I am taking the Direct Stream to Mike's later this evening for a demo on his system. So everyone can look forward to another review, from a totally different set-up. Mike definitely has some nice gear on hand. So it will be interesting to see if improvements will be noted ?? So stay tuned for his comments soon.

Jerry-
 
I do not remember if it is analog or digital based. They talk about all those type specs on their website forums. The volume control is VERY good, but my Classe pre adds a bit more quality overall. So I would agree with keeping a preamp in the system. Most would be happy going direct, if they did not A/B their system with a pre. I could easily live with the quality of the volume control it has to offer, if I were scaling my system back.

Jerry-
 
I would suggest that when your DS has 400+ hours of play you try going direct to amp again for a follow up evaluation vs preamp to amp. The transformers in the DS seem to need several hundred hours on them just like some preamps do to sound their best.

By the way do you know how many hours your DS has on it yet?
 
Jerry brought over his DirectStream DAC tonight and we had a good listen and shootout vs the Lumin. Running the same power cord and the same XLR connections. The Lumin uses cat5 and the DirectStream uses USB.

The DirectStream is a good looking DAC with a very nice screen. We connected it to my MacBook Pro running JRiver 19 for Mac. We played Redbook, high res and DSD. The DirectStream is one smooth sounding DAC. A lot of DAC's have that digital edge, that digital hash in the upper register. Not so with the DirectStream. The upper frequencies seemed slightly more rolled off than the Lumin....which, by all accounts, is a very smooth, analog sounding streamer.

In terms of bass, the DirectStream bass was faster than the Lumin, tighter and better defined.

In terms of soundstage, the Lumin had a bigger, wider soundstage....but it was close.

At the end of the day, the DirectStream, like all DAC's, is very system dependent. If you are looking for a smooth operator, the DirectStream is it. If you are looking for hyper detail and upper frequency extension, you may want to check out the Meitner. For me, I'll take the DirectStream over the Meitner all day long.

It looks like Paul and the PS Audio team have hit it out of the park with this one - especially at $5995. Definitely check it out.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
hifial said:
I would suggest that when your DS has 400+ hours of play you try going direct to amp again for a follow up evaluation vs preamp to amp. The transformers in the DS seem to need several hundred hours on them just like some preamps do to sound their best.

By the way do you know how many hours your DS has on it yet?
Click to expand...

I most certainly plan on running direct again after more hours have been logged on the Direct Stream. I would guesstimate close to 200 hours are on the unit. I have not noticed too much change during the break-in so far. It opened up the first evening quite nicely. After that, I started trying different combinations of equipment, until I settled upon a great chemistry. So I may have missed on-going improvements in the first couple of days, due to system changes.
I had a great time at Mike's this evening. It was a real treat to demo on such great gear. I thought his Lumin held up very well against the PS Audio. They both had strengths in different areas. I particularly like vocal separation, and a tad tighter bass on the PS Audio. The Lumin has a superior frequency response in the 2K to 5K region.....a real nice pop/snap to leading edges on vocals and drum hits. A real toss-up as far as I'm concerned. I will report back in the next few weeks, as I log more time.


Thanks..........Jerry-
 
When I had a PWD MKII, I heard no noticeable improvements after ~50 hours. Bridge hardwired to the router offers the best performance over other digital inputs even though it's BUGGY. Also replacing the stock fuses with HiFi Tuning Supremes improved performance.
 
I had a few inquiries about the DAC's I would be selling. Unfortunately I traded all of them towards a set of NOS MBL 101e's today. Sorry about that. I really need to move equipment, as I get more. The Direct Stream is now my only DAC in-house. I like it that much. The volume control is sounding better as time goes on. Maybe I will eventually be able to bypass the preamp one day ?? I keep trying different interconnect combos, searching for more audio bliss.

Jerry-
 
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