Yeah, I was reading that. With my luck, it's a new P10 that's half the price and twice the features. LOL

Since the P3 and Power Base are on sale, I'm thinking it's something power related.

I'm thinking this might be a new PerfectWave DAC MK III with DSD capabilities that can stream over a network.  In an email exchange with them a year or so ago they said that one was in the works.

Today I listened to DSD files playing through the AURALiC VEGA DAC and it is the best digital I've heard to date.

Of course they were hooked up to a pair of Rogue Audio Apollo Mono Blocks, Vandersteen 5aCarbon Speakers, Shunyata Triton/Typhon Power Distributor and all cables were Shunyata's garden hose sized ΞTRON cables.

Me and my son were drooling for a half hour or so, but when we got home and played our new records through our little Decware, Omega and Rega kit (at a fraction of the cost) we were almost there.

My point is that the DSD itself was awesome ... I really liked that DAC A LOT!  And other than the PWD MK II it's the first DAC (that I've heard) that I liked better than the Rega DAC I have (there's something about that little Rega DAC that's very musical to me, but I can see DSD in my future ... I'm hoping this format catches on more predominantly).

I don't think it's a new PWD. I think it may be the Digital Lens finally. We'll see.

No wait a minute, that should be cheaper than a P10.

Don't know. Almost afraid to find out.

Well, Paul has been talking about the digital lens for a while...judging from what you just said, Lon, I guess they never had it out, or incorporated into any gear?

From what Paul's said in his little blog, he made it sound like the gear has had this feature for years, or maybe *could have* had it.

Regardless, I don't think you could do the lens by itself, it sounded like the lens was *part* of the DAC, the final step before it goes analog in fact.

That said, Paul mentioned that if listening to different sources sounded *different* (same source media, just different "source"), then maybe he'd have to investigate further, and he might have to delay the release of the new product - or at least hinted at that. If the digital lens were working perfectly, the media file from USB, HDMI, NAS, whatever, should all sound exactly the same - but it's not.

Jeff, I believe you are right: it's probably that N-Core amp he was working on. Not sure that is going to set the world on fire.

Eric, yeah the Digital Lens used to be a separate component put out by. . .Genesis Technology.

http://www.stereophile.com/digitalprocessors/824/

Paul was involved in that. It could easily be put out as a standalone product and he has said that he intends to but it hasn't. Instead it was incorporated into the PerfectWave Transport and then into the Mark II version of the PerfectWave DAC--just the jitter elimination aspect, not the "resolution enhancement" function. It makes a noticeable difference and is a big reason why I bought the PWT and PWD combo and then upgraded to the Mark II version (and then bought another Duo for my second system. It's not going to make "all formats sound the same" but it does reduce jitter tremendously and does make digital sound wonderful.

When the Genesis Technology items come up for sale they disappear in a heartbeat. One of the Decware forum demigods Randy in Caintuck used one forever and a day and probably still does, probably will have to pry it from his cold dead hands. I don't need one as I have the Duo, but a stand-alone Lens would be an excellent prodcut to come out with for PS Audio.

Yeah, he said the Preamp portion was ready, but the Class-D amp portion was not sounding good.

I can't imagine the amp being that revolutionary...unless maybe it has a digital lens built in. LOL

Slightly more insight on the new PS Audio product launch.  A product that will help us get more out of those shiny discs...

http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/buried-treasure/13362/

LOL, you guys beat me to it, I was just about to post this as well:



"We’ve spent the last 100 years of vinyl reproduction perfecting the art of pulling music out of those grooves.  We’re getting pretty good at it.

After 30 years of trying to do the same from the shiny silver discs, we’re getting better.

But there’s a lot of music buried in those little silver discs you’ve not yet heard.

You have a library full of buried treasure.

And soon you’ll have a treasure map that will unlock those secrets.

I am guessing right around March 1."

Yeah, if that "more than the P10" thing is to be believed...ouch that hurts.


I'd really like to see what they next step is. Maybe CD Transport/DAC/Digital Lens in one - if it was a universal Disc player like my Oppo, I'd seriously consider it!

Quote:


Yes, a Universal Disc Player/DAC/Digital Lens all in one would certainly be a great product.  I just couldn't see paying $5000 for a CD player this day and age, or a company putting that much effort for a stand alone CD player since the sales of CD's have steadily declined since late 2000.

