PS Direct Stream Vs. Wyred 4 Sound Dac.

FWIW, I replaced an older W4S DAC II with a PS Audio PWDII several years ago, and never looked back. No contest between those two units.

Then I upgraded to the Directstream 3 years ago and have been a happy camper ever since.

I had the older W4S Dac 2. I was not very impressed with it. I ended up using it on a secondary system and using a 20 year old Mark Levinson No 39 CD player as a DAC which I thought sounded a lot better. I eventually replaced this with an Yggradsil A2 which easily beat both the ML and the W4S. I've recently replaced the Yggy with a Denafrips Terminator which I like even more.

I have only heard the PS audio DAC briefly, but from this limited exposure and what I've read about it, I think I'd prefer it over the W4S dac if the latest W4S sounds anything like the older one. 

I tested the PS Direct Steam running Torrey and a W4S DAC-2v2SE. They were very close - casually listening it may be hard to tell the difference. I did keep the W4S because I thought the decay of the instruments sounded more natural. I wouldn't think you'd be disappoineted with either one

verdantaudio,
Bummer that the Dave only goes to 96hz with the AES input.

cymbop,
Yes, the Direct Stream with the latest Windom firmware is pretty impressive, thanks for your help.

jaytor,
Thanks for your info. I remember the Levinston 39. As I recall it received some mighty high praise at the time.

elrod,
The latest Windom firmware is way better than Torrey.
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My main reason for looking at another Dac is because the PS will only do 24/192 via usb instead of my preferred AES connection.

And, PS audio promised a fix about 2 years ago (on their PS Forum) so that the AES could be used with 24/192hz files. Paul and Ted claimed it was a future upgrade and could easily be done. It was just lip service by Paul and Ted to show on their forum that they were concerned and able to make changes easily with their system.

But PS never attempted it. I get it if it can’t be done but publicly they made it seem as if it was doable.
In the end they banned me from their forum.

ozzy

ozzy

If you generally like the sound profile of the DS Sr. then take a look at the Aqua La Voce S3 as it will do 24/192 over AES/EBU.  I own both and prefer the Aqua. 

https://www.aquahifi.com/la_voce.html#:~:text=Designed%20to%20provide%20absolute%20modularity,based%20DAC%20without%20digital%20filter.&text=The%20absence%20of%20digital%20filtering,shape%20and%20avoiding%20any%20ringing.