Review and Measurements of PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream DAC

[Sal1950]

Do we have any review of the older version of this? PSAudio DirectStream Junior.
I have one available in my local area for half the price ($2100). Wondering if it's worth the money?

NO! Others here have already given the whys

 

[paddycrow]

LOL, the headless panther is all you need to know!

 

[ash1980]

Have a look around here at the various DAC reviews. For example the gear from Topping, from SMLS or if you want more features and high quality the RMEs. Also the MiniDSP Flex might fit, which has built in RoomEQ (DSP).

(FYI. Steve Huff is not very highly regarded here as he provides no facts for his claims which are purely subjective and sighted tests. This and that he benefits financially (as many other YouTubers) makes his recommendations very suspicious as you can also see in this instance where the PS Dac is soo expensive but technically performs so much worse than some of the 100USD Dacs reviewed here).

Got it. Thank you.

Quick question, if I get the Topping DAC - what other equipment I need to play the music (ensuring that there is no loss in quality)? I use Qobuz and also have a Plex media server setup for local files on my Nvidia Shield Pro (that's a separate system in a separate room).

 

[Music1969]

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.

Question - if freq response is ruler flat down to 10Hz (per the FR measurement), how would the low frequency distortion caused bass impact to be 'softened' ?

 

[MediumRare]

Question - if freq response is ruler flat down to 10Hz (per the FR measurement), how would the low frequency distortion caused bass impact to be 'softened' ?

Because whatever is supposed to be playing at low frequencies is accompanied by a lot of extra tones at 2x, 3x, and 4x the frequency. So crisp bass at 60hz is also heard up at 180 and 240, etc. Blurry! Here’s another perspective as, of course, music is multi tonic - even worse.

 

[gvl]

Sort of related, does the FR test apply a band pass filter to filter out the harmonics and what not? And if not, wouldn’t it be more correct if it did?

 

[welwynnick]

Stop the press! Not content with producing "handwritten, discrete, galvanically isolated, perfection-based conversion that uncovers all the missing information hiding in your digital audio media" PS Audio have found out how to make it EVEN BETTER, announcing the Mount Massive update to the DirectStream DAC MK2:

We are very proud to announce the new Mountain Top update for our DirectStream DAC MK2 - Mount Massive. This revolutionary free upgrade brings a new life into an already impressive Digital to Analog converter. As Paul puts it, “This is the single biggest upgrade I have ever heard in the 50 years that I have done this. It’s huge… It’s really, really big”.

DirectStream DAC MK2

For the past 8 years, the PerfectWave DirectStream DAC has been recognized throughout the world as a reference standard. We are proud to introduce its successor, the PerfectWave DirectStream DAC MK2.

www.psaudio.com

I'm not sure what's the difference between Mk1 & Mk2, but I have every confidence that this will live up to it's billing.
Nick

 

[C. Cook]

Stop the press! Not content with producing "handwritten, discrete, galvanically isolated, perfection-based conversion that uncovers all the missing information hiding in your digital audio media" PS Audio have found out how to make it EVEN BETTER, announcing the Mount Massive update to the DirectStream DAC MK2:

DirectStream DAC MK2

For the past 8 years, the PerfectWave DirectStream DAC has been recognized throughout the world as a reference standard. We are proud to introduce its successor, the PerfectWave DirectStream DAC MK2.

www.psaudio.com

I'm not sure what's the difference between Mk1 & Mk2, but I have every confidence that this will live up to it's billing.
Nick

Pretty sure Paul said the exact same thing every time a previous free, revolutionary firmware "upgrade" came out. Best improvement in audio he's heard in 50 years! LOL I wish my hearing was as good and discerning as Paul's, and I'm probably 20+ years younger.

 

[ahofer]

With this infinite supply of huge and material differences, progress must really be moving fast in the shed.

The last discussion I had of PS Audio was arguing with someone (here) who said PS Audio couldn't afford a Klippel. Amazing what they do on a constrained budget over there.

PS (so to speak): Will the next one be called "Mount Hyperbole"?

 

[welwynnick]

PS Audio have been firmly off my radar for some time, but I had a news item about the firmware on my phone for some reason this morning. I read the Stereophile reviews of the Mk1 and Mk2, and they were politely but surprisingly critical for Stereophile, both subjectively and in the tests. Even the ever-understated John Atkinson was forced to say "But the engineer in me doesn't like to see it".

 

[kevin1969]

PS Audio have been firmly off my radar for some time, but I had a news item about the firmware on my phone for some reason this morning. I read the Stereophile reviews of the Mk1 and Mk2, and they were politely but surprisingly critical for Stereophile, both subjectively and in the tests. Even the ever-understated John Atkinson was forced to say "But the engineer in me doesn't like to see it".

On the forum over there, they complain about that review all the time yet you certainly don't see the company pushing Stereophile to get it re-reviewed with the new firmware.

 

[anmpr1]

This is the single biggest upgrade I have ever heard in the 50 years that I have done this. It’s huge… It’s really, really big”.

Maybe he's talking about the lines of code in the new update.

 

[RichB]

Maybe he's talking about the lines of code in the new update.

AI generated, no doubt.

- Rich

 

[617]

 

[kevin1969]

Maybe he's talking about the lines of code in the new update.

Code has a minimum 3 week break in period