Although I know there are probably a lot of guys that still use CD's, but I'm not one of them.  Besides about 50 CD's, I'm all about vinyl and hi-res digital downloads ... I just skipped over the CD phase altogether.

What sounds interesting and coming up is the HDMI DACs that are able to de-embed the uncompressed LPCM 24.96K as 2.0, 5.1, or 7.1 soundtracks, ‘derived’ from the DTS MasterHD soundtrack but not requiring DTS decoding (which is essentially hi-res PCM).  DACs like the HDACC HDMI/USB DAC can do this, as well as the Oppo with some tweaking in the settings.

There is going to be support for this through Universal and a lot of titles are on the way.

Hopefully PS Audio is on this bandwagon!

Agree ... for those who don't know ... Universal is going to be releasing a lot of titles:

From Universal:

Blu-ray Pure Audio Discs: No Compression, No Compromise.  Blu-ray Pure Audio Discs Offer True High-Resolution 24-bit/96kHz Audiophile Sound.

Universal Music Group has gone back to the original master tapes to deliver fully uncompressed, high-resolution versions of many of your favorite albums on Blu-ray Pure Audio Disc. Mastered at 24bit/96kHz, Blu-ray Pure Audio Discs deliver the sound the artists originally heard in the studio when these classic albums were recorded. These discs provide all the recorded musical information. While convenient due to their small file size, today’s heavily compressed music files do not represent the true fidelity of the original album.


•     Recordings are transferred from the original master tapes and delivered in high-resolution 24-bit/96kHz audio

•     No compression is utilized, and the sound quality is vastly superior to MP3 or standard CD

•     Three separate choices of audio file format for playback: PCM 2.0, Dolby True HD, or DTS-HD Master Audio (5.1 available where noted)

•     Your preferred audio format is chosen either by pressing the "Audio" button on your Blu-ray remote or via your onscreen menu display

Blu-ray Pure Audio Discs:

Audio is taken from the original master tapes and mastered in 24-bit/96kHz resolution with a choice of three sound formats: PCM, Dolby True HD, or DTS-HD Master Audio. You can finally enjoy the music in the fidelity originally experienced in the studio.  

I'm looking forward to grabbing some of these titles.  John Darko of Digital Audio Review reviewed Essence's HDMI DAC you can read it here: http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2014/02/blu-ray-audio-with-the-essence-hdacc-p...

Quote:


Hi Lon, what are using to decode them?  Its my understanding that not every Blu-Ray can play these (although I could be wrong on that).

Had a brief discussion with a friend regarding the PS Audio announcement and we think it could be the PS Audio PerfectWave Master Clock.

-Master Clocks exist as a product category (typically with very high end digital front ends or studio equipment (e.g. Apogee Big Ben)
-The clock would be a PW line extension and wouldn’t replace either the PW Transport or DAC.
-Previous claims made about master clocks include improved imaging, better resolution of detail and music with more control, authority and power
-There has been a lot of discussion about timing and jitter on the PS Audio forums that could indicate a new device that offers significant improvement in this area

Quote:


Yes you're right there ... any Blu-Ray player can play them, but only players with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio can decode the true hi-res Master Tape Soundtracks buried within the disc.  I'm not sure if these are standard formats on most players at this point in time or not.

But I wholly agree about the Mastering making all the difference though.

beowulf wrote on 02/26/14 at 01:42:35:


But they all have an uncompressed PCM track that all players should be able to decode. And very few of these have 5.1 tracks, and not any I would buy, and I don't do 5.1 anyway.

Hmmm. . .now Paul is saying three grand to upgrade from PWD. That's a lot. I'll probably be sticking with what I have, I am very happy with the sound.

No, there's a thread on the PS Audio forum. I don't frequent that place much, but with this "news" forhtcoming I looked around. The cat is now out of the bag so he's talking about it.

Thread before the news was "leaked":

http://www.psaudio.com/vanilla/discussion/6467/buried-treasure#Item_22

Thread once the news was out:

http://www.psaudio.com/vanilla/discussion/6474/directstream#Item_11

I like that "for now."

