New PS Audio Directstream DAC

NewAudio

New Member
Feb 12, 2014
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I just received my PS Audio Directstream DAC today and will connect it up tonight. I also have the P5 Power Plant which at first blush made a measurable difference in quality of the music and lower noise (with previous setup). I will do some blind tests with the DAC with some friends from work and this should be interesting. Blind tests will compare with built in DAC in the $100 PURE iPod dock so should be an obvious difference.

Brian
 

bmoura

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
417
3
248
If you use windows 7 or above get fidilizer. It helps. But the windows server 2012 is the way to go. If you use offramp you need a USB output. . It then converts to various outputs for your dac.

Al

Using Fidelizer depends on the DAC being used. I get better results with the exaSound e28 DAC by removing Fidelizer and just using Windows 8.1 and the exaSound ASIO driver!
 
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dallasjustice

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Apr 12, 2011
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BSaudio took it on the chin in Stereophile. Rolled off LF ("poor linearity at low frequencies") and 17 bits of resolution.
 

Alrainbow

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Dec 11, 2013
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You know I own one and others and yes some others I own are better. But I never understood why quote facts based on specs you cannot hear . It's really a joke to me. And please do not think I am offended I am not. But this type of review is why I read reviews. But will not buy a product based on one. Between the bull they spew and being paid to be nice or whatever and add to the fact there type of flavor the review s. Just seem to matter a lot less.
Al
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
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You know I own one and others and yes some others I own are better. But I never understood why quote facts based on specs you cannot hear . It's really a joke to me. And please do not think I am offended I am not. But this type of review is why I read reviews. But will not buy a product based on one. Between the bull they spew and being paid to be nice or whatever and add to the fact there type of flavor the review s. Just seem to matter a lot less.
Al

what will be interesting will be to see how many monobrows who have never heard and have no intention of hearing this machine jump on the specs and have a 200-300 post spec party.

don't take any of their delight personally......they cannot help themselves.:D
 

dallasjustice

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Apr 12, 2011
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If your system is otherwise flat to 20hz-30hz, you WOULD hear the rolled off bass. It's ugly.

I agree that resolution is overrated. Most rooms can't do better than 90db of DR so I put less stock into that.

You know I own one and others and yes some others I own are better. But I never understood why quote facts based on specs you cannot hear . It's really a joke to me. And please do not think I am offended I am not. But this type of review is why I read reviews. But will not buy a product based on one. Between the bull they spew and being paid to be nice or whatever and add to the fact there type of flavor the review s. Just seem to matter a lot less.
Al
 

Alrainbow

Well-Known Member
Dec 11, 2013
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I understand what your saying if it is extreme then your correct but since we both have room correction who actually knows what's going on anyway.
It's still specs that seem to rule some . I can clearly hear the noise floor of the DS espically with my caps win2012 . The setup reviles anything there is . But still specs are not feh be all end all .
Al
 

jap

Banned
Apr 6, 2012
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BSaudio took it on the chin in Stereophile. Rolled off LF ("poor linearity at low frequencies") and 17 bits of resolution.

Where can I see measurements of your current DAC?

BTW, here's a quote from Steve Hoffman about the DS:

"Best spacial cues and ease of presentation, ambient retrieval, etc. All the things that are so important to me are here. Once you hear 16 bit like this, it's hard to go back to a 2D presentation."
 

dallasjustice

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Apr 12, 2011
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I understand what your saying if it is extreme then your correct but since we both have room correction who actually knows what's going on anyway.
It's still specs that seem to rule some . I can clearly hear the noise floor of the DS espically with my caps win2012 . The setup reviles anything there is . But still specs are not feh be all end all .
Al

I totally agree about room correction. It can compensate for hardware non-linearity for sure. If you use something like DIRAC or Acourate, it wouldn't matter at all.

The HF IMD looks really nice.

Btw, I didn't know you own the DAC. I wasn't attacking a person, just a piece of electronics.

I like how they responded in the manufacturer's response. They basically stuck to script and didn't respond to JA's concerns over the measurements. I would have done the same thing, if I was defending that case. :)
 

dallasjustice

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Apr 12, 2011
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I never said it did. You must have me confused with someone else. I don't sell DACs. I buy them or don't buy them. Okay?


First, my usernane is jap.

If measurements of your current DAC aren't available anywhere on the web, how do you know
it measures any better than the DS?
 

edorr

WBF Founding Member
May 10, 2010
3,139
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Smyrna, GA
I am usually a huge sceptic of people reporting dramatic changes (improvements) after making a small change or tweak (fuses, firmware, vibration control, etc.), but today I am here to report that the new firmware (1.2.3) of the PS Audio directstream to me transforms is to a different caliber DAC (next model up in the lineup at twice the price in traditional product lines). How it stacks up now against the big boys (to me it was pretty close to my MSB Signature when it just came out - working from faint memory, I would have to say/infere it is better now). The PS Audio team has really worked some magic with this new firmware.....
 

Mike Lavigne

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 25, 2010
12,467
11,363
4,410
I am usually a huge sceptic of people reporting dramatic changes (improvements) after making a small change or tweak (fuses, firmware, vibration control, etc.), but today I am here to report that the new firmware (1.2.3) of the PS Audio directstream to me transforms is to a different caliber DAC (next model up in the lineup at twice the price in traditional product lines). How it stacks up now against the big boys (to me it was pretty close to my MSB Signature when it just came out - working from faint memory, I would have to say/infere it is better now). The PS Audio team has really worked some magic with this new firmware.....

great to hear.

Ted Smith (the designer of this dac) and his wife visited me on Saturday for a great, fun, listening session. it was all vinyl and RTR tape that we listened to.

I had heard various versions of this dac over the 7 year period that he spent designing it as he would bring it over to compare it directly with the Playback Designs and to hear how it sounded in my system. the most recent version of this dac that I heard was just before it was introduced and at that point it was not quite the final production version. Ted said Saturday that I need to hear it with the new software. I'm sure it sounds very good. I'm very happy for my friend Ted and the success of this product after all his work on it.
 

edorr

WBF Founding Member
May 10, 2010
3,139
14
36
Smyrna, GA
great to hear.

Ted Smith (the designer of this dac) and his wife visited me on Saturday for a great, fun, listening session. it was all vinyl and RTR tape that we listened to.

I had heard various versions of this dac over the 7 year period that he spent designing it as he would bring it over to compare it directly with the Playback Designs and to hear how it sounded in my system. the most recent version of this dac that I heard was just before it was introduced and at that point it was not quite the final production version. Ted said Saturday that I need to hear it with the new software. I'm sure it sounds very good. I'm very happy for my friend Ted and the success of this product after all his work on it.

That would be an interesting shootout. Both the PD and DS are based on similar design principles if I understand correctly. I suspect the new firmware takes it easily into 5 figure top dog territory. From what I recall, it runs circles around the EMM Labs DAC2X (I owned one). I am personally most interested in a comparison against the Berkeley Reference.
 

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