PS Audio unveils their PS Audio Directstream DAC

Keep in mind their trade in price saves them from rebuilding a whole new unit they use your case and so forth. If this is as good as they say and I have no doubt it would be of great value to us who own thousands of CD's and have not plans are streaming or going back to vinyl and starting over. Nothing wrong with CD sound, as lone as it was mastered well, just like vinyl.

That PS Audio can offer their customers an upgrade kit to their existing Perfectwave DACS I & II offers them a good value if the Directstream DAC does what it promises. What I wonder is if the upcoming firmware upgrades will improve or hinder the sound that emanates from the DAC.

I've enjoyed my new DirectStream DAC now for about a month, and my jaw still drops with all the detail I now know I was missing. This DAC is just plain awesome!

I received the latest firmware with the DAC. PS Audio seems to go thru firmware updates from time to time, the updates apparently effect the performance of the unit, not just features. I've read that prior versions of the firmware might have made some music sound harsh, not the case with the 1.2.1 version shipped on my DAC.

Ejr1953,
You may want to stick to the 1.2.1 version a while longer. Folks over at the PS Audio forum site are rolling back and forth the 1.2.1 vs the latest Pikes Peak update.
The gist of it is that, compared to 1.2.1 :-
1. PP gives more detail, widens the soundstage but foreshortens it
2. PP gives a leaner presentation with less "meat on the bones".

Jon2020,

You stated that people have observed that PP foreshortens the sound stage and has less meat on the bones, in comparison with 1.2.1.

My impression, and that of many others, is that there is actually more meat on the bones. But that the sound stage suffers, in some cases. It is more than about it being foreshortened. In my system the feeling of air and natural imaging I heard with 1.2.1 is missing. Some others have experienced the same thing, but most have not.

The DS DAC is truly awesome. The PS Audio team is the best audio team I have ever seen, providing a world class DAC with free software upgrades. The PS Audio team do their best with each successive version but they recognize that it is inevitable that one size may not always fit all. The easy solution is that you can revert to an earlier version if the latest version is not to your liking. So, in the end, there is no problem.