Yeah, I really don't have much interest in DSD as in files, but I can see how this MAY be a nice step forward in sonics for my disc sources (love my PWT). As you say, it might come down, there may be specials etc. We'll see, and we'll see reviews, and I agree, more used PWD IIs.

I don't think I am going to be an early adopter on this one.  I also find it hard to believe that this will replace the PW DAC in the product line but maybe I am wrong.  The NuWave DAC is at the $1000 price point and the DSD DAC jumps to $6000.  I think a price drop on the PW DAC might make sense.  1000, 3,500, 6000 to have a nice 3 product good , better, best lineup.

Part 2 of the video is out - this sounds very interesting - it really sounds like they nit-picked this as best as they can, to make it the best it can be.

I'm interested now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv1XWedFgDY&feature=youtu.be

Paul just uploaded this video a few minutes ago -

http://youtu.be/BCCh2j6trJk

Just imagine if you invested $6k into your listening room.

  Wow big bucks! $6,000 reasons to buy more vinyl certainly a thought here.                              
                         
               

The current PSA PerfectWave DAC sounds so wonderful and musical feeding Decware direct that I can't imagine what the DirectStream will sound like.  Lets just say I wait in great anticipation for the community reviews to start trickling in.  Most of my music is Redbook CD, and the thought of getting more information from this format is certainly appealing.

That kind of cash does buy a lot of Vinyl Digger - agreed.

I just researched the Sony HAP Beowulf. Man Sony pisses me off. I have to with my extensive CD collection, one would need to rip CDs to my computer and then transfer the files via ethernet to the HAP-Z1ES.

Not the end of the world to do this. However, really Sony, no S/PDIF input? ....as used with the PS Direct Stream Digital.

Anyway, getting more from our PCM CD's is awesome and appealing as you stated Lon & Dave. I think I will wait until this time next year instead of this fall purchase. I want to see what more of the competiton will do. Furthermore, PS Audio and their Firmware updates (might not apply to this new DSDAC)....drive me crazy.  

All in all, very exciting. I would buy the Sony HAP right now....for 2K if it could accept S/PDIF.....Sony you bums.   -S

....I'm researching the  AURALiC Vega right now.... .

Quote:


Hi Stone, yes I agree if you are not ripped this would be a big pain in the a$$ however I like the fact that Sony is on board with DSD and after some previewers already mentioning that SPDIF is nowhere in sight perhaps Sony may come out with another more thought out component for others.

Quote:


This one peaked my interest as well, I would love to hear more if you decide to check one out!

I think Ted addresses this LR in his 36 minute presentation.

Bottom Line currently: What's available in Hi-Rez is didly squat. What is important is using Balanced or Unbalanced inputs and outputs to get PCM processed to rival Hi-Rez....SACD et all... .

Why is this important?  For those of us that have extensive PCM Audio collections that is why! ....that is why Hi-Rez means squat to me. I am NOT Paying TWICE for my MUSIC Collection and I use a AUDIO ALCHEMY DTI-PRO32 to wring the most out of PCM. Only, when the CD is no longer manufactured/obsolete....then I will....obviously, with one these Processors download/purchase ~NEW ~ Music.
....AND WHY AURALIC, SONY & PS AUDIO ARE MAKING SURE PCM IS BEING COVERED and turned into something special through these processors.  Albeit, the Sony from hard drive files. Sony might add Balanced and/or Unbalanced inputs for PCM later on another Processor like Beowulf eluded to in his last post.

Auralic and PS Audio "get it"....PCM needs to still come from my Transport for convenience!

Anyway, John Atkinson & Chris Martins.....you know are waiting to get their hands on the PS Audio DSD to compare to the Auralic (Reviews they just did)!

http://www.stereophile.com/content/auralic-vega-da-processor
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/auralic-vega-digital-audio-processor-1/...

.....then of course, if the Auralic Vega is compared favorably to the 6K PS Audio...the Auralic will jump from 3499.95 TO 4695.00. I think I will get the Vega now! Plus, the Auralic has a preamp with a 100 step attenuator (digital domain yes...you just use it at its upper limits)...that added value will put it at 4695.00 soon. -S

Nope, I just watched Ted's presentation for the 2nd time = I want one.
Be sure to Listen to Gus....he follows Ted Smith.

