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Review and Measurements of PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream DAC

VintageFlanker

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Can't decide between this and Totaldac. Can you guys help? Which one sounds more analog?
FPGA vs R2R. So Totaldac definitely sounds more analog. Because I say so. Still, costing twice as cheap, and not showing ground loop, the Perfect Wave has the best value, IMHO. I would say, save money and go for the PerfectWave! But don't forget to burn in your unit 1000 hours, at least.
 
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gvl

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FPGA vs R2R. So Totaldac definitely sounds more analog. Because I say so. Still, costing twice as much, and not showing ground loop, the Perfect Wave has the best value, IMHO. I would say, save money and go for the PerfectWave! But don't forget to burn in your unit 1000 hours, at least.

Thank you, I was curious about the required burn in time. 1000 hours sounds about right.
 

phoenixdogfan

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So, as I'm reading Amir's evaluation and analysis, I'm thinking: is this an example of what I've read where individuals strive for a DAC which they claim is superior because it sounds more analog?
Yup, the 62 db noise floor is the dead giveaway! In an earlier life coulda been a Goldmund Reference TT.
 

GrimSurfer

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Thank you, I was curious about the required burn in time. 1000 hours sounds about right.

Or 30 days...
 
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amirm

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I see someone was kind enough to link to this review on PS Audio Forum: https://forum.psaudio.com/t/another-review-of-the-ds-dac/13027/15

Answering some of the points made there:

1569192702380.png


The review included careful listening test:
Listening Tests
For subjective testing, I chose to use the recently reviewed and superb Monoprice Monolith THX 887 Balance Headphone Amplifier. This Monolity has vanishingly low distortion and hence is completely transparent to DACs being tested. For the alternative DAC, I used my everyday Topping DX3 Pro 's line out RCA to Monolith. I then used the XLR input to connected the DirectStream DAC. Once there, I played a 1 kHz tone and used my Audio Precision analyzer to match levels using PS Audio's volume control. PS Audio claims perfection there ("bit perfect") so I figured they can't complain about that. :) The final matching was 0.3 dB difference between the two.

For headphone I used DROP + MRSPEAKERS ETHER CX with its XLR connection to THX 887 amp.

I started the testing with my audiophile, audio-show, test tracks. You know, the very well recorded track with lucious detail and "black backgrounds." I immediately noticed lack of detail in PerfectWave DS DAC. It was as if someone just put a barrier between you and the source. Mind you, it was subtle but it was there. I repeated this a few times and while it was not always there with all music, I could spot it on some tracks.

Next I played some of my bass heaving tracks i use for headphone testing. Here, it was easy to notice that bass impact was softented. But also, highs were exaggerated due to higher distortion. Despite loss of high frequency hearing, I found that accentuation unpleasant. WIth tracks that had lisping issues with female vocals for example, the DS DAC made that a lot worse.

In addition, I noted the owner who is a high-end audiophile didn't like the sound.

Neither did the reviewer in Stereophile for that matter: https://www.stereophile.com/content/ps-audio-perfectwave-directstream-da-processor-page-2

1569192892839.png


That is close to my observation of lack of resolution and detail. He also makes other observation on softer attacks on notes which is what I described with regards to bass notes.

The beauty of knowing how a device measures is that it allows you to find content that more suitably shows off the deficiencies. That is why I played my bass heavy tracks knowing how the transformer distorts.

Bottom line: I absolutely listened and if all that matters is that, then you have three people independently finding faults: I, the owner and the reviewer from stereophile.

If you can't hear such artifacts, I suggest learning to be more of a critical listener. It will do you some good. :)
 
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amirm

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Another comment is this:

1569193235870.png


Inadequate system? How did I then manage to hear the deficiencies in this DAC?

My headphone system I used for this testing is world-class and beats any home system in its ability to hear distortions. It has as much as 30 to 40 dB advantage in noise and distortion.

As to last sentence, I am supposed to find audible faults with equipment that is audibly transparent? How does that work?
 
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amirm

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And yet another:

1569193385779.png


Forgetting? It is not the job of playback system to add transformer distortion on top of whatever the talent and engineer produced. Its job is to faithfully reproduce what they created.

