Review and Measurements of PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream DAC

[Thomas savage]

well, once you get your hands on one, copy it and build a clone in one of your slave shop factories .. maybe you can improve on it?

Ok, that's enough from you . It's zero tolerance on racism here .

Banned .

 

[oldsysop]

Best case scenario: he reveals himself to be Paul McGowan's 8 year old son and we are impressed by the latter's fertility. Worst case: he continues to bore us.

 

[Sukie]

well, once you get your hands on one, copy it and build a clone in one of your slave shop factories .. maybe you can improve on it?

As well as the racism, this is factually incorrect. JDS and Schiit both make good, cheap HPAs and DACs in the US.

Very poor form, and this time over a DAC that will cost more than $20k. I often think that the world's gone mad!

 

[Frank Dernie]

you guys haven't even heard it yet and you're already dooming it... try to be a bit more objective... And to start with, at least hear it's inventor explain what sets it apart.

Lat time I compared a very expensive DAC to a more modestly priced one any difference in sound was, if it existed, inconsequential, ie I wasn't sure if it was there or not.
My guess is that if this thing sounds different to a normal properly engineered DAC it will be because it has audible levels of distortion yet many enthusiasts will assume "different" is "better" since it is very expensive.

 

[Jimbob54]

Lat time I compared a very expensive DAC to a more modestly priced one any difference in sound was, if it existed, inconsequential, ie I wasn't sure if it was there or not.
My guess is that if this thing sounds different to a normal properly engineered DAC it will be because it has audible levels of distortion yet many enthusiasts will assume "different" is "better" since it is very expensive.

I would go with that . Its about the story for them and their audience https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...reviewers-like-asr-and-amir.16199/post-523933

 

[ahofer]

More nonsense: the incredible discuss the inaudible.
https://www.psaudio.com/podcast/double-rate-dsd/

 

[tuga]

One of the reviewers at Stereophile already did this. In comparing the Benchmark DAC3 to a worse measuring one (Border Patrol), the reviewer said the Benchmark removed the sounds of the church walls in a recording he listened to...

I wonder if that's so different from using using side wall reflections to "enhance" spaciousness and soundstage width?

 

[das]

I am very late to this thread - but I was actually considering this DAC for my new system, based on "reviews". Not any more. Thank you so much.

 

[welsh]

I always thought Darko's claims here were absurd.

Quite obviously, the more you spend the more audiophile goodness you get - just check the magazines’ ratings!

 

[welsh]

I would have commented on it except that my Arizona drivers license arrived yesterday and the photo of me on it was... mock-worthy as well.

I sympathise - just got my new UK licence and I look like a serial killer.

 

[welsh]

oh, i didn't mean that to be a knock on tube circuits, but the opposite: tube buffers have been shown to be great for adding the distortion modes that people respond to positively, ie, as an analog filter. coming from the guitar amplifier perspective, we use tube stages to get that cool floaty sound from les pauls and old teles with tons of timbre. my understanding is that this measures out as H2 and H3 distortion and that this is what the audiophile crowd on the PS audio forums are referring to in what they like about the "perfectwave"

I play guitar and use only valve amplifiers, because valve stages get me the sounds that I want. However, If my playing were to be recorded, I would want to listen to it using the most transparent possible signal chain, because I would not want to add distortions to those that I had chosen when recording.

 

[welsh]

hah! i was a ball of trouble in my teens when i first started playing with audio electronics (and took out of a lot of frustration on my guitar, to the detriment of the neighbors..), and at one point i was taken to a spiritual healer who claimed he could see auras. my memory of this incident is that i was sat down in front of him, he stared at me for a while, took out some stones, gave them to me to hold and then started reading my aura. he waved his arounds around my head like.. 6 inches away? for about 10 minutes and then he said something like "i sense that you're very sick" (spoiler: i was). he recommended some carefully chosen stones and then did some breathing exercises (as in he did them) while he waved his hands around my head for 10 minutes. when he was done he said "hope that helps" and waved me off for the next person.

i'm not sure, but i think he was paid somewhere in the 1-200$ range for this service.

in short, still a better deal than this dac.

Reminds me of Glastonbury in England (the town, not the festival) where one can enrol at the University of Avalon and take degrees in whale music. There is even a course in becoming a ‘hedge witch’. I’ve often seen hippies ‘test’ their food by waving magic crystals above it. If said hippies actually had the money, then they would likely buy PS Audio or TotalCrap.

 

[welsh]

The veil! It's the dreaded veil... I thought that's exactly what esoteric hifi DACs costing multiple thousands of dollars were supposed to lift... not drop onto the music.



Hypocrisy as well as a flawed premise to begin with. In all honesty, I don't care how much a company lies in their marketing (OK hyperbole - I'd prefer it kept to a minimum but it's marketing after all - it's basically 100% bullshit). The problem I have is with the belief that the artist and studio engineers (and to lesser extent production co/publisher) are all completely wrong about how their own creative product should sound. Even worse when the defense from the equipment manufacturer is often "well if you don't like our house sound, don't buy our product"! So your subjective additions to the audio signal are universally beneficial, yet those of the artists/engineers making the recordings are not (since you're stepping all over theirs with yours)?

