PS Audio Direct Stream DAC

[med_designer]

Hello -

 

Has anyone heard or owns the PS Audio DS DAC? I am very interested in it and with my qualifying DAC as a trade it is not too bad money wise - but still expensive. I learned today they build each one on a per order basis. Anyway any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Thanks -

Richard

[jhwalker]

Rather long discussion on this one here:

 

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/ps-audio-directstream-digital-analogue-converter-19591/

[bhobba]

Hi Richard

 

It a very good DAC, not analytical like say an MSB, but not musical like a Lampizator, rather its highly revealing with oodles of detail.

 

You have to watch what you feed it though. I know, for example, one guy who took one home and found it didn't perform that well - highly detailed but very fatiguing - his wife would constantly ask him to turn it off. In desperation he fed it with a battery powered Audiophellio which transformed it.

 

I heard it with a friend in a dealers showroom and was very underwhelmed - we both thought thin and tinny. Others with good ears thought the same and we really were scratching our head - why the fuss. I had heard it on another system and liked it much better - but the dealers system is VERY VERY revealing.

 

The other day I had another listen - much better. What changed? The dealer changed the source to a music server he made run from a linear power supply.

 

The conjecture is its sensitive to hash etc that may be travelling down cables rather than jitter because it has some SOTA jitter reduction stuff that should render it source insensitive. That's theory of course - in practice it doesn't seem to be.

 

Thanks

Bill

[billg]

Rather long discussion on this one here:

 

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/ps-audio-directstream-digital-analogue-converter-19591/

 

+1

 

It does need substantial burn-in, possibly due to the output transformers and I would not judge it based on a new one.

[med_designer]

Thanks for the answers everyone. It is such an expensive piece I am a little hesitant but like the concepts behind it. I am going to keep it on my radar as I evaluate a few otter options.