Really..? Ego trip.. again?
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Review and Measurements of the PS Audio Stellar Gain Cell DAC
- Thread starter amirm
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Really..? Ego trip.. again?
Sorry if this has already been suggested in the ensuing nine pages of this thread I haven’t yet read, but probably because the chip is the cleanest measuring component in the entire box.
If the upper limit of the remainder of your design topology is a Sinad of 60dB, what’s the difference between using a 110dB capable ESS chip vs. using a 140dB capable chip?
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Incompetent design in that case.Sorry if this has already been suggested in the ensuing nine pages of this thread I haven’t yet read, but probably because the chip is the cleanest measuring component in the entire box.
If the upper limit of the remainder of your design topology is a Sinad of 60dB, what’s the difference between using a 110dB capable ESS chip vs. using a 140dB capable chip?
If you had written ignorant rather than stupid I would tend to agree, but that is why this site is important, to educate thereby reducing ignorance.
Sadly most people are so invested in their certainty they would rather critiscise the lesson than learn. That is stupid but also human nature
Well recently very much yes but when I first bought hifi to listen to music the -only- reviews were technical on electronics in general. There would rarely if ever be listening impressions and if there were it would be for speakers, or to check if a measured anomaly was objectionable or not.
I don't remember when the "subjective" approach began to gain traction, I seem to remember Jean Hiraga in a French magazine was the prophet (maybe wrongly) but it slowly gained acceptance, probably because all of a sudden people with no technological knowledge or expensive test equipment, and there are a lot more of them, could make a living writing reviews.
It has got orders of magnitude worse since the internet started being widely used since however gooky/stupid/ridiculous a theory a person has they will be able to find somebody on the internet agreeing, which hugely amplifies the individual's confidence in the veracity of his/her idiocy.
Devialet has, for years. NAD too.
graz_lag
Major Contributor
Indeed, the French magazine was L'Audiophile, then
He had been very active on the DIY as well with schema for some class-A amplifiers.
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JRG
Member
The PS Audio engineers who design these products have to be perfectly aware of the problems they have regarding noise, distortions and so on.
Even if they don't have the proper measuring instruments and tools (which would be extremely strange in a professional laboratory) they have to know that some of their implementations are potentially harmful to the integrity of the signal.
What I do not understand is why they try to reinvent the wheel when they have better solutions available in the electronics component market. For example, quality VCA chips that ensure adequate performance if implemented correctly.
And if they need to differentiate themselves to be attractive to the audiophile market (boutique esoteric product and others), ... do so in aspects that do NOT degrade the sound quality. For example placing unnecessarily expensive components (capacitors, resistors, power supplys,...) that look beautiful in the photos audiophiles like BUT that do not degrade the signal.
A good and heavy metal chassis formed in CNC. Maybe a touch screen to control the device (like de HPA4),... that kind of things. But always ensuring that you will have the best performance.
They could even add some kind of circuit that can be bypassed that adds harmonic distortion, always in a known and controlled way. You can call it "warmth control" or something like that...
Even if they don't have the proper measuring instruments and tools (which would be extremely strange in a professional laboratory) they have to know that some of their implementations are potentially harmful to the integrity of the signal.
What I do not understand is why they try to reinvent the wheel when they have better solutions available in the electronics component market. For example, quality VCA chips that ensure adequate performance if implemented correctly.
And if they need to differentiate themselves to be attractive to the audiophile market (boutique esoteric product and others), ... do so in aspects that do NOT degrade the sound quality. For example placing unnecessarily expensive components (capacitors, resistors, power supplys,...) that look beautiful in the photos audiophiles like BUT that do not degrade the signal.
A good and heavy metal chassis formed in CNC. Maybe a touch screen to control the device (like de HPA4),... that kind of things. But always ensuring that you will have the best performance.
They could even add some kind of circuit that can be bypassed that adds harmonic distortion, always in a known and controlled way. You can call it "warmth control" or something like that...
Still waiting on @amirm to test his PS Audio regenerator. He said it produces clean power, but I’d like to see measurements of how much cleaning up it can do, and also compare to the output of a DAC/Amp with dirty and clean power using the regenerator, as they already have filters for the power supply.[conspiracy] Maybe PS Audio in their DACs is using some detection of power supply quality, and if a PS Audio "power regenerator" or "power conditioner" presence is detected, then they switch DAC into "high-quality mode" !
solderdude
Grand Contributor
For checking how clean mains is you need to have EMC measurement equipment and test jigs as well injection of special test signals and need a proper environment to do this right. Something PS Audio doesn't have for sure, nor does Amir.
Just ask PS Audio for the results of the EMC tests that were done.
Just ask PS Audio for the results of the EMC tests that were done
.
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JRG
Member
Agree.
Some of these Yamaha amplifiers (AS-501, 701 or 801) would be excellent candidates to go to the Amirm's review of amps. There is a lot of DAC reviews and we have a very good overview of this kind of components... but there is much less amps to choose.
Don’t think so. But a Chromecast for $50 is a better streamer than most.
Krell builds in DLNA and Roon endpoint in new integrateds, but they are expensive. Cambridge Audio builds their streaming platform into at least one amp. Hopefully it becomes more common. In the meantime, Chromecast and a few other low budget streamers exist with digital out, to be used with a dac/integrated.
Or perhaps @March Audio might fill the gap?
Can a Kodi box act as a DLNA endpoint? I've been looking for something like that to fit in my MimimServer/BubbleUPnP infrastructure. I have Chromecasts, but honestly they are flukey in streaming lately. My Cambridge Audio streamer is much more reliable. Haven't tried Volumio, but I've heard some brutal feedback about it.
PS looks like it - can be configured as UPnP client, according to this, I believe that's equivalent to DLNA endpoint/renderer - https://kodi.wiki/view/Settings/Services/UPnP_DLNA
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https://www.stereophile.com/content/ps-audio-goes-direct-us
PS Audio no longer has a dealer network.
PS Audio no longer has a dealer network.
if you have devices like Roku, Firestick and the sort, you can always try to Run Plex server and then use those devices as clients. I have tried Roon, Volumio and Plex, currently using Plex until I can justify buying Roon.
Volumio still needs more GUI improvements - I used it on my RPI 4 connected via USB to a Cambridge Audio CXA80 and works great but the GUI is not as good as I would like.
Plex, I have been using it for 3 years mainly for Movies, but as a Music server so far it fits the bill, can't play DSD but will play DSF (downsample quite a bit if not mistaken) but can play 5.1 DTS files; GUI is better than Volumio but not even close to Roon.
Synology NAS can also be a Plex server, for hosting music is more than enough, you wouldn't need a computer to act as a server.
if you have any questions about Plex and how to make it work, PM me.
Hmm. Not sure I fully get this, sorry.
Two possible setups I'd be interested in:
1) A streamer with solid DLNA performance (Doesn't disappear, fail to advance tracks) to which I can direct BubbleUPnP control point. Would prefer USB asynchronous output for format compatibility, but optical will do 90% of what I need.
2) a streamer with a connected touchscreen and player software that sees Minimserver on the LAN (as well as Tidal and Qobuz), set to autoboot/resume. This would make a nice idiot-proof way for my guests and family members to use my system without a lot of instruction from me on how to select the endpoint, etc.. Same output requirements.
The closest thing, I gather, is a Raspberry Pi running volumio. But, as I say, the reviews have been poor. Obviously a mac mini running audirvana would do very well, but that's much more expensive, and still has to be turned on/off all the time. Also - no touch screens, right? I'm looking for a more dedicated device.
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