PS Audio Direct Stream

Srwooten, I appreciate the info but can you give any examples of other DAC's you have heard that the PSA DS overshadowed? That would help so as to have a reference point.

And anyone else that have heard the DS that would care to add.

Hifimaniac

You said:

Once the digital information is in the DAC it is up-sampled 10x's then leaves the DAC in 2x DSD to the preamp. There is no analog out section in this DAC.

That seems to contradict what the PS Audio website says:

CD’s, downloads, high-resolution PCM or DSD based media are expertly upsampled in the DirectStream to ten times DSD rate and output as pure analog directly into your amplifier or preamplifier.

I have read about systems that are digital to the amplifier or speakers, but this does not seem to be one of them. I think PS Audio would have to make a special amp for that to happen.

The Direct Stream has both RCA and Balanced outs. In fact the claim is it can be used direct to an Amp.
It better, I ordered one..

I may start a new thread on this, but is it true that this new breed of DACs, like this PSA DirectStream, and the new Chord DACs, are fairly impervious to the quality of the server feeding it? That seems to be an underlying impression I'm getting from reading reviews and comments on these units. This would make it a lot easier on those of us searching for the best computer rig to serve as transport. I hate the idea of spending 4-5k or more on just a computer disguised as a hi-end transport, but I want an all-in-one-box solution (rip,download, store, play) and I can't build one myself. If these new dacs render the server quality somewhat irrelevant, than there is no need to spend great sums on the server side.

Initially PS Audio's claim was that all DS inputs sounded the same. They later reported a significant sonic difference with the USB input depending upon the specific USB cable being used. There are not many DS units in the field yet to be able to determine whether the quality of the server makes a substantial difference or not. Stay tuned as reviews and user comments are likely to be coming soon.