So it's not only hypocrisy, its rampant egoism and I find it insulting as well. In almost all cases, they're saying "everyone should want to hear things my way"... as opposed to the pursuit of transparency: "everyone should hear what's actually there, and nothing else". Which one allows more creativity and (gasp) subjective enjoyment of the widest range of genre/conditions? Which one could just as easily be translated as "you're so stupid, just give me your money and trust"?

I’m interested in the workings of ‘high end’ audio. Given that every subjective review results in the penetration (elimination) of ‘a veil’, just how many of these veils are there?

 

[welsh]

The irony is that the PS Audio might be worse than analogue tape.

Edit: Analogue tape at its best: 13 bits or -78 dB. PS Audio SINAD: -76 dB.

The irony with analogue reproduction is that 15ips reel to reel is better in every way than vinyl. I have heard stunning demonstrations of this - basically you bypass the problems of spinning a disc where the SQ worsens towards the label. But prerecorded albums at hundreds of pounds? I don’t think so.

 

[welsh]

Picosope is not a problem - designing a well performing DAC is about the skill of an engineer, not about a top class measurement instrument.

This is not a well performing DAC.

 

[YSC]

I play guitar and use only valve amplifiers, because valve stages get me the sounds that I want. However, If my playing were to be recorded, I would want to listen to it using the most transparent possible signal chain, because I would not want to add distortions to those that I had chosen when recording.

can't agree more, mixing or recording/ performing have all those creations to the music, be it distortion or noise or what, but playback should be true to record as possible, just like photography, the artist get all those saturation or exposure done, no point to get the extra saturation or exposure modification from your viewing device no?

 

[welsh]

Hi

Coming to term with the fact that electronics are essentially transparent (note the adverb) is a shock to many. It is deeply unsettling, after a life chasing the last iota in audio reproduction "perfection" at an oncreasingly dearer ... Such realization seems to suggest the end of the road, the end of a hobby, the end of the Hunt. These hurt the High End Industry,predicated on "more Better every time it gets more Expensive”:. pardon the violence on Shakespeare mother tongue .
Thing is this myth of continuous betterment has brought considerable profit to many. When a person has audacity and knowledge to backup his refutation of the status quo it can only be met with vehemence, especially when arguments are missing .. Emotions are the last resort.
A bit OT
Currently listening to least expensive and much better DAC and Headphones Amplifier combo, I have ever purchased .. The ASR Special (Khardas Tone Board + JDS Labs Atom).. $200 total should not sound that good and/or drive any non_ESL headphones that well ... And to think it is superior in all objective aspects to this thing hing costing ... 30 times more ... I mean PEOPLE!! 30 Times more , yet inferior in all objective aspects ... Thanks Amir. The revolution is under way .. They are taking notice... Wow!!!

My headphone system involves a Topping D90 Dac and a Topping A90 amplifier. I would like someone to suggest that is not the best that I could experience.

 

[kevin1969]

I was able to compare this DAC to a Gustard X-16 on a really good system. Quite honestly at 85-90dB SPL it was hard to tell the difference but what was very clear was the constant noise floor of the DS coming through the speakers during the quieter parts of songs. You will see many DS owners on the PSA forum mention this as well.

 

[welsh]

Quite so.
We don't know what the threshold for audibly indistinguishable is, and we don't have a threshold for audibly acceptable, either.
If I take the hairy-arsed approach to engineering I could point out that many audiophiles enjoy LPs and reel-to-reel tapes to they extent they confidently announce that they are superior to "digital", whatever that means.
This is demonstrably technically absurd so one is left with the question of whether the shortcomings of these media are simply inaudible or if the shortcomings are euphonic.
I have 4 turntables and they all sound different. I have more than 4 DACs and last time I did a careful level matched listening comparison (several years ago) they all sounded the same, or if there were differences they were difficult to be sure of, hence irrelevant.
So I would say, my personal view, is that CD is at least good enough to be in all intents and purposes perfect for listening to music. Anything "better" may be technically interesting, or admirable, but is IMO pointless.
If fairly high levels of distortion and noise ruined musical enjoyment nobody would ever say LP or R2R were superior.
I have done some experiments, about 20 years ago, which showed that adding a bit of noise gave the impression of a bigger stereo image, so for those people for whom spatiality is of importance a noisier source may well be preferred. FWIW the noise added was easily audible before the music started but certainly not percieved as noise once the music started.

Why on earth do you have ‘more than four’ DACS?

 

[Frank Dernie]

Why on earth do you have ‘more than four’ DACS?

I used to sell old stuff on ebay but hate the way it has become nowadays so I struggle to find a way to sell them. I give some away. I have been recording digital since early DAT so best part of 40 years worth!