Worth your time......Scroll down to Ted.
http://www.psaudio.com/products/audio/media-players/perfectwave-directstream-dac...

Quote:


SPDIF TOSlink can only do 96, but SPDIF Coax can do 24/192.  USB has quickly surpassed both of them at 384kHz.  With the gains USB is making in both bandwidth and aftermarket  jitter reduction technologies it has quickly become one of the better ports for audio reproduction.

I hear you Lar. I just finished listening to the Blu-Spec 2 cd version of Charles Mingus "Mingus Ah Um" and I have never heard it like that, just amazing sound that took me deep into an album that I have heard since the early 'eighties. It doesn't at this time have to be better than this!

We get moving so fast we forget to smell the roses at times!

I'm in the same boat; I'm going to enjoy what I have.

I wouldn't mind a demo of the new PS Audio device *with my gear* to see what all the fuss it about...but I'm afraid what that might do.

Thanks for the clarification on the Toslink and Coax - I just assume Toslink when we're talking SPDIF as usually it's (correctly or not) usually stated as SPDIF or Coax or Toslink or Coax (which is more clear)

Yeah, I can't damage the credit cards with a wedding coming up next year...I'm in a circling pattern. Unless I donate a kidney or something.

From Paul's latest blog.

Parenting
The first 10 DirectStream DACs are finished and ready for me to listen to in Music Room One.  The first of the 10 sailed through test and is on its way to our Community Forums leader, Gordon, because he is not only one of the best listeners I know but he tells it like it is – even if IT isn’t good.

In Music Room One that first DAC sounded nearly identical to the reference; a reference I have vetted over the months and have every confidence in.  But how will it sound at someone else’s home and system?  It’s always at this point I get nervous.  When the first new product goes out into the world, untethered from its parent and asked to fly on its own, is the scariest moment for the team that designed it, cared for it, nurtured it and taught it what it needs to know to succeed.  Sounds a lot like parenting.  Probably just as scary.

It’s odd.  On the one hand you have complete confidence in something.  On the other, you’re scared you missed something.

This cycle of birth and release from under the wing to fly on its own has been a process that’s been going on since time immemorial.

It probably never gets easy.  Fly little bird!

Gordon 7:26AM
Posts: 5,761PS Expert
Well, here we go with first LISTENING impressions.

The DirectStream DAC has been playing and burning in on the Bridge input for a bit over 24 hours. It is cool that I just touch a button and get a drop in gain in case anyone wants to sleep through the night while the music continues to play. I mentioned earlier, there are some thoughtful and welcome changes to the front panel that feel, well, just more 21st century than the old one.

My Set up for Perspective.
Mac Mini running JRMC with cat-6 ethernet connected to the DS/Bridge.
Single ended rca from DS to First Sound tube pre-amp and single ended to Jeff Rowland MC-6 amp running in “high current” mode and connected with Shunyata “Lyra” speaker cables to a pair of healthy, but vintage, Wilson Watt3/Puppy2 speakers.

The general signature of my system is pretty neutral. The Wilsons, in some set ups, can tend to be a bit analytical.
A few years ago I swapped out the Puppy drivers for the ones that are supplied in the newer 7 and 8 series. They are not necessarily “warmer” but just a bit “fuller”.
This and the tube pre-amp into the Rowland SS amp has pretty much provided me with a system that just plays what is there and you either love it or you don’t.

Oh, “and just one more thing”.

My honey came home last evening from a few days trip and a neighbor’s wife popped in to say hi for a few minutes.
Music was playing pretty loud and I was sitting with a note pad throwing some words on it when she asked “what are you doing, now”?

Well, “see that silver box over there”? I am listening to it.
The look on her face was a classic. Somewhere between a stern policewoman and a compassionate psyche ward nurse.
“OKaaaaa” she said, walking away.

It dawned on me that what I had said could sound pretty ridiculous to many people and give the impression that “Audiophileism” does strange things to grown men over time.

My list of things to check like stage, timbre, tone, articulation, energy, presence, emotion, yada yada yada can be summed up in ONE word.

YES!