As I said in the review, if you like the sound of a transformer, Jensen sells them. Just buy and put them on the output of your bargain DAC and you get the same sound for next to no cost compared to this DAC.

Indeed, I am confident the only "sound" this DAC has is due to the transformer. No need for the rest of it really.
 
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amirm

amirm

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1569193579410.png


On the Lampizator, don't go betting against me in Vegas. ;) I have a lead on that.

As to the rest, then you are not a critical listener and/or are not performing direct AB tests where that difference is clear. If you don't believe me, here is stereophile:

1569193789827.png


Considering how hard it is to get a negative subjective review, for them to point out issues like "distant sound" means others are hearing issues. In your book of subjectivity that is. :)
 

Matias

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@amirm why not state PS Audio, the manufacturer, on this thread title?
 

bunkbail

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amirm

amirm

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@amirm why not state PS Audio, the manufacturer, on this thread title?

Ah, didn't realize I had left that out. Thanks for pointing it out. I changed the title and the starting sentence to include it.
 

AudioSceptic

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the PerfectWave DirectStream DAC. It is on kind loan from a member. The unit that I have has the network "bridge" streaming option and costs US $6,899. Without that option it costs US $5,999.
So this $6-7k product is easily outperformed by an Apple adapter (DAC + headphone amp for $9) or a Raspberry Pi with HiFiBerry board (streamer + DAC for < $100)? Surely this can't be right? It's late and I must've missed something.
 

bidn

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- Appealing!! What's the name again of the manufacturer of that BS DAC product? What did you say, something Audio?
- BS Audio
- OK, now I understand it all, this does make sense after all, what's in a name...
- Please, dear customer, don't be so negative! Don't you realize that our audiophile store allows you to choose and purchase an exquisite piece among the best of the best: Schiit, BS Audio, TotaleARNAC (arnaque = scam in French)?
 
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GrimSurfer

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Another comment is this:

View attachment 34199

Maybe dude is onto something. Then again, I find it strange that the council overseeing fundamentalism here at ASR could be wrong after they all agreed with your findings.

IMG_1803.jpg
 

typericey

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Finally, a DAC that sounds like a $12,000 vinyl rig! And at half the price too. The wife will surely hear the difference from the kitchen. :cool:
 

AudioSceptic

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Thank you Amir, kind of expected poor results but this was far worse than expected, and kudos to the owner sending it in. Would really like to see tests of other costly DACs from DCS, Bricasti, Berkeley and so on. But I guess the upside for an owner of an expensive DAC is negligible and the downside massive (value-and pride of ownership wise)
I'm fairly sure than anything from dCS will measure superbly, like the top Chord stuff, but the issue ia absurd price for something not audibly better than good products in the low $hundreds range (for humans anyway).
 
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amirm

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Ted Smith was kind enough to respond to my review on psaudio forum. Here is the first part:

1569197537191.png


Once again, the version number was in the original screen shot in the review. And I mentioned the unit was brand new. The machine has the latest firmware.

As to his technical argument, his comments make no sense. Here is a clear measurement of distortion+noise relative to frequency from the review:

index.php


There is no issue here with noise hiding other factors. Distortion clearly climbs at either end of the graph. I showed how use of transformer in the output caused that non-linearity. The distortion is so high that it has no problem rising well above noise floor.

He also doesn't seem to be familiar with concept of FFT gain. By using high number of audio samples, spectrum displays dig tens of decibels below noise floor of the gear. The dashboard FFT for example has whopping 42 dB of noise reduction:

1569197787353.png


That is how we are able to see distortion product as low as -130 dB! No DAC in the world can do better than 120 dB yet we are able to easily dig lower than that. The FFT process spreads the noise across many "bins" and with it, proportionally lowers the measured noise floor.

Since we can hear distortions in noise, this technique is useful to see if there are problems below noise floor.

In this case, distortion products of the DS DAC climb above -80 dB so they are not hidden by the noise floor anyway.

He is speaking as if we are using a dumb, 1970s THD+N meter. We are not. We are using state-of-the-art audio measurement gear that lets us fully analyze the output of a DAC. We can see its noise, distortion, etc.
 
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