Sabai I think Mcondon was referring to a few of the posts out there where the owners have been pretty critical of the DS and are not big fans of it and there were more than few of them as opposed to the reviewers but we all know how that goes with them...
I am not one of them. I loved my DirectStream!
I think it is an outstanding DAC and I really enjoyed it and it totally took my system to the next level and then some. It was the best DAC I ever owned up until I purchased the Bricasti which I don't want to get into quite yet other than to say the Bricasti is "clearly and distinctly" a much better DAC than the DirectStream. Actually it's a pretty unfair comparison but we'll get into that later.
Please understand that doesn't take anything away from the outstanding DirectStream that clearly punches well above its weight. The Bricasti's retail price is over $9,000.00 and even at that lofty price point it's position is that of a "Bang for Buck" performance alternative to the more expensive big boys out there. I am told the last few hardware/software Bricasti upgrades really propelled it to another level...
I just needed to hear them both in my room and in my system but now I need go through the process that we all endure with new components of letting them burn in properly. It's a bitter sweat process but heck its all part of the fun!
I am one of those guys that enjoys the idea of pushing my system forward until it gets to who knows where. I am sure I am going to make a mistake along the way and before I solved the USB cable problem I was having with my new Bricasti I thought that may been have the case here when I traded in my DirectStream toward the Bricasti but after just a couple days of break in I can definitively say that is not the case and thankfully so...
I am not one of them. I loved my DirectStream!
I think it is an outstanding DAC and I really enjoyed it and it totally took my system to the next level and then some. It was the best DAC I ever owned up until I purchased the Bricasti which I don't want to get into quite yet other than to say the Bricasti is "clearly and distinctly" a much better DAC than the DirectStream. Actually it's a pretty unfair comparison but we'll get into that later.
Please understand that doesn't take anything away from the outstanding DirectStream that clearly punches well above its weight. The Bricasti's retail price is over $9,000.00 and even at that lofty price point it's position is that of a "Bang for Buck" performance alternative to the more expensive big boys out there. I am told the last few hardware/software Bricasti upgrades really propelled it to another level...
I just needed to hear them both in my room and in my system but now I need go through the process that we all endure with new components of letting them burn in properly. It's a bitter sweat process but heck its all part of the fun!
I am one of those guys that enjoys the idea of pushing my system forward until it gets to who knows where. I am sure I am going to make a mistake along the way and before I solved the USB cable problem I was having with my new Bricasti I thought that may been have the case here when I traded in my DirectStream toward the Bricasti but after just a couple days of break in I can definitively say that is not the case and thankfully so...