Perhaps you were awaiting some thesis on the DS that would be “over the top” positive to justify that you have a DS or kit on order and whether you can afford it or not.
I had many PMs begging for a comparison to my PWD , which , by the way is just another little box but happens to be black.
So one box to another? really?

The PWD, as most of us know, rings all the bells in the above buzz words and rings then loud and clear. The subjectivity is in the degree for each descriptive and can vary depending on the equipment used and the ears of the listener.

The PWD is GOLD.
The DirectStream DAC is PLATINUM+.

It does EVERYTHING the PWD does, it just does them all better.

Timbre, for example was remarkable with PWD MKII and nativeX. The separation of attack, tone and decay were well discussed here after the MKII upgrade.
The already VG sound stage is even better now .
What does better mean? Wider, higher, deeper? NO. “MORE REAL”.

So I am going to let the review experts delve more deeply into the “fine details” and I’ll try to sum up the bottom line for this new DAC.

From the first few minutes of listening I felt that something was very different.
I took out my buzz word list so I could start dissecting the “what is different” and of course “was it a better, different?”
I kept getting distracted from my list. Yes, by the MUSIC.
My body was toe-tapping, my shoulders moving, WTF.?

The difference, with this DAC is that it SOUNDS RIGHT!

The timing is spot on. The instruments sound REAL for the first time.
Not Analog real, or Organic real etc, JUST real like it is somehow supposed to be in nature. Like “you are there”? You be the judge of that. I think we have never been closer.

So far I have limited my listening to red book to see if what Ted and Paul were saying held true for me.
Yes, it does seem like some instruments have more presence and they have this without becoming more forward. Tabla and high hats etc are now more part of the performance.
Is this because of “more info” on the CD? I am not sure and quite frankly, I don’t care.
It is just there and if I were to rate this baby compared to PWD then it would be a 10-15% improvement on all the buzz words but a whole new experience in the “realness” of what this “BOX” delivers.

I hope to listen to some hi-rez and DSD files today. I am not so sure that I will be posting whether flac-192 sounds better than DSD64 yada yada,.
It really doesn’t matter.
What you put in to this baby is what you get out. If the red book is well produced it will be really yummy. If not, you will just not play it as often.
"REAL" is what I think I have been striving for all these years.
And, "REAL" it is!
To quote a fellow Canadian starship commander "ENGAGE".

One thing you WILL do is Listen to Music, and YES, tap your toes.
- See more at: http://www.psaudio.com/vanilla/discussion/6605/directstream-dac-first-impression...


------------------------------------------------------------------


tedsmith 4:03PM
Posts: 173Member, PS Expert
My design goal was to get people's feet to tap. I'd witnessed for years that when I heard jitter people were a little more on edge. When I didn't hear jitter their feet tapped. I only make changes to my system that cause me to tap my feet more. If I tap less (or worse listen less) I know I've gone too far or just screwed up. When I have people over to listen or I take my DAC to other places I don't care what they say, I watch their feet.

Most people won't worry about how it compares to a PWD after they hear it. They enjoy the DS more and see no reason to care about how or why it's different.

P.S. I consulted on the MkII, or more properly we all had a brainstorming session and I suggested a list of possible ways to lower jitter (get people's feet to tap more). They chose from that list a subset that they thought were interesting/possible/practical/whatever and not a little of the MkII difference from the original PWD comes from the same point of view as the DS.
- See more at: http://www.psaudio.com/vanilla/discussion/6605/directstream-dac-first-impression...

Yeah, but I'm really looking forward to hearing what he says about 24/96, as that's what I've been leaning towards lately.

And I'm also curious/concerned with ripped files. I have my whole CD collection ripped to FLAC, and I'm wondering if rips sounds any different (better/worse) than the original CD. I'm guessing it probably wouldn't matter, but I'm curious.

I can absolutely hear a difference between the original CD and my ripped FLAC, the FLAC files off local hard drive sound *better* than the original CD - I figure it's jitter related - and Oppo agrees. Though the number crunchers and math-musicians say it's impossible for me to hear a difference, that on paper it's all the same or below the humans ability to hear jitter.  Ted Smith seems to agree with me, as does Oppo.

I find the PWT and PWD together improves the sound of Redbook. The material goes through two digital lenses, really cool results. (Stone, you didn't put enough hours on that pair to really hear what it can do). I like Hi-res but really well reproduced Redbook is awesome enough, and I have over 15,000 cds now. Gulp.

