Review and Measurements of the PS Audio Stellar Gain Cell DAC

[Sunship]

Golly! This had me interested at some point since it is one of the few DACs with an analog-in. There are not many... Benchmark, Auralic Vega G2, Grace design M905, Dangerous music Source, Bel Canto (?), Mytek ... In a way I don't care if the analog-in is only 90% it's only a way to get rid of the preamp and run the DAC straight into the amp yet have an option to play the occasional LP.
This PS audio is not an option then...

 

[Cortes]

Maybe kind of like this?

https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/ps-audio-stellar-gain-cell-dac-sound-quality

https://www.dailyaudiophile.com/ps-audio-stellar-gain-cell-dac-review/

probably there is not a single review in any audiophile outlet where the Stelar Gain Cell is not giant killer.

 

[Tks]

At least they know how to build enclosures.

Compared to that one dude selling small run full aluminum CNC'd enclosures for around the price of this thing. They fail in this respect as well.

Also, it doesn't honestly look very much appealing to me in the slightest. Compare this to an Okto, or a Matrix DAC, not even close.

 

[LTig]

Golly! This had me interested at some point since it is one of the few DACs with an analog-in. There are not many... Benchmark, Auralic Vega G2, Grace design M905, Dangerous music Source, Bel Canto (?), Mytek ... In a way I don't care if the analog-in is only 90% it's only a way to get rid of the preamp and run the DAC straight into the amp yet have an option to play the occasional LP.
This PS audio is not an option then...

No, but for about the same amount you may get an RME ADI-2 PRO fs with 1 analog input.

 

[KSTR]

Equipment with Gilbert- or Blackmer-Cell based VCA (discrete or integrated like the THAT VCA chips) always measures like this bad, anywhere between 0.1% and 0.01% at best, no surprise ;-)
I find their distortion fineprint not very offensive, actually pleasing mostly and my phychoacoustic working theory on this is that the distortion mechanism seems to be very stable/static, completey unlike what eg a TotalDAC does to the signal. Something my ears seem to handle well (no experience on the TotalDAC, that is)....
This clearly is some sort of constant "sounding" that cannot be switched off, one must be aware of that.

 

[graz_lag]

The vacancy is still open ...

 

[retro]

In their "Analog Performance" specs they state:
S/N Ratio1KHz >110dB (max output)

And Amir measures 68-71db..?!? Or is the sinad scale not directly comparable to the published specs?

 

[SEKLEM]

The PS Audio Sprout100's SINAD is better than this and their $6000 or so DAC Amir measured a couple weeks ago.

 

[gvl]

In their "Analog Performance" specs they state:
S/N Ratio1KHz >110dB (max output)

And Amir measures 68-71db..?!? Or is the sinad scale not directly comparable to the published specs?

S/N is the dynamic range, Amir's numbers seem to more or less agree with the specs. SINAD killer in this case is harmonic distortions.

 

[KSTR]

In their "Analog Performance" specs they state:
S/N Ratio1KHz >110dB (max output)

And Amir measures 68-71db..?!? Or is the sinad scale not directly comparable to the published specs?

SINAD is factoring in noise and distortion and is dominated by the worser of the two, in this case, the distortion. Amir's measurement of S/N-ratio shows -108dB vs. the -110dB spec, insigificant.
EDIT: Ah, @gvl was some seconds quicker....

 

[gvl]

@amirm, do you have a THD(F) plot?

 

[Noob]

Amazing. Simply amazing.

 

[KSTR]

@amirm, do you have a THD(F) plot?

Well we have the 19+20kHz IMD where the highest components are in the same order of magnitude that the 1kHz single tone harmonics, meaning the distortion doesn't sky-rocket at 20kHz

 

[scott wurcer]

by the worser of the two,

You will stop this forthwith.

 

[digititus]

Maybe @amirm should get another panther without upper torso. The missing head no longer seems sufficient for performance like this...

We need an exploded head for this review

 

[bidn]

https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/ps-audio-stellar-gain-cell-dac-sound-quality

https://www.dailyaudiophile.com/ps-audio-stellar-gain-cell-dac-review/

Edit. . . There’s more and more and more. . . So I’ll just post one more here:

https://www.headphone.guru/ps-audio-stellar-gain-cell-dac-a-new-era/

Thank you very much. I guess these are the typical paid-for reviews. This just confirms to me that many of these professional reviewers (except a few honest ones like Tyll Hertsen or resolve) seem to be professional ... scammers.

When I started in the audiophile hobby I naively used to believe them, I am so happy I didn't believe them for long, but even so, that was enough for that kind of unethical guys to have make me waste a lot of money on overpriced and underperforming gear.

I hope Amir will not need the protection of bodygards at some point? He is making a lot of enemies by exposing many juicey scam-companies and indirectly also scam-reviewers.

 

[tktran303]

Fancy casework
Fancy product names
Fancy verbiage

Come on Amir, that aint distortion! It's fancy special effects to add to your listening experience!
No wonder reviewers can write pages and pages after sending their music through one of these D/A convertors.

 

[digitalfrost]

Thank you very much. I guess these are the typical paid-for reviews. This just confirms to me that many of these professional reviewers (except a few honest ones like Tyll Hertsen or resolve) seem to be professional ... scammers.

That, or they just can't hear it. I mean, it's hard to do without ABXing, even I could be fooled. That's why I measure.

 

[Xulonn]

I posted the link to Amirs test of the Directstream dac on PS Audios forum.

Considering your blue "non-avatar" I hereby award you the "Blue Meanie of the Day" award based on the Beatles music-hating antagonists from the animated film, Yellow Submarine.

 

[retro]

So..can someone else than me post THIS review on their forum..please..