Anything wrong with PS Audio DirectStream DACs?

oh no no, "burn in" by all means, hell do it for 75000 hours. the sound will be so exquisite it's as if maidens from Asgard have come down and are singing to you.

My experience with the Directstream DAC:

Out of the box it feels a little cheap.  There's a glossy top with a ho-hum chassis and a touchscreen that even looks dated compared to a Wal Mart credit card reader.  It's definitely showing its age.

The sound is decent but does not distance itself from any other run of the mill DAC in say the $2k range that has come out in recent years.  I will say the Directstream is a little more laid back than most (this was with Redcloud).  It has good depth but presents everything with this laid back approach, even when the recording calls for more presence or brashness.  I could go on and on but I'd rate every category for the Directstream as a C or B grade.

I currently have a T+A DAC 8 DSD that retails for $4,500.  It's $1,500 less at retail and sounds like it should cost 3x the Direcstream.  It plays in a different league and costs less, but also "demands" a decent PC capable of upconverting PCM to DSD 512.  

I also compared the Directstream to my Fostex HP-A8 that I use in my desktop system.  It's a decent little unit that I picked up for $500.  Its build quality is outstanding, and in a blind test I don't know that the Directstream would beat it.  Certainly it would be up for debate at 1/12th the price.

YMMV

@emcdade - Sponsored content?

 Lilchris why is the sponsered content?

Lets see T+A largest high end manufacturer in Germany
110 employees
14 full time German Engineers
40 year old company
known for developling all of its own proprietary technolgies

HV technology designed to emulate tubes with solid state devices running at high voltage rails..

Dac 8 DSD uses all in house decoding engine for DSD
Quad PCM decoding Engine
Proprietary filtering technlogies

Designs and builds all of its own parts for its loudspeakers.

T+A electronics are consistantly rated and compared to the worlds best products

T+A products receive mostly best in class or among best in class rave reviews.

Mike Lavorgina compared the Dac 8 DSD to dacs in the $10-30k price range when the DAC is running Quad rate DSD and found the Dac 8 perfroms at a ridiculous level of performance for the price.

Do the reserach Lilchris, T+A gear is pretty amazing.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ T+A dealers

Yes Lilchris I’m totally sponsored.

I’m waiting for my full set of HV series T+A gear to show up any day now after that sick post on Audiogon.

Fostex is throwing in some TH 909’s as well!  😉

I think PS Audio is a great company but I’m just being real and trying to cut through 5 years of hype, Directstream ain’t all that.