Gordon's reports sound great. I'll probably convert one of my PWD Mk IIs into a DirectStream in time, but I'm not going to be an early adopter. (Nor will I be a Decware early adopter again).

Stone, it took in excess fo 500 hours before I experienced what I have now experienced with each of my PWT and PWD combos. They just don't happen til then and longer. I still say you didn't get to hear what they do.

I heard AA gear in the early nineties, and read all about them in the mags I used to read at the time. It was nice and I didn't listen much to be honest and not in my system. There have been a lot of advances since then. I'm sure your front end is great. . . but you said you couldn't stand the tame top end of the PWD and if that is so I would need ear plugs to listen to yours. YIKES!

Okay, we'll agree to disagree on this one. I'm glad I have what I have and not what you have and vice versa. Because I don't need all that high end.

The Duos have changed a LOT between 100 and 500 hours for me, and even more after about 2000. And clearly have been better than anything else I've heard in my home. Sometimes you need to go the distance. Sorry, it's not emperor's new clothes.

Good points gentlemen all in all.

I am seriously following the PS Thread on this DAC over on their Forum.

Hey Digger,

Are you asking what are my favorite cds and lps or what are the ones I think sound best or really good?

I expect most recordings I like to not really sound that great. And I don't seek out recordings just because they sound good. My struggle has been to find a system that helps all my recordings to sound better. So extreme detail and extreme fidelity to the recording are often my enemies. The Torii Mk III and its amazing flexibility and the PS Audio PWD Mk II are key components in that regard because they bring the best out of ordinary recordings.

My "favorites" are always changing. I would say look at the "What's Spinning" thread to see the music I am playing. I play stuff that I really like listening to.

As far as cds go I've been really fascinated by the difference that Blu-Spec and Blu-Spec 2 cd processes/materials make on playback. Shouldn't make any difference, especially in a player that uses a digital buffer to make "perfect" playback of cds, but it does make a difference (I have the same masrtering on earlier issues to compare with). I think they sound very very good. So I would say if you see an album you really like available on Blu-Spec or Blu-Spec 2 get it and experience it in this format (but don't hesitate much as they don't stay in print too long).

On vinyl. . . most of my vinyl is jazz. And I would say the ones I think sound really best and that I really like to listen to are on Columbia.

That's about right. To be honest, I look for the very best sound for Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix releases (these were the first musicians to really turn me on to music and remain a bedrock for me) and don't obsess about "the best possible sound" in general.

As far as "which is the better format, cd or vinyl" this is so apples and oranges to me that I won't say one is better than another. I will say that with the ZP3 and even a modest turntable you can get fantastic sound at what appears to me to be a lower, considerably lower, price point with vinyl compared to cd. But. . .I can't find even 10 percent of the music I want to hear on vinyl any longer. So cd is where I toss the most time and money.

To be honest, I think that SACD has the biggest sonic potential (not often realized) for digital. If there were more releases of music that I really really wanted to have I would invest as much as I could into the very best SACD player possible. I have a few very good ones. . . but my Redbook front end is better quality, and I have about 150 times more cds than SACDs.

I'm using VooDoo Evolution and Ultralinear interconnects. Ultralinear are no longer made, were the step up from Evolution, and I only have one pair, form CSP2+ (with beeswax caps) to the Mk III. I really like these cables a lot. Got a few used, one a special from VooDoo Cable itself, and a few from the Cable Company at a good price.

Here's the page for the Evolution:

http://www.voodoocable.net/VEVIC.html

Well, can't help you with the decision, I've no experience with the other cables. Very happy with the VooDoo that I have, I've stopped the "quest."

I used Steve's cables for years, quite happily. They're very good cables, and very good for the money. I found other cables better to my tastes and for my system, and paid more, considerably more. . . . A system can sound really nice with his cables.

Looks like Paul is finally considering tubes, though it doesn't sound like it's going to be an all tube amp, just the input section.

http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/i-never-thought-id-write-this/13733/#comment...

OMG, I almost got on there and suggested that if he really wants to make the best amplifier in the world he better man up the rest of the way and do a tube output stage as well.  Thank God I stopped myself.

