Is no preamp really better that a good preamp?

If you read carefully, not once did he refer the analogue power supply problem to his own PS Audio DirectStream DAC.

I found that DACs with no-loss digital volume controls

Cheers George

If the DirectStream sounds better via the Aesthetix Calypso, the design must be flawed right from the outset?

"For myself if we have this kind of source with these types of problems that has a VC, I can't think of it being hi-end or been designed right, better to me to change it, mod it for something that is."

So, should the DirectStream be redesigned?

Like I said it's all in his careful wording if you read it again, his does not incriminate his own PS Audio DirectStream Dac as having the problem, and I very much doubt he ever will.

He says DAC's, and singles out their power supplies and jitter as the problem, and for all we know he could mean those tiny portable dacs that run on external smp wall wart power supplies.

I still wonder how this one Aesthetix preamp could fix those specific areas he's has singled out.

Cheers George

"I still wonder how this one Aesthetix preamp could fix those specific areas he's has singled out."

We can all wonder but this little gem from PM will get a lot of DirectStream owners to start adding the Calypso to their systems or replacing their current preamps with it, instead of retiring the Directstream altogether.
Why not, if it sounds as stunning as PM describes? Again, theory aside, of course.

Cheers! J.

Better yet, DirectStream owners can wait for the upcoming BHK preamp.

http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2015/10/05/rmaf-2015-its-always-sunny-at-ps-audio/