Paul McGowan throws in the towel (Not really but it’s movement in the right direction)

[JeremyFife]

I see it as a positive step that a manufacturer publishes measurements. The numbers will speak for themselves.
We (people in general) can argue about what they mean or if they were correctly produced or not.

The rest of this; should this have been done earlier, speculation over motive, concern that measurements will be cherry-picked and anything else is pretty irrelevant.

It's a good step. Hopefully more companies will follow.

 

[DonH56]

Line level has been steadily increasing over the years, not necessarily a good or bad thing, but IME/IMO for typical analog audio impedances and circuits the noise floor has stayed roughly the same so the only way to increase SNR/SINAD is to increase the output level. Quantization noise has decreased with greater resolution, but there are other fundamental noise sources that contribute.

 

[Mart68]

The rest of this; should this have been done earlier, speculation over motive...

I don't think there's any speculation on that, he says in the video that it's costing him sales.

I'm guessing mostly the DAC sales, as they are so noisy, especially at the price.

They tried to differentiate their product in a massively crowded market place by doing something different with the transformer output thing, but only the hardest core audiophile would spend six grand on a DAC with noise levels hovering around audible. and there's just not enough of them, I'd guess.

Too many are paying attention to the measurements these days. Even if they don't really 'believe' in them, it's still going to have some influence on what they end up buying.

 

[amirm]

FINALLY: Who will vett the measurements Paul publishes?

I will! As we have seen with Schiit, members want measurements verified independently. And company wants that as well for credibility by sending me gear.

 

[KSTR]

I guess that’s what normality has morphed into. Standard line level for non-pro audio devices is nominally -10dBV (316mV). I think this began to whittle away in the early ‘80s, when CD players settled on 2V, so they could drive power amps directly.

Well, AFAIK the -10dBV spec for "consumer gear" isn't the clipping level but rather a "nominal" level, from the days of analog-only sources and notably before loudness war on digital. There always is, or should be considerable headroom, like 10...20dB (2Vrms equiv. 16dB of headroom). Same for the pro gear nominal level of +4dBu, ideally with 20dB of headroom (so ins/outs capable of +24dBu).

 

[Timcognito]

With PS audio it's the quackery that is the biggest problem. It is one thing to over-hype and over-price a run of the mill device and another to promote a myth as a business.

"The DirectStream Power Plant 12 takes your incoming AC power and regenerate new sine-wave-perfect, regulated high current AC power. In the process of regeneration any problems on your power line such as low voltage, distorted waveforms, sagging power and noise are eliminated. The results are both audibly and visually stunning when powering either audio or video products." From

PowerPlant 12

The DirectStream Power Plant 12 features an all new analog power amplifier and FPGA sine wave generator based on pure, clean, analog DSD (PDM). The P12 is our most powerful compact regenerator with 1250 watts of pure power. From medium to large power amplifiers to the smallest pieces of source...

www.psaudio.com

 

[Bruce Morgen]

With PS audio it's the quackery that is the biggest problem. It is one thing to over-hype and over-price a run of the mill device and another to promote a myth as a business.

True IMO.

 

[John Atkinson]

I compare one of PS Audio's measurements with my own in a followup review of the PS Audio DirectStream Mk2 DAC in the July issue of Stereophile.

The followup is now available on the Stereophile website: https://www.stereophile.com/content/ps-audio-perfectwave-directstream-mk2-da-processor-mt-massive

John Atkinson
Technical Editor, Stereophile

 

[ahofer]

The followup is now available on the Stereophile website: https://www.stereophile.com/content/ps-audio-perfectwave-directstream-mk2-da-processor-mt-massive

John Atkinson
Technical Editor, Stereophile

That last paragraph is quite carefully worded. Glad to hear it “preserves musicality”.

Perhaps they are putting that measurement equipment to use. Which reminds me of the stuff this young fellow “picked up in biology class”:

 

[Mart68]

That last paragraph is quite carefully worded. Glad to hear it “preserves musicality”.

Perhaps they are putting that measurement equipment to use. Which reminds me of the stuff this young fellow “picked up in biology class”:

'This video contains content from BBC Studios who has blocked it in your country due to copyright reasons.'

Eh? We bloody pay for the programmes to be made and we can't watch clips of them on Youtube?

And it's 'Which has blocked' - you illiterate wankers.

 

[BlackTalon]

Really? Wow. I never heard of this, but these are companies for which i would never work.

That's likely because LinkedIn is mainly a cesspool of headhunters. It's not really for networking.

 

[Great Sun Jester]

Which has blocked' - you illiterate wankers.

I watched it, but I'm using a VPN.

 

[Magnus]

I just saw a Paul video on YouTube going on and on about how different cables sound. I almost threw up.

Two extremes are out there. Measurements past the limits of audibility being given too much credence (If it's definitely inaudible, who cares? There are people on here who won't but the best audio deal ever because the sinad is only 90dB and they want 110dB, when 85dB is 100% inaudible. Unbelievable) and trusting the ear/brain, an inherently unreliable source (snake oil crapola targets this).

 

[johny_2000]

6 months after the promised AP measurements I can't find them on any page/manual for PS Audio products. Are they available?