After reading the comments about how horrible tubes are from those who've never heard one it would have been a real Decware Roast.

Steve

Quote:


LOL ... you should have heard Paul himself last year saying how bad tube amps were while he was trying to promote that Class D b.s. amp he was trying to come out with.  After the amp was done he took it to an amp shoot out and lost to a 10 year old tube amp ... you would think he would have learned his lesson and that point but then went back to try and re-design it again with the same results.

He's not breaking any new ground here Rogue Audio already has the Class D/Tube Hybrid Sphinx, so I think he wasting time personally.  I would have like to see them focus on a kick-ass preamp in the half rack side that could match well with their NuWave Phono Stage and DAC.  However from what I've heard that Phono Stage was not well received either and the older version was much better.

I think he's abandoned Class D and is going with a Mosfet output stage. He mentioned that somewhere in that thread itself I believe.

Edit to add: yes, he posted this:

Second, that means of course it has to be a true hybrid. So it’ll be all MOSFETs except for the input stage

Personally, for me and most of us I don't think it matters what he does. I don't think anyone who has a Decware amp or is interested in one would be eying his amp anyway.

Pal,

 I would agree with you about experimenting. It's an education to watch and learn. Every once in awhile, it gives me an idea for my own system.

It is a shame about those that mock Tube Amps. I always remember Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenbergs words: "You are a gifted Listener an don't let them tell you otherwise". However, like Steve said...no sense wasting time or energy in flame wars against Decware.

LR, I was catching up on the Direct Stream DAC Thread and got to the last page (13)...currently and found this (below). Oh yeah, digital & analog cables matter. I would not own them...if their was not a difference. I run to put my Kimber Select back in...every time I A-B-A them with my others. Especially with my Gallo 3.1's.  Speaker's like my Parker's & Reference Klipsch RF-7 II's....in which both, go back out in the Garage...very good Cables are wasted on them.... .

Digitally, the Illuminati D-60 & Revelations Audio Labs i2s....I still can't find anything to beat them.
http://revelationaudiolabs.com/cables-digital/index.htm

"lonelyraven said: Paul, is that JCAT USB cable really all that good? (assuming that was you that posted the photo). Color me skeptical, especially at $350 EURO for a USB cable.

Yes, it's really that good. I've been playing with USB cables on DirectStream and, as Ted has mentioned, there are only slight differences - nothing to write home about or get excited about IMHO. But then comes along this JCat designed by Paul Pang out of Taiwan. I almost fell over when I heard it. And, you know what? I didn't want it to work. I didn't want it to work because it makes no sense. Because DirectStream doesn't care about jitter coming in.

So what the hell could make this cable so different? I really don't/didn't want to believe how good this is. Seriously. It makes me nuts. Ted suggests its ground loop related and Ted's usually right about things. The designer claims not. But there it is. The aliveness and openness the music takes on is stunning. I immediately ordered mine and am in touch with the designer already. I want to not only find out what's going on but want to hear his other work. Crazy. - See more at: http://www.psaudio.com/vanilla/discussion/6605/directstream-dac-first-impression...  "

Congrats Lon.  Good buzz on this DAC.  Can't wait to hear you impressions.

Awesome Lon!  I feel like the DirectStream is made for you and all your Redbook CDs.  Hopefully it lives up to the hype and you have the same Holy _ _ _ _ reaction that everyone who has heard it so far has had.  We both know that PSA tend to live up to their claims (after you cut through all the hyperbole).

I plan to wait for more reactions to roll in, but I have a feeling it's inevitable.  Can't wait to hear your reaction.    

Are you running the same firmware on both of your older PW DACs?  That could explain the differences in sound you are hearing.

I'm betting firmware makes as much of a difference and seasoning.

Congrats on the upgrade kit! Color me jealous! (again).

I really want a DS myself.

Lonely Raven wrote on 04/14/14 at 03:39:26:


I checked. Both the same firmware. Only thing I haven't checked is to see if they both/either have the fuses that were supposed to be part of the upgrade to MK II. I know it was part of the kit, not sure that it was part of the production model. And I had them upgrade the board because one of my inputs (coaxial) had shorted out on the Mk I board, and didn't open the unit to see if they changed fuses, didn't sound as if they did.

Also got to thinking: one has a few years plus more screen time use than the other. I'll be sending the new one back for conversion. Looks as if it will be sometime in June.

I've been reading up, hoping to find a way to measure the changes we're hearing, and all I find is more info about how measurements prove we are fooling ourselves.

http://archimago.blogspot.com/2013/06/measurements-part-i-bit-perfect.html

I'm not sure what to think about this. Are we fooling ourselves, or are there measurements we should be doing to *prove* we are hearing a difference?

I think you and I need to do some double blind tests.

I agree that there is something going on, even with the power cords we listened to (though I still don't believe it was a big improvement) - so I keep my hopes up that it's just something that we haven't figure out how to measure yet.

But the fact is, all things being equal, if the software outputs the exact same data, with the same hardware, with the same jitter, with the same everything...then it *should* sound the same. So why are we hearing something? That guys measurements are very compelling.

I changed BitPerfect to the settings Paul recommended in his lastest blog posting and the sound came much closer to what I get with Audirvana+.  Now, I'm not sure that I could always pick out which program is playing.  I still think I give Audirvana the edge but I need some more time with it.

Interestingly enough, iTunes by itself, BitPerfect and Audirvana+ all seem to output at different levels.  Audirvana definitely has the highest output so matching volume levels for comparing the programs is difficult.

I don't know anything about high end transports, but I would believe Paul's comments about the Mini rivaling his transports.  To me, it sounds pretty good.  Especially once I plugged it into the PPP and added a better power cord.

You know, I am starting to think that this crazy hobby never ends

That's cool. That is certainly not something I want to do. There is not enough that I want to listen to available on DSD files, and I have so much stuff to listen to and like the physical aspect. I'm an old dog who wants to lie by the fire and not learn new tricks. But mostly it's the musical content that drives me. . . I have what I want, a lot of what is being put into files etc. I either have already in several forms or am not interested in, I admit that a lot of the music posted here as listened to is not what I am listening to or want to.

Too bad they made him dance a little.  If it's genuine inquiry fine, but challenges are a little rude in that setting.

So....any Comments about the DAC?

Thanks for the report H!

I for one would never expect Redbook converted to DSD to sound the same as native DSD files. I think what sets this DAC apart is the upconversion to many times DSD and the way that it does digital to analog conversion in a different manner than most DACs. Regardless, I'm not planning to buy any digital files, DSD, hi-res or otherwise, and I have so so many Redbook discs, this seemed like a right move for me--I have one on order.

I agree with your assessment of bit depth and resolution. I have high resolution and SACD discs, and I can enjoy their sound, but I don't listen for "the very best sound" (in my experience that would be the best vinyl or analog tape anyway), just want really musical sound for all the Redbook I have. I think I'll be happy. Rest assured I won't be able to keep quiet about my impressions. Going to be more than a month and a half though before I can begin to form them.

Quote:


Yes, this is very interesting to know that I'm not the only person ... Your post gives me relief that it stops bothering you after a few days once your ears get used to multi-drivers again ... as I thought I might have been ruined for any other designs!

I'm also wondering if this incoherence is what I found a little fatiguing during the demonstration.

@ SteveC

Yes I agree with you about the 2 sides of the fence.  I've read a review of sorts from one of the guys at Benchmark Media say the same thing in regards to DSD and that they only added the DSD feature to their DACs purely as a competitive/marketing approach, but not because they thought it was better.

Sony has the hugest quantity DSD music available and they just released the HAP-Z1ES that also upsamples everything to DSD (similar in idea to the PS Audio DSD DAC, but probably not the same design/process) and although I don't like the way the way the HAP-Z1ES is setup where all music must be downloaded to it before it will playback, etc., but with Sony on board and their huge catalog I think there is a good chance that DSD will be around for a while.  

It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next year or two, but as for me there is no way I would be shopping for a new DAC that wasn't capable of at least playing DSD back natively ... I don't really care about the conversion as JRiver can do that on they fly, but I want to be able to playback those types of files as I have already amassed a decent amount of them.  My current Rega DAC doesn't play DSD files, so I convert them to PCM through JRiver and they still sound pretty darn good though my DAC